002 Operazione Luna

Italy / Spain • 1965 • 90m •

• Directed by: Lucio Fulci. • Starring: Franco Franchi, Ciccio Ingrassia, Mónica Randall, Linda Sini, María Silva, Elena Sedlak, Emilio Rodríguez, Chiro Bermejo, Ignazio Leone, Franco Moruzzi, Enzo Andronico, Piero Morgia, Lino Banfi. • Music by: Coriolano Gori.

When a Russian space craft is lost in space with two cosmonauts on board, the KGB authorities abduct two petty criminals, Franco and Ciccio, to launch them into space and have them return to impersonate the lost cosmonauts, only to have the real cosmonauts, Paradowski and Borovin, return which the two duos cause misunderstandings abound.

Review:

The title "002 Operazione Luna" is doubly misleading: firstly because it suggests some kind of spy spoof, which this is absolutely not, and secondly because Franco and Ciccio never reach the moon. They appear in two roles each: as Russian cosmonauts whose capsule loses all contact with Earth and is believed to be lost, and as small time Italian crooks who, because of their incredible likeness to the cosmonauts, are kidnapped by the Soviets and sent on a second space mission to cover up the failure of the first. Then, in the last 20 minutes, the film turns into a mistaken-identity bedroom farce. On the whole, this is a pretty weak comedy; most of the Franco-Ciccio routines are overextended, and only the surreal image of them floating into space may stick in your memory. I will give Franco credit, though, for proving, in his smaller Russian role, that he CAN play a character without mugging if he wants to.

Review by gridoon2016
from the Internet Movie Database.

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