FILM SCREENINGS

The Great Spy Chase

1964. France. Directed by Georges Lautner. Screenplay by Michel Audiard, Albert Simonim. With Lino Ventura, Mireille Darc, Bernard Blier, Francis Blanche. Literally translated as “the beards,” this burlesque features the cousin, the foster brother, the shrink, and the father confessor—all impostors—of a deceased arms dealer. Representing France, Germany, Russia, and Switzerland(!) and fortified with American dollars, these spies, each one a nincompoop, are all on the trail of a secret formula—possibly for the atom bomb—hidden in the chateau of the weapons merchant’s ex-stripper widow. In French; English subtitles. 118 min.