Spies Like Us

Spies Like Us is a 1985 American spy comedy film directed by John Landis, and starring Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Forrest, and Donna Dixon. The film presents the comic adventures of two novice intelligence agents sent to the Soviet Union. Originally written by Aykroyd and Dave Thomas to star Aykroyd and John Belushi at Universal, the script went into turnaround and was later picked up by Warner Bros., starring Aykroyd and Chase.

Quick Facts Directed by, Screenplay by ...

Spies Like Us
Theatrical release poster by John Alvin
Directed by	John Landis
Screenplay by	Dan Aykroyd Lowell Ganz Babaloo Mandel
Story by	Dan Aykroyd Dave Thomas
Produced by	George Folsey Jr. Brian Grazer
Starring	Chevy Chase Dan Aykroyd Steve Forrest Donna Dixon Bruce Davison Bernie Casey William Prince Tom Hatten
Cinematography	Robert Paynter
Edited by	Malcolm Campbell
Music by	Elmer Bernstein
Production companies	Warner Bros.[1] AAR Films
Distributed by	Warner Bros.[1]
Release dates	December 3, 1985 (1985-12-03) (Premiere) December 6, 1985 (1985-12-06) (United States)
Running time	109 minutes[1]
Country	United States[1]
Language	English
Budget	$22 million[2]
Box office	$77.3 million[3]

Close

Partly filmed on location near Sognefjord in Norway (as Russia) and the Sahara (as Pakistan),^[4][5][6] the film is a homage to the famous Bob Hope and Bing Crosby Road to... film series. Hope himself cameos in one scene. Other cameos include directors Terry Gilliam, Sam Raimi, Costa-Gavras, Martin Brest, Frank Oz, and Joel Coen, musician B. B. King and visual effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen. Although contemporary reviews of the film were largely negative, Spies Like Us was a financial success, grossing $77 million.

Austin Millbarge is a code breaker dwelling in the dark basement at the Pentagon who aspires to escape his under-respected job to become a secret agent. Emmett Fitz-Hume, a wisecracking, pencil-pushing son of an envoy, takes the foreign service exam under peer pressure. Millbarge and Fitz-Hume meet during the test, on which Fitz-Hume openly cheats after his attempts to bribe his female supervisor and the test monitor in exchange for the answers both fail. Millbarge was not prepared to take the test, having had only one night to study after his supervisor deliberately withheld a two-weeks notice for the exam, leaving him vulnerable to fail and having to remain in the bowels of the Pentagon.

Needing two expendable covert agents to act as decoys to draw attention away from a more capable team, Ruby and Keyes of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) decide to enlist Fitz-Hume and Millbarge, promote them to GLG-20 Foreign Service Operatives, rush them through minimal military survival training, and then send them on an undefined mission inside Pakistan and Soviet Central Asia. Meanwhile, the two professional agents are well on their way to carry out the actual objective: the seizure of a mobile SS-50 ICBM launcher in Soviet territory. A member of the main team is killed, while Millbarge and Fitz-Hume manage to escape multiple enemy attacks and eventually encounter Karen Boyer, the surviving operative from the main team.

In the Pamir Mountains of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic, the trio disguises themselves in hastily constructed extraterrestrial outfits and tranquilizes the mobile missile guard unit. Following orders in real-time from the intelligence agency (operating from the W.A.M.P. military bunker located deep under an abandoned drive-in theater in Nevada), they begin to operate the launcher. At the end of their instructions, the vehicle launches the ICBM into space, targeting an unspecified area in the Continental United States. Thinking they have started a nuclear war, the American agents and their Soviet counterparts pair up to have sex before the world is destroyed.

Meanwhile, Ruby and Keyes have joined Generals Sline and Miegs, the two military commanders at W.A.M.P., in the operations bunker. They initiate the conversion of the drive-in theater to expose what is hidden beneath the screens and projection booth: a huge black-op SDI-esque laser and collector/emitter screen. The purpose of sending the agents to launch a Soviet ICBM is exposed as a means to test this anti-ballistic missile system, but the laser malfunctions and fails to intercept the missile. Despite this, Sline and Miegs choose not to inform the President and the US Government that the missile launch was not a nuclear attack initiated by the Soviet Union, revealing to the horrified Ruby and Keyes, a twisted contingency plan of letting the impending thermonuclear war commence to "preserve the American way of life".

Back in the Soviet Union, horrified at the thought of having launched a nuclear missile at their own country, Milbarge realizes that the missile can be diverted. The American spies and Soviet technicians quickly use Millbarge's knowledge of missile guidance systems to transmit instructions that deflect the missile off into space where it harmlessly detonates. Immediately after, the underground W.A.M.P. bunker is located and stormed by U.S. Army Rangers, Ruby, Keyes and the rogue military officials involved in the unauthorized covert operation are all arrested. Millbarge, Fitz-Hume, and Boyer go on to become nuclear disarmament negotiators, playing a nuclear version of Risk-meets-Trivial Pursuit against their new Soviet friends.

Other actors making appearances in minor roles include Jeff Harding as Fitz-Hume's state department colleague and Heidi Sorenson as Alice, Fitz-Hume's supervisor. Also making cameo appearances are special effects designer Derek Meddings as Dr. Stinson, directors Joel Coen, Sam Raimi, and Martin Brest as the drive-in security, comedian Bob Hope as himself, musician B. B. King and directors Michael Apted and Larry Cohen as the Ace Tomato agents, and NBC newscaster Edwin Newman as himself.

The title song, "Spies Like Us", was written and performed by Paul McCartney. The recording peaked at #7 on the singles chart in the United States in early 1986; The song was McCartney's last to reach the top ten in the US until 2015.^[7] It also reached #13 in the UK.^[8] John Landis directed a music video for the song where Aykroyd and Chase are seen in a recording studio, performing the song with McCartney (although they didn't actually play on the record).^{[citation needed]}

Landis has stated that he feels "Spies Like Us" is "a terrible song" but he couldn't say no to McCartney and Warner Bros.^[9]

The film's score was composed by Elmer Bernstein and performed by the Graunke Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the composer. The soundtrack album was released by Varèse Sarabande; it does not contain the Paul McCartney song. The film also features "Soul Finger" by the Bar-Kays, also absent from the soundtrack. In an early scene, Fitz-Hume watches Ronald Reagan, Virginia Mayo and Gene Nelson sing "I'll Still be Loving You" in the 1952 film musical She's Working Her Way Through College.^{[citation needed]}

1. "The Ace Tomato Company" (5:06)
2. "Off to Spy" (1:52)
3. "Russians in the Desert" (2:21)
4. "Pass in the Tent" (2:58)
5. "Escape" (3:25)
6. "To the Bus" (3:14)
7. "The Road to Russia" (3:39)
8. "Rally 'Round" (2:39)
9. "W.A.M.P." (2:48)
10. "Martian Act" (3:08)
11. "Arrest" (2:21)
12. "Recall" (2:38)
13. "Winners" (1:16)

The film had its world premiere on December 3, 1985 for the Variety Club of Southern California and the Will Rogers Institute.^[10]

Animated sitcom Family Guy paid tribute to the film with its 2009 episode "Spies Reminiscent of Us", which guest starred Aykroyd and Chase as fictionalized versions of themselves who, according to the series, were made real spies by Ronald Reagan after he saw the film. The episode recreates numerous scenes.^[23][24]