Rating: Summary: James who? Who needs him when we've got Derek Flint! Review: A great combination of a mid-sixties spy thriller and a comedy. James Coburn is excellent as the master spy of the USA who saves the world from a team of diabolical scientists. What do you viewers from the UK think about this film? Your comments are invited here.
Rating: Summary: Flint, not Austin, puts the "Grrrr" in "Swinger", baby! Review: At long, long last, the Derek Flint films are available on DVD for spy movie fans.The transfer is okay, but there is no commentary or other extras to speak of (just a trailer). Hard to believe, as popular as Flint has always been, that Mr. Coburn and the other cast and crew members who are still with us could not be interviewed or asked to give commentary on the disc. A bit slipshod of Fox to let all that pass them by, and a bit of a disservice to fans of Flint. On the other hand, at least we now have Mr. Flint in glorious widescreen. The spoof of the spy genre is right on the money; Flint is a swinger with the best Rat Pack sensibility. Flint is a master of martial arts, fine food, music, art, science, and, of course, women. Flint is an expert at everything under the sun, but is also perfectly modest, and admits he still has much to learn. Probably the most interesting thing about this film is that the producers took it seriously enough to produce a very competent, lavish movie. You can see what I mean in the climax, as we are treated to a wonderful crane shot that follows Flint up a service ladder to a gangway where he fights a couple of bad guys. No one had to do this, and maybe having a spy climb a ladder was just part of the spoof of man-of-action characters, but it works nevertheless to build the tension as we see our hero in combat high above the concrete below. By "climbing" the ladder with him, we get a sense of the danger Flint is in, which makes him seem all the more a man-of-action. Although meant to be a spy spoof, it competes with vintage Bond films very, very sucessfully. You can tell they spent some money, and were conscious of not only spoofing Bond, but of doing their own thing. In this way, Flint can meet a very George Latzenby-looking fellow secret agent (Triple-Oh-Eight), have almost miraculous spy gadgets, and battle villains in a spacious and exotic secret lair, while at the same time being full of original and stylish non-Bond elements. The biggest flaw of the two Flint films is that there are not more of them. Pity. There should have been!
Rating: Summary: Flint or Bond: Girly-man Vs. Manly-man Review: Even as a spoof of James Bond and his world, Derek Flint is a superior hero. First, this film, and its sequel, have much more humor than any Bond film yet. Bond may lay down a few funny lines at the right moment, but Flint is witty more often, and in a more intelligent, less demeaning way. Second, Bond takes orders, Flint chooses his assignments. This gives Flint an edginess Bond lacks. In fact, in this film, Flint initially refuses to save the world because he's too busy conducting research or something. Third, Bond is given gadgets by M, but Flint makes his own. In fact, when he is asked to memorize the government's secret code, he asks the government agents to learn his code to save time (because he already knows his own code). Finally, and most importantly, Bond wouldn't be Bond without the so-called Bond women. Flint is also constantly surrounded by admiring women, but that is not what motivates him or holds his interest and attention. He is first a scientist and humanitarian. All real men are whole men without the need for women to complete them. I could go on favorably comparing Derek Flint to James Bond, but the result would be the same. Flint is superior, and this film, and its sequel, will never lose their advantage or their audience to that other sissy.
Rating: Summary: It's hip to be square Review: Exotica Beauty Products aren't the only thing they're making on Galaxy Island. Doctors Schneider, Krupov, and Wu are also churning out bevies of brainwashed babes. These pliant women, or Pleasure Units, give them the 60s trifecta of sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll. This is what our man, Derek Flint (James Coburn), discovers when he reluctantly agrees to help the international spy agency, Z.O.W.I.E. (Zonal Organization for World Intelligence and Espionage), track down whoever's responsible for tampering with the weather and issuing ultimatums to the world. The evil doctors think they can lure Flint, the super suave ladies