Spies Like Us (1985) — AI Story Visualization

Plot Analysis Summary

Two inexperienced recruits become central to stopping a catastrophic missile crisis created by an unauthorized covert operation.

Story Structure — 5 Plot Phases

Basement Dreams and Recruitment

Austin Millbarge works in an under-respected Pentagon position while Emmett Fitz-Hume struggles through the foreign service examination. Ruby and Keyes then recruit both men as expendable covert decoys.

Key Events

• Pentagon Basement Code Room — Millbarge works as an under-respected Pentagon code breaker while aspiring to become a secret agent. Characters: Austin Millbarge Location: Pentagon basement
• Foreign Service Exam Begins — Fitz-Hume and Millbarge meet during the foreign service examination. Characters: Emmett Fitz-Hume, Austin Millbarge, Test Monitor Location: Foreign service examination room
• Failed Bribery Attempt — Fitz-Hume tries and fails to bribe examination personnel for answers. Characters: Emmett Fitz-Hume, Test Monitor Location: Foreign service examination room
• Millbarge Was Unprepared — Millbarge has only one night to study because notice was deliberately withheld. Characters: Austin Millbarge Location: Pentagon
• Decoy Recruitment — Ruby and Keyes recruit both men as expendable decoys for a covert mission. Characters: Ruby, Keyes, Emmett Fitz-Hume, Austin Millbarge Location: Defense Intelligence Agency
• Rushed Operative Training — The recruits receive minimal military survival training before deployment. Characters: Emmett Fitz-Hume, Austin Millbarge, Ruby, Keyes Location: Military training facility

Training for an Impossible Mission

The two recruits receive minimal training and are sent toward Pakistan and Soviet Central Asia. Their mission proceeds alongside a professional operation targeting a mobile missile launcher.

Key Events

• Rushed Operative Training — The recruits receive minimal military survival training before deployment. Characters: Emmett Fitz-Hume, Austin Millbarge, Ruby, Keyes Location: Military training facility
• Deployment Toward Central Asia — The inexperienced operatives are sent on an undefined foreign mission. Characters: Emmett Fitz-Hume, Austin Millbarge Location: Pakistan and Soviet Central Asia
• Professional Team Advances — The professional team advances toward the mobile SS-50 launcher objective. Characters: Karen Boyer Location: Soviet territory
• Main Team Suffers Losses — The professional operation is attacked, leaving Karen as the surviving operative. Characters: Karen Boyer Location: Soviet territory

The Improvised Missile Operation

After the professional team suffers losses, Karen Boyer joins Millbarge and Fitz-Hume. The trio disguises themselves, neutralizes the guard unit, and gains access to the launcher.

Key Events

• Reunion With Karen — The two recruits escape attacks and encounter Karen, who joins them. Characters: Emmett Fitz-Hume, Austin Millbarge, Karen Boyer Location: Soviet Central Asia
• Extraterrestrial Disguises — The trio constructs extraterrestrial disguises and tranquilizes the mobile missile guard unit. Characters: Emmett Fitz-Hume, Austin Millbarge, Karen Boyer Location: Pamir Mountains
• Launcher Seized — The disguised trio gains access to the mobile missile launcher. Characters: Emmett Fitz-Hume, Austin Millbarge, Karen Boyer Location: Pamir Mountains
• Remote Launch Instructions — The field group follows real-time instructions from the intelligence operation. Characters: Emmett Fitz-Hume, Austin Millbarge, Karen Boyer, Ruby, Keyes Location: Pamir Mountains and W.A.M.P. bunker
• ICBM Launches Into Space — The launcher fires an ICBM toward an unspecified area of the continental United States. Characters: Emmett Fitz-Hume, Austin Millbarge, Karen Boyer Location: Pamir Mountains

The Failed Shield and Hidden Plan

Following remote instructions, the trio launches the ICBM and believes nuclear war has begun. The hidden SDI test fails, while the bunker operation reveals a plan to accept thermonuclear catastrophe.

