‘These photographs of the moon are all the same.’
Two cosmonauts are lost in space soon after being launched on a prestigious mission. Facing humiliation in the eyes of the world, the Russian government kidnap two Italian lookalikes to take their places. Unfortunately, the men turn out to be complete idiots…
Conveyor belt comedy featuring popular Italian funny men Franco and Ciccio. Veteran director Lucio Fulci marshals the laughs long before he started messing around with masked killers, zombies and eyeballs.
The world watches with bated breath as cosmonauts Colonel Paradowsky (Franco Franchi) and Major Borovin (Ciccio Ingrassia) are launched into space on their way to a groundbreaking seven orbits around the moon. Unfortunately, Chief Scientist Skordiakov (Emilio Rodríguez) has spoken to the world’s press and released photographs of the space men without the authorisation of the Cabinet Minister of Cosmonautics, Comrade Mussorsky (Chiro Bermejo). His gaffe takes on serious repercussions when the space capsule is apparently destroyed in an explosion. Facing public humiliation and a firing squad, Rodríguez turns to secret agent Leonidova (Linda Sini) to locate two lookalikes to replace the lost men.
Meanwhile, half a world away, petty thieves Franco Messina and Ciccio Cacace (Franco & Ciccio, again) are getting themselves arrested after stupidly botching a furniture store robbery. Their pictures appear in the newspaper, bringing them to the attention of Sini and her team of beautiful female agents. The two hapless criminals are kidnapped, taken to Russia and shot into orbit. Despite various mishaps, they complete their mission and return to Earth. However, they are still required to keep up the impersonation and are sent home to be with the cosmonaut’s wives, Mischa (Mónica Randall) and Nadia (Elena Sedlak).
Curious knockabout comedy featuring highly predictable gags but an unusual mashup of genres. Franco and Ciccio’s massive popularity in their home country was partially predicated by the familiarity of their comedy routines. Incredibly, the duo delivered over 100 films in the 1960s to continual box office success. So, Ciccio frowns a lot, Franco pulls silly faces, and both stumble about cluelessly, looking for the next banana skin. The humour is very broad and almost the definition of an acquired taste. It’s undeniably formulaic, and will try the patience of anyone not fully on board.
Outside of the comedy, this particular entry is a little offbeat regarding plot and construction. Some sources label it a Eurospy feature, even a direct sequel to the duo’s ‘Oh! Those Most Secret Agents/002 agenti segretissimi’ (1964), which Fulci also directed. However, our stars are not playing the same characters (well, in effect, they are; they always did!), but they have different names (just about!), and the secret agent aspects essentially vanish after the opening half hour.
The second act finds our heroes in space, and the film switches to science fiction. Ok, it’s not ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ (1968); we only see a brief spacewalk and a largely fixed shot of Franco and Ciccio in the capsule facing the camera. Some of the usual shenanigans feature a technical emergency they blunder through and meals in the form of pills. The spacewalk does feature a surreal encounter with human bones, and Mission Control have supplied a pistol in the event they want to commit suicide, but don’t expect a lot of surprises.
After they return to Earth and hook up with the cosmonauts’ wives, the film abandons spy games and science fiction and turns into an old-fashioned theatrical farce. Reports of the original mission’s demise have been greatly exaggerated, and Colonel Paradowsky and Major Borovin are very much alive. Cue multiple cases of mistaken identity for Randall and Sedlak as Franco and Ciccio run frantically in and out of small rooms without running into each other, not knowing why the women are so confused and hysterical. These scenes take up almost the entire final 20 minutes of the film, and although that may not sound too taxing, there are moments when it seems like it’s never going to end.
Fulci had a long history as a journeyman director, delivering films in various genres since 1959 and cramming in over a dozen features before taking Franco and Ciccio into space. Although this story material is not to be taken seriously, of course, the film could be considered the first to play with the idea of misleading the public over a space mission. The rocket does launch but only goes into a low Earth orbit rather than reaching the moon, and the supposed destruction of the original mission is covered up. It would be a huge stretch to suggest that this is the unintentional birth of certain popular conspiracy theories regarding space exploration. Still, it can be viewed as a reflection of the natural scepticism some feel toward such scientific claims to this day.
Franco Franchi was a Sicilian, born in Palermo in 1928. He began his entertainment career as a street performer, principally as a ballad singer but participating in a traditional that included comedy sketches, impressions and puppet shows. His double act with Ciccio Igrassia debuted in the Costa Theatre in Castelvetrano in 1954, and the sketch they performed was an immediate hit with audiences. Further stage success followed, and they appeared as supporting players in film comedies from 1960, in such vehicles as ‘Maciste Against Hercules In The Vale of Woe/Maciste contro Ercole nella valle dei guai/Hercules in the Valley of Woe’ (1961). Their first starring film was ‘I due della legione straniera’ (1962), a French Legion comedy, again directed by Fulci. It was a big hit and the springboard for almost a decade of stardom. Their career began running out of steam in the early 1970s, and arguments over money eventually broke up the partnership. Ingrassia moved into more serious roles and even directed two films, but Franchi stuck to comedy. He transitioned to the small screen in 1976 while continuing to pursue a separate career as a recording artist. He reunited with Ingrassia for two comedy sketch shows in the mid-1980s and top-lined Alberto Bevilacqua’s feature film ‘Tango blu’ (1987). He passed away in 1992.
A tepid comedy containing little of note.