If you sit and analyze this show, most of the episodes are either parodies of a movie or another show or contain some allusion to a movie or some other piece of pop culture. Of the outright parodies my favorites are:

Don't Look Back- the takeoff on the Fugitive where Max is framed for robbing a bank and killing a guard. He escapes and sets out to exonerate himself. Milton Berle has a fun cameo. I saw this years before I ever saw the Fugitive reruns.

Max Smart, Private Eye- a good takeoff on Sam Spade, plus satire on government budget cuts. One of my all time favorite episodes.

Leadside- takes off on Ironside with the villian who can run but can't walk, and by the end will never run again.

Ironhand- takeoff on Goldfinger includes operation baby buggy switch.

The Mess of Adrian Listenger and Island of the Darned- both episodes are very suspenseful for a sitcom which is what made this show so enjoyable, they played the action straight.