![]() While on a trip to Europe, he gets tangled in a world of espionage after being seduced by a lady spy (Linda Florentino) in East and West Germany. He portrays a well-to-do college student playing a very organized ’80s version of Laser Tag throughout his college campus. Below are some of the most notable examples of how the spy genre films of the ’80s marched to two different drums, and sometimes both at once. These movies danced back and forth, waltzing the vast grey area between drama and silly comedy. Looking closer at this phenomenon, there seemed to be a surge of notable films pumped out in 1985. Throughout the rest of the decade, any spy film made, outside the 007 camp, can be gauged against what these two films did for the genre in 1981. I was unaware of this at the time, but these two movies represented the fork in the road when it came to spy films and the ’80s. But this was a Disney film, and although it was a failure at the box office, it did received a cult following. Most critics at the time found it silly, even making Siskle and Ebert’s Worst Movies of the Year List. Now … this film was more of an action-comedy … and it took things too far … we are talking Hudson Hawk-style comedy with poor production. ![]() This movie was also based on a popular book, about a cartoon animator who gets roped into the CIA espionage circuit. The same year, Disney released Condorman. This film is a drama, and a very well made film for the time. Of course, tensions ignite, and he stabs anyone who may blow his cover along the way. All the while, he is staying with a family who takes him in, and starts an affair with the lady of the house. He becomes stranded in England and needs to catch a U-boat to deliver vital information directly to Hitler himself. ![]() Sutherland plays a cold, calculated, stiletto-wielding German spy during World War II. In 1981 United Artists released The Eye of the Needle, based on a popular book and starring Donald Sutherland. Some films leaned more towards comedy than an action/thriller, and others were full blown dramas. They seemed to walk the line between an action movie and a comedy…and I noticed that line was more like a vast grey area. Was it the Cold War? Or possibly everyone was “Spy Crazy” due to the 007 films’ popularity in the previous two decades? I didn’t see every spy film in the ’80s, but I did see plenty of them that were not 007 films. In the 1980s we saw a surge of these types of films, much like what we are seeing now with ‘Comic Universe’ films. You might find yourself eating popcorn and bouncing back and forth on the edge of your seat with a belly laugh. Bond was the king of the catchphrase, often times the titles of the films themselves reflected this. Movie patrons were drawn to the gadgets and stunts of the Bond films, but it was the tongue in cheek comic relief that I really appreciated. Most films were based on popular novels, much like the James Bond series that gained international popularity in the early ’60s. Espionage films have been popular throughout cinematic history, with deep roots dating back to the silent era.
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