Eurospy films is a nickname for the genre of European

International co-production

An international co-production is a production where two or more different production companies are working together, for example in a film production...

 films that imitated and spoofed the James Bond 007 series of films. The Eurospy genre was highly prolific in the years from the end of 1964 when Goldfinger

Goldfinger (film)

Goldfinger is the third spy film in the James Bond series and the third to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Released in 1964, it is based on the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. The film also stars Honor Blackman as Bond girl Pussy Galore and Gert Fröbe as the title...

was released until 1967 following the release of You Only Live Twice

You Only Live Twice (film)

You Only Live Twice is the fifth spy film in the James Bond series, and the fifth to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's screenplay was written by Roald Dahl, and loosely based on Ian Fleming's 1964 novel of the same name...

or the demise of the international popularity of the sword and sandal

Sword and sandal

The Peplum , also known as Sword-and-Sandal, is a genre of largely Italian-made Historical or Biblical Epics that dominated the Italian film industry from 1957 to 1965, eventually being replaced in 1965 by the "Spaghetti Western"...

 genre and the rise of the spaghetti western

Spaghetti Western

Spaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and...

. They often featured American and British stars in the lead.

Some European stars and their films were renamed and retitled to cash in on the superspy craze. For example Jesus Franco

Jesús Franco

Jesús "Jess" Franco is a Spanish film director, writer, cinematographer and actor. His career took off in 1961 with his cult classic The Awful Dr. Orloff, which received wide distribution in the United States and England...

's or "Jess Frank"'s 1964 La Muerte Silba un Blues was later retitled 077 Operation Jamaica or 077 Operation Sexy with star Conrado San Martin rechristened "Sean Martin" to evoke images of Sean Connery

Sean Connery

Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...

 and Dean Martin

Dean Martin

Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...

 (who played Matt Helm

Matt Helm

Matt Helm is a fictional character created by author Donald Hamilton. He is a U.S. government counter-agent—a man whose primary job is to kill or nullify enemy agents—not a spy or secret agent in the ordinary sense of the term as used in spy thrillers.-The character and the series:The...

). Germany's fictional hero Rolf Torring's film Der Fluch des Schwarzen Rubin

13 Days to Die

13 Days to Die or Der Fluch des schwarzen Rubin is a 1965 Italian and West German spy film drama, directed by Alberto Cardone and Manfred R...

was retitled Agente S3S Operazinie Uranio.

Notable examples are the French OSS 117

OSS 117

OSS 117 is the codename for Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, a fictional secret agent initially from the pen of the prolific Jean Bruce. Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath is described as being an American Colonel from Louisiana of French descent...

André Hunebelle

André Hunebelle

André Hunebelle was a French director born September 1, 1896 in Meudon , died 27 November 1985 in Nice .Hunebelle was a former publisher of a French newspaper called La Fleché...

 series based on the Jean Bruce

Jean Bruce

Jean Bruce born Jean Brochet on 22 March 1921 was a prolific French popular writer who died in 26 March 1963 in a car accident. He also wrote under the pseudonyms of Jean Alexandre, Jean Alexandre Brochet, Jean-Martin Rouan, and Joyce Lindsay....

 character and Claude Chabrol

Claude Chabrol

Claude Chabrol was a French film director, a member of the French New Wave group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s...

's Tiger series, the German Kommissar X

Kommissar X

Kommissar X or Commissioner X is a German crime fiction series of books from the Pabel Moewig publishing house. "Kommissar X" is a private detective named Joe Louis Walker who was a counterpart of the German crime fiction FBI Special Agent Jerry Cotton...

and Jerry Cotton

Jerry Cotton

Jerry Cotton is the fictional character in a series of crime novels by many different writers in German-speaking countries and in Finland.- Overview :...

series, and various Italian imitations such as the Secret Agent 077

Secret Agent 077

Secret Agent 077 was officially a trilogy of Eurospy films with Ken Clark as Dick Malloy . However "077" was used on posters or advertising of several other Eurospy films with little or no relationship to each other perhaps to exploit the audience's knowledge of 007 .-Official entries:The first...

 series with Ken Clark in the lead, Bruno Corbucci

Bruno Corbucci

Bruno Corbucci was an Italian screenwriter and film director. He was the younger brother of Sergio Corbucci, and wrote many of his films. He was born in Rome, where he also died....

's "James Tont" series starring Lando Buzzanca

Lando Buzzanca

Gerlando Buzzanca is an Italian comedy actor.He left high school in Palermo when he was 16 years old, and moved to Rome to pursue his dream of becoming an actor...

. Dino De Laurentiis

Dino De Laurentiis

Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis was an Italian film producer.-Early life:He was born at Torre Annunziata in the province of Naples, and grew up selling spaghetti produced by his father...

's Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die was filmed in Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

 using an American director as well as American and British stars and featured a higher budget then most Eurospy films. A touchstone of this series of films was OK Connery

OK Connery

OK Connery is a 1967 Italian Eurospy spoof of the James Bond series of films. It was retitled Operation Kid Brother in the United States and is also known as Operation Double 007 and Secret Agent 00...

(1967) which featured Neil Connery

Neil Connery

Neil Connery is a Scottish retired actor and is the brother of the actor Sean Connery. Neil is known for his role in the movie OK Connery, a James Bond satire and the 1969 film The Body Stealers.-External links:...

 as the lead who was the brother of the then James Bond actor Sean Connery

Sean Connery

Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...

 as well as featuring many other actors who appeared in the James Bond series.

Christopher Frayling

Christopher Frayling

Sir Christopher John Frayling is a British educationalist and writer, known for his study of popular culture.-Biography:Frayling read history at Churchill College, Cambridge and gained a PhD in the study of Jean-Jacques Rousseau...

 felt that the Eurospy films passed on such traits to the Spaghetti Western as emphasis on the technology of death, such as special weapons, the anonymity of the protagonist

Protagonist

A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...

, the "money=power" equation of the villains and humorous asides that released the audience's laughter after a violent sequence.

The recent French film OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies

OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies

OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies is a French film directed by Michel Hazanavicius. It is a parody of the spy film genre. The film follows the exploits of a French secret agent, OSS 117, in Cairo in 1955.-Plot:...

both recreates and parodies the genre for a new audience.