Key Events

• ICBM Launches Into Space — The launcher fires an ICBM toward an unspecified area of the continental United States. Characters: Emmett Fitz-Hume, Austin Millbarge, Karen Boyer Location: Pamir Mountains
• Agents Expect Armageddon — The agents believe they have started a nuclear war and prepare for the world's destruction. Characters: Emmett Fitz-Hume, Austin Millbarge, Karen Boyer Location: Soviet Central Asia
• SDI Test Exposed — The covert launch is revealed as a test of a hidden anti-ballistic missile system. Characters: Ruby, Keyes Location: W.A.M.P. military bunker
• Laser Interception Fails — The secret laser malfunctions and fails to intercept the launched missile. Characters: Ruby, Keyes Location: W.A.M.P. military bunker
• War Contingency Revealed — The bunker plan includes allowing thermonuclear war to begin rather than reporting the launch's true origin. Characters: Ruby, Keyes Location: W.A.M.P. military bunker

Deflection and Disarmament

Millbarge uses his missile guidance knowledge to redirect the ICBM into space. The bunker operation is dismantled, its participants are arrested, and the trio becomes disarmament negotiators.

Key Events

• Millbarge Finds A Solution — Millbarge realizes that his missile guidance knowledge can divert the ICBM. Characters: Austin Millbarge, Emmett Fitz-Hume, Karen Boyer Location: Soviet Central Asia
• Missile Deflection Transmitted — The American agents and Soviet technicians transmit instructions that redirect the missile into space. Characters: Austin Millbarge, Emmett Fitz-Hume, Karen Boyer Location: Soviet Central Asia
• ICBM Detonates Harmlessly — The diverted missile harmlessly detonates in space, preventing the threatened nuclear war. Characters: Austin Millbarge, Emmett Fitz-Hume, Karen Boyer Location: Outer space
• W.A.M.P. Bunker Stormed — U.S. Army Rangers locate and storm the bunker after the missile crisis is resolved. Characters: Ruby, Keyes Location: W.A.M.P. military bunker
• Covert Operatives Arrested — Ruby, Keyes, and the officials involved in the unauthorized operation are arrested. Characters: Ruby, Keyes Location: W.A.M.P. military bunker
• Disarmament Negotiators — The trio becomes nuclear disarmament negotiators and plays a nuclear strategy game with Soviet friends. Characters: Emmett Fitz-Hume, Austin Millbarge, Karen Boyer Location: Nuclear disarmament negotiation setting

Story Breakdown

• Pentagon Aspirations — The protagonists begin in bureaucratic and academic circumstances that expose their contrasting ambitions and weaknesses.
  • Basement Code Work — Austin Millbarge works as a Pentagon code breaker and wants to become a secret agent.
  • Exam Room Encounter — Emmett Fitz-Hume meets Millbarge while taking the foreign service examination.
• Recruitment as Decoys — Ruby and Keyes place the two unsuitable candidates into a dangerous intelligence operation.
  • Failed Examination Pressure — Fitz-Hume attempts to obtain answers, while Millbarge is disadvantaged by withheld notice and inadequate preparation.
  • GLG-20 Promotion — Both men are recruited, promoted, and designated expendable covert agents.
• Central Asian Deployment — The recruits enter a foreign mission while a professional team pursues the mobile missile launcher.
  • Minimal Survival Training — The agency rushes both recruits through limited military survival preparation.
  • Professional Mission Losses — The main covert operation suffers attacks, leaving Karen Boyer as its surviving operative.
• Improvised Launcher Seizure — Karen joins the recruits, and their improvised tactics allow them to access the missile launcher.
  • Extraterrestrial Costumes — The trio constructs hastily made extraterrestrial disguises in the Pamir Mountains.
  • Guard Unit Neutralized — They tranquilize the mobile missile guard unit and begin using the launcher.
• Catastrophic Missile Test — Remote instructions turn the field operation into an apparent nuclear attack and expose a hidden strategic scheme.
  • ICBM Launch — The captured launcher fires an ICBM toward an unspecified area of the continental United States.
  • Failed SDI Intercept — The concealed SDI laser malfunctions and cannot intercept the missile.
  • War Contingency — The bunker plan is revealed as an attempt to allow thermonuclear war to proceed.
• Deflection and Accountability — Millbarge's technical knowledge prevents disaster, after which the unauthorized operation is dismantled.
  • Guidance Correction — Millbarge and the Soviet technicians transmit instructions that divert the missile into space.
  • Bunker Arrests — The W.A.M.P. bunker is stormed, and Ruby, Keyes, and the operation's officials are arrested.
  • Negotiation Careers — Millbarge, Fitz-Hume, and Boyer become nuclear disarmament negotiators.

Directed by

John Landis

Key Cast

• Chevy Chase — Emmett Fitz-Hume
• Dan Aykroyd — Austin Millbarge
• Steve Forrest — General Sline
• Donna Dixon — Karen Boyer
• Bruce Davison — Ruby