Random Intelligence Dispatches For February 11, 2008

Agent 077 Covered At Cinema Retro

Cinema Retro, the excellent glossy publication whose fabulous current issue showcases Deadlier Than the Male and its star, Elke Sommer, has another great Sixties spy write-up--this time on its website. Dean Brierly looks at the trio of official "Agent 077" Eurospy movies--specifically at the wonderful DVD releases from Dorado Films. I say "official," because the popular codename (itself a ripoff of something, I'm sure!) spawned a whole slew of imitations, all covered in The Eurospy Guide. The Guide lists nine films (including Espionage In Tangiers) that qualify as 077 movies for one reason or another, whether they actually call their hero by that number, were just marketed as such, or even just feature the numbers scrawled on a napkin! My favorite of these attempts to cash in on the popular series was perpetrated by Piege pour un espions, which the Guide says was "marketed as an 'OSS 77' film to confuse fans of both the 077 films and the OSS 117 films!" Eurospy promoters were nothing if not shameless. Anyway, go ahead and check out Dean's teriffic article on the series!

R.I.P. Barry Morse

Cinema Retro also reports some sad spy news: Barry Morse, the actor who played Mr. Parminter on the ITC series The Adventurer, has passed away at the age of 89. Fortunately for Mr. Morse, he's better remembered for playing the relentless Lt. Gerard on the vastly superior show The Fugitive! Still, Morse was by far the best part of the hilariously awful Adventurer, and his contributions to the bonus features on Network UK's recent DVDs of the show are priceless. Morse also costarred on the ITC adventure series The Zoo Gang. He will be missed.

Another Interpol Movie

In a sign that the world might be sick of British and American agents as their heroes, and hungry for more international-friendly agents, there is yet another Interpol movie in the works(following Hitman and the forthcoming The International, among others). Variety reports that Thomas Jane has signed on to star in Run for action maestro John McTiernan. Run will shoot in Argentina and, according to the trade, "has an American Interpol agent happening upon a conspiracy during a thrills-and-spills high-speed pursuit across the country." BMW has signed on to provide cars for the chase, which will also feature a supercharged Mustang. Presumably Jane is replacing Karl Urban, who was originally attached when the movie was set to shoot in Europe. That's too bad. I think The Bourne Supremacy's Urban has what it takes to be an action star and I'd like to see him get the chance. Jane, on the other hand, didn't convince me of this in The Punisher, but he is a good actor so maybe given the right, ahem, vehicle, he will break out.

More Burn This Summer; No More Chuck Till Fall

With the Hollywood writers' strike finally drawing to an end, TV Guide's Michael Ausiello reports that we sadly still won't see any new episodes of NBC's Chuck until the fall. The good news, however, is that last year's best new spy show, Burn Notice, will return as early as July! The second season was originally scheduled to air on USA beginning early this summer, and shouldn't arrive too much later than that now. Ausiello claims shooting is slated to begin in late April.