Spies Like Us

For other uses, see Spies Like Us (disambiguation).

Spies Like Us
Theatrical release poster by John Alvin
Directed byJohn Landis
Screenplay by
Story by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyRobert Paynter
Edited byMalcolm Campbell
Music byElmer Bernstein
Production
companies
Distributed byWarner Bros.[1]
Release dates
  • December 3, 1985 (1985-12-03) (Premiere)
  • December 6, 1985 (1985-12-06) (United States)
Running time
109 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States[1]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$22 million[2]
Box office$77.3 million[3]

Spies Like Us is a 1985 American spy comedy film directed by John Landis, and starring Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Forrest, and Donna Dixon. The film presents the comic adventures of two novice intelligence agents sent to the Soviet Union. Originally written by Aykroyd and Dave Thomas to star Aykroyd and John Belushi at Universal, the script went into turnaround and was later picked up by Warner Bros., starring Aykroyd and Chase.

Partly filmed on location near Sognefjord in Norway (as Russia) and the Sahara (as Pakistan),[4][5][6] the film is a homage to the famous Bob Hope and Bing Crosby Road to... film series. Hope himself cameos in one scene. Other cameos include directors Terry Gilliam, Sam Raimi, Costa-Gavras, Martin Brest, Frank Oz, and Joel Coen, musician B. B. King and visual effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen. Although contemporary reviews of the film were largely negative, Spies Like Us was a financial success, grossing $77 million.

  1. ^ a b c d "Spies Like Us (1985)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference budget was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference mojo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ DeRiso, Nick (December 6, 2020). "How 'Spies Like Us' Faltered When It Got to the Spy Part". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
  5. ^ McGrath, Nick (February 4, 2016). "Dan Aykroyd's Travelling Life". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved September 21, 2022. Favourite film location? We shot some of Spies Like Us in Norway, on the top of a mountain near Sognefjord.
  6. ^ Davis, Tom (2009). Thirty-Nine Years of Short-Term Memory Loss: The Early Days of SNL. New York: Grove Press. p. 217.