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» » Come Spy with Me (1967)

Short summary

U.S. Intelligence assigns Jill Parsons to investigate the mysterious deaths of two secret agents in the Caribbean. The agency fears that the deaths may indicate danger to a meeting of foreign ministers scheduled to be held aboard an aircraft carrier in the area. Jill infiltrates a local skin-diving competition to be held off a charter boat belonging to young Pete Barker. Meanwhile, the activities of the skin-divers are being carefully observed by enemy agent Walter Ludeker, who has been laying highly explosive equipment across the ocean beds. In an attempt to learn if a U. S. agent is among the divers, he persuades his nephew Larry to enter the competition. Though another woman, Samantha, is wrongly suspected and kidnapped, Ludeker later realizes that it is Jill he wants, and he abducts her also.

This film's leading lady, Andrea Dromm, rose to fame (very briefly) in a TV commercial, playing a sexy stewardess and coining the (very briefly) popular catchphrase "Is this any way to run an airline? You bet it is!" (The phrase was often parodied - and it was referenced in several reviews of "Come Spy With Me", in the "Is this any way to make a movie? You bet it isn't" sense. (This info is recounted in the book "Big Lou," Craig Hamrick's biography of Louis Edmonds, one of this film's stars.)

Final feature film as an actress for co-star Andrea Dromm.

This picture has never been officially released on DVD nor home-video cassette. It has predominantly been out of distribution since it was first released except for TV, cable and bootleg labels.

Author Craig Hamrick writes a fair amount about this film in his book "Big Lou: the life and career of actor Louis Edmonds." Hamrick did extensive research about Edmonds for the book, and after months of searching was able to unearth the only known copy of Come Spy With Me: a badly scratched, black-and-white, Spanish-dubbed version. (Stills were included of Hamrick's follow-up book, "The Big Lou Scrapbook.") In "Big Lou," Emdonds comments briefly, and rather dismissively, about the film - but it is one of the few published references to the practically forgotten movie. Immediately after finishing his work in the film, Edmonds returned to New York City and joined the cast of the Gothic soap opera Dark Shadows (1966) as Roger Collins.

The main title theme, "Come Spy With Me", is performed by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and it actually was a bigger hit than the movie it came from.

This picture was one of four 20th Century Fox movies featuring female spies that were released during 1966-1967. The films were Fathom (1967), Caprice (1967), Come Spy with Me (1967) and Modesty Blaise (1966).

First and final cinema movie directed by Marshall Stone.

The new dance seen in the film was called "The Shark".

One of the movies Troy Donahue made after he left the Warner Brothers studio.

Actor Louis Edmonds, who plays the villain Gunther Stiller, has said of this picture: "It was sort of a fifth-rate James Bond-type of movie, with so many pretty young girls-and boys-lounging around a swimming pool . . .It was a fun part because I was a hired assassin, and I had a German accent and carried a gun. Eventually my character was drowned by Troy [Donahue] in a grotto . . . Troy was happy. He didn't take his assignment too seriously. I mean, he wasn't playing Chekhov or Shaw. But he did all right."

Peter Finch's cameo came about as a result of bumping into the film crew while he was holidaying in Jamaica.

User reviews


  • comment
    • Author: Made-with-Love
    When CBS used to show late movies years and years ago, I remember staying up to watch this. There's only about two things I really recall: that Troy Donahue was in it, and that the theme song, performed by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles (!) was at least halfway decent. So the previous reviewer certainly can't be blamed for not remembering the song or the lyrics (which rhymed "spy with me" and "variety".) Like many of the Bond knockoffs of the day, the song was about the only thing the audience was even meant to remember, if that. I just recall that the single was a much bigger hit than the movie ever was. So if you happen to stumble across it on cable, it's more of a curiosity piece than a "must-see."
  • comment
    • Author: Flamehammer
    Well, there's only one reason (two, if you want to be funny) to see this movie and that's Andrea Dromm. She became a "star" because of a commercial and she made this, the first Star Trek pilot and THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING. This movie is the least of her works. It's been more than forty years since I saw this in a theater and I don't remember anything of the plot. I'm reasonably sure that Andrea spends a lot of time in a bikini. If that's not reason to watch, I don't know what is. At the end, the guy want to become a spy, too. If you met a spy like her, you'd join up immediately. From what I do remember, the movie was pretty silly.

    But there's always Andrea!

    Sam Tomaino
  • comment
    • Author: Hi_Jacker
    This is a film I saw as a child at a local matinée. It was supposed to be like a "James Bond" movie so I eagerly went expecting an action packed two hours. What I ended up seeing (even as a child I realized it was a really bad movie) was a film that was entirely derivative of other spy films.

    Troy Donahue, like so many pretty boys of the 60's, did not have the acting ability to pull off the kind of character the film was trying to create. Connery was Bond; Caine was Harry Palmer, and James Coburn was Derek Flint. They defined the roles. They were interesting and magnetic. The hero in this film is not even a faint echo of those great spy film characters.

    The film was cheaply made with scuba scenes reminiscent of Thunderball. However, in one of the underwater fight scenes, the injured diver has his hand in his wet suit clearly pumping a plastic bottle full of stage blood that is then permeating the water. I watched thinking surely a mistake like this couldn't slip through any professional film editor--but it did.

    If you can even find this film, don't waste your time--unless bad movies as humor is your gig. Oh, and I almost forgot. The theme song is catchy but and performed by Smokey Robinson, but with ridiculous lyrics: "Come spy with me, live a life of danger and of mystery! etc etc etc" Regardless, the film is truly bad!
  • comment
    • Author: Nilador
    I saw this as the first of a double bill with 'In Like Flint' as the main attraction in a second-run theater matinee.

    Like the others my main interest was Andrea Dromm, who I had seen on Star Trek.

    Besides Andrea, the only other memorable part of this film was the unique "shark-jaws" weapon, where the bad guys made their kills look like the result of a shark attack.

    Unfortunately, that seemed to be the extent of the imagination of the creators of this film.

    Since the next film on that double-bill was the vastly superior 'In Like Flint', I left the theater thinking of Jean Hale, not Andrea.
  • Cast overview, first billed only:
    Troy Donahue Troy Donahue - Pete Barker
    Andrea Dromm Andrea Dromm - Jill Parsons
    Albert Dekker Albert Dekker - Walter Ludeker
    Mart Hulswit Mart Hulswit - Larry Claymore
    Valerie Allen Valerie Allen - Samantha
    Dan Ferrone Dan Ferrone - Augie
    Howard Schell Howard Schell - Corbett
    Chance Gentry Chance Gentry - Chance
    Louis Edmonds Louis Edmonds - Gunther Stiller
    Kate Aldrich Kate Aldrich - Chris
    Pam Colbert Pam Colbert - Pam
    Gil Pratley Gil Pratley - Kieswetter
    Georges Shoucair Georges Shoucair - Pantin
    Alston Bair Alston Bair - Keefer
    Tim Moxon Tim Moxon - Morgan
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