GET SMART: SNOOPY SMART VS. THE RED BARON (TV)
Summary
One in this comedy series about a bumbling secret agent.
Max, 99, and the Chief travel by plane to Boise, Idaho and then to Twin Falls, Idaho, where 99’s mother lives. The president has ordered the crackdown on “Operation: Starch” a plot by KAOS to destroy the United States potato crop, to be turned over to CONTROL. The potato shortage has been a closely-guarded secret, and potatoes have been secretly replaced with artificially-created substitutes. Their assignment is to determine what means KAOS is using to accomplish their goal. Max looks out the window of the plane to see an old World War I-era biplane flying alongside them, which he identifies as the Red Baron. However, 99 and the Chief don’t believe him. At a United States Department of Agriculture office in Twin Falls, the Chief, Max, and 99 meet with Dr. Leviathan, the office’s food analyst. He theorizes that KAOS has devised a poison designed to destroy the potato pulp without damaging the shell.
The Chief assigns Max and 99 to an area containing the last crop of unharmed potatoes, and on the way they visit 99’s mother. Max is nervous about meeting her, and soon she invites them inside and the three of them have a conversation, all the while trying to conceal their identities as secret agents to her, including a cover story about Max being a greeting card writer. During their visit, Max receives a call from the chief on his shoe-phone, making 99’s mother highly suspicious. Max spots what appears to be the Red Baron living across the street, although 99’s mother identifies him only as “Mr. Smith,” who recently moved there. While trying to spy on him, Max accidentally discovers the biplane he saw earlier disguised beneath a haystack. Before they can report this they are captured by the “Red Baron,” who turns out to be Siegfried. He claims responsibility for the destruction of the potato crop, and announces his intention to kill both of them.
Before killing them, Siegfried reveals that he poisoned the potato crop using a crop-dusting plane painted to resemble the Red Baron’s, utilizing a specialized bacteria instead of insecticide to disintegrate the potato pulp. He attempts to kill Max and 99 by running them through the plane’s propellers, but Max manages to engineer their escape. Siegfried takes to the air as Max subdues his goons. The Chief arrives and helps them get out of there, but Siegfried gets away. They head back to 99’s mother’s house to use her phone; she is apparently unaware of anything suspicious going on. Max tries to commandeer a jet fighter from a nearby air force base to intercept Siegfried, but there seem to be no planes available. Max, however, finds another crop-dusting plane in a hayfield and knocks the Chief unconscious so that he can go out to face Siegfried alone. They get into a dogfight before Max leaps onto Siegfried’s plane and fights him directly, managing to subdue and capture him. 99’s mother suspects Max is a spy, as 99’s father was also a spy who used a similar cover story. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: September 28, 1968 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:24:55
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:78886
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1965-1969; CBS - 1969-1970
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Arne Sultan … Executive Producer
- Burt Nodella … Producer
- David Davis … Associate Producer
- Reza S. Badiyi … Director
- Mel Brooks … Created by
- Buck Henry … Created by
- Mike Marmer … Writer
- Irving Szathmary … Music by
- Don Adams … Cast, Agent Maxwell Smart
- Barbara Feldon … Cast, 99
- Edward Platt … Cast, The Chief
- Jane Dulo … Cast, Mother
- Pat Houtchen … Cast, Dr. Leviathan
- Jennifer Douglas … Cast, Stewardess
- Sharyn Hillyer … Cast, Girl
- King Moody … Cast, Starker
- Bernie Kopell … Cast, Siegfried