Spy Hard is a 1996 movie starring Leslie Nielsen, parodying James Bond films and other action films including Die Hard.
| Spy Hard | |
|---|---|
| File:Spy hard poster.jpg Spy Hard DVD cover | |
| Directed by | Rick Friedberg |
| Written by | Aaron Seltzer Jason Friedberg |
| Produced by | Doug Draizin Jeffrey Konvitz Rick Friedberg |
| Starring | Leslie Nielsen Nicollette Sheridan Charles Durning |
| Cinematography | John R. Leonetti |
| Edited by | Eric Sears |
| Music by | Bill Conti |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
Release dates | May 24, 1996 |
Running time | 81 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $18 million USD |
The plot is the standard story of secret agent Dick Steele, Agent WD-40 (a play on 007) who, along with Veronique Ukrinsky, Agent 3.14 (Nicollette Sheridan), must stop the evil genius, General Rankor (played by Andy Griffith), from taking over the world. Rankor was wounded in an earlier encounter and no longer has arms; however, he can 'arm' himself (sic) by attaching robotic limbs with various weapons attached.
"Weird Al" Yankovic sings the title song and directed the title sequence. It is a parody of James Bond openings, complete with multiple colored backgrounds and silhouettes floating around. There is also a slight reference to Thunderball's title song. In Thunderball, Tom Jones held his note long enough to pass out. In this film, Yankovic holds it long enough to make his head explode. The video was later included on "Weird Al" Yankovic: The Ultimate Video Collection, although, for legal reasons, most names and titles had to be taken out.
The movie contains also many cameos, including Mr. T as a helicopter pilot in the opening scene, and also Pat Morita and Ray Charles, among others.
Many critics panned this film upon its release. The film's gross domestic revenues were about $26 million.
Two of the film's writers, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, went on to help write Scary Movie and Date Movie, other feature films which parody genres.
Parody list
1. Steele's arm elongates and snaps as he is holding onto Barbara Dahl at the edge of a cliff. A la Clayface, a Batman villain who died in a similar way.
2. When Steele is given his mission, it having been recorded onto an audio tape, the message "And do not forget, WD-40, as always, this tape will self destruct in five seconds." much to the dismay of the pilot of the helicopter that Steele was in at the time. A la the Mission: Impossible movies.
3. General Rankor interrogates a mime, then has him shot, saying "he doesn't want to talk, take him outside and shoot him.".
4. Steele has to infiltrate a nunnery, which contains a group of singing nuns. A la Sister Act.
5. On a flight to Los Angeles, Steele sits next to a beautiful woman, who begins to make growling noises at him, he replies by pulling odd faces. A la several Bond sequences.
6. When here is a countdown to the launch of the nuclear missile, the audience sees the woman reciting the countdown into a microphone, while drinking a cup of tea.
7. The secret service secretary is called Ms. Chevious. A la Ms. Moneypenny in Bond.
8. Yankovic's head explodes during the opening credits. Tom Jones passed out while singing the last note in the theme song to Thunderball.
9. McCluckey (a parody of Macaulay Culkin) performs several pranks (that backfires) on the two thugs that is searching for Professor Ukrinsky (Veronique's father). A la Home Alone.
10. Steele and Veronique went to a bus. A group of punks rode it and one of them said: "Pop quiz, hot shot" while showing wires prove that they cut the brakes. Steel opens the floor of the bus and tries to stop it with his shoes while Veronique replaced the bus driver (Ray Charles). A la Speed. When the bus takes off of a ramp and goes in front of the moon, it is similar to one of the final scenes of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
11. When Steele and Veronique are in the club, they dance to the same song and wear the same clothes and hairstyles as Mia and Vincent in Pulp Fiction.
12. When Steele tests one of his gadgets in the laboratory, a fire was ejected on it and burned the hair of a Michael Jackson lookalike, causing him to jump into the window of the building.
13. A raptor is seen in General Rankor's headquarters. A la Jurassic Park.
14. When Steele meets Professor Ukrinsky for the first time in his lab, the professor hands him the chip for Gen. Rankor's missile. Steele then sets the chip down on a table and tries to smash it with a hammer, but Ukrinsky pushes him out of the way before he could do it. This is probably a spoof of a deleted scene in Terminator 2: Judgment Day where Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) takes out the chip in the Terminator's head and smash it with a hammer to render him inoperable. Her son, John Connor (Edward Furlong) pushes her out of the way before she could destroy it.
Note: Steele claimed that by destroying the chip, he would save the world from tyranny, but Prof. Ukrinsky told him that it could also be used for world peace.