Get Smart, Again! (1989)

This is way a reunion movie should be done! Quick explanation of where everyone has been in the past 20 years and on with a new adventure. The plot is familiar, KAOS has a weather machine to alter the climate with a ransom demand of $250 Billion not to unleash its fury. It falls to Maxwell Smart to be reactivated stop KAOS.All of the gang is back except for Ed Platt as Chief. The gags and jokes that were gems include Smart answering his shoe phone as a pallbearer,the Hall of Hush to thwarting a hit-man with remote controlled file cabinets to Hymie taking every order literally. Few of the gags and jokes fall flat, unlike nearly all comedies now as they reach . Don Adams was still spot on with the catch phrases, one liners and quite amazing with the physical comedy at age 66. Harold Gould does the villain role in his unique style and John de Lancie as Maj. Waterhouse was great. Hymie and Larrabbee were fabulous as if nothing had changed after 20 years. Agent 99 Barbara Feldon didn't miss a beat as the comic foil and looked as lovely as ever, who I had a crush on when the show was first on the air. If you're reading this Barbara, don't have anything to do for a Saturday night and like dating guys 50 years younger, (or would you believe 24 years younger?), go and contact me.The movie has a few minor issues, Kenneth Mars as Commander Drury doesn't pull off the exasperated Chief role as Ed Platt would had done, Bernie Koppell Siegfried's comic timing wasn't as sharp as it could had been and Don Adams looked rather ill in a few scenes. The movie should have had a laugh track and Get Smart music in keeping with the TV series.It's a real shame that this movie isn't remastered to restore the fading of VHS transfer, (Digitally touching up Don Adams, adding the laugh track & music would be a bonus.) This is an underrated gem (far better than the Steve Carrell remake) that stacks up with the best comedy movies.

Unlike the 1980 movie, they brought back much of the old cast, and revived the old atmosphere. The jokes, the look, the characters, the interaction, and updated it without overdoing it.There were some funny twists; Siegfriend having a twin brother on the side of good, Hymie having hurt feelings about Smart not contacting him for a long time, Larrabee having received a letter from then-President Nixon to stay at the old CONTROL headquarters building, even to the time where it is being demolished and Smart has to pull him out. Also the new jokes were in line with the ones from the old TV show, and they didn't try to make a substitute for Edward Platt. An enjoyable bit of nostalgia.

Get Smart was never a "great" show. I mean the whole idea was the campy, tongue in cheek humor, the delicious wit of Don Adams, spoofing the entire spy action James Bond Genre. I remember the original series in reruns as a kid and it was one of the TV greats!! You would never think that they could bring a cast together nearly thirty years later and still pull it off and yet that is precisely what they do!! The movie isn't good...I mean it's B Movie elongated TV Episode quality with the same quirks and tongue in cheek humor with some digs at politics and other things in a light and cheery way. The villains are really bumbling nice guys and Don Adams slips right back into the Maxwell Smart character and looks great!! True fans of the original series will find Edward Platt's Chief sadly lacking as a big part of the series was the incredible comedic timing and relationship between Max and the Chief. Still Max and 99 are in full force with some new characters and some old ones as well. It was a great film to watch before seeing the new Get Smart movie to refresh my memory to the old series. The best part about it hands down is what an amazing job the cast and film makers did bringing the series to life again.Don Adams truly is Maxwell Smart. I think he is more of his character so it is effortless for him. He's strong on screen, funny in a very campy way and pulls it off every time. He made the series, and the film and everything else he did worthwhile just by being himself. Barbara Feldon also returns to her role as Agent 99. I must say that I thought her role was toned down a lot in this film. Her and Max still have their chemistry and she's still soft and sweet and smart but tough on the inside. I thought her and Max would spend more time teamed up in a reunion but she doesn't have that big of a role. Her and Adams have terrific chemistry even after all these years. Bernie Kopell also returns as #1 Kaos agent Conrad Siegfried and a rather silly second role as Siegfriend's twin brother. Kopell is still terrific and campy with his crazy accent (ironically he is very well known as an actor for being able to do accents.) Kopell and Adams share a distinctive talent for physical comedy and quick wit and they work great together. Richard Gautier returns in one of my favorite Get Smart roles as robot Hymie. His dry humor and the entire gag of taking things literally never gets old as bad as it is and him and Adams are also terrific together. Robert Karvelas also returns although in a small role as Larrabee. And finally David Ketchum appears as Agent 13 in his usual crazy hiding spots.If you have never seen Get Smart the series or weren't a fan I promise that you will quite likely hate this TV rendition because it truly is for the fans. I mean it covers literally everything from the series including the many running gags as well "Missed it by that much" "Would you believe..." and so on. The special effects are mostly non existent using a floor level budget which the original series probably ran off about the same twenty years before this. Director Gary Nelson worked on the original series and I really do think that made all the difference because I just can't express how impressed I was with how much this brought me back to watching those original episodes. I score it as low as I am simply because it's very low budget, campy and not exactly top notch viewing but fans will love it and if you need a little trip down memory lane you'll want to see this one for sure as it is a great honor to the ground breaking memorable series. 6/10

Given that the premise of the film is that Smart, Agent 99 and the rest of the (still alive) rag-tag Control agents are reactivated to fight Kaos, one really has to be a fan of the original series to enjoy the movie.I can't remember how old Don Adams was when he started the series, but, make-up aside, in this production, he looks 70s-ish. Barbara Feldon still looks amazing, and Bernie Kopell as "Siegfreid" doesn't seem to have aged a bit.HOWEVER, if you're not a fan of the original series, this is not for you. There are constant references back to the series but, there are many one-liners referring to the current (at the time of release) US government.They only work as comedy/irony if applied to the Govt of the time. Nothing ages as fast as political satire - unless that satire is timeless. And this ain't. Still...Poke fun at the intelligence gathering community, because if we don't, who will?