The Great Spy Chase

Les Barbouzes, released in the United States as The Great Spy Chase, is a 1964 French-Italian spy comedy directed by Georges Lautner. The plot follows secret agents from several countries competing to obtain valuable weapons patents held by the young and attractive widow of an international arms dealer. Conceived as both a pastiche and a parody of the espionage thrillers of its era, the film is populated with deliberately caricatured characters. It stars Lino Ventura, Bernard Blier, Francis Blanche and Mireille Darc, several of whom went on to appear in other Lautner productions, with dialogue by Michel Audiard. Over the years the picture has acquired cult status in France. The French slang term "barbouze", originally referring to a false beard, came to denote spies and counter-intelligence agents in the early 1960s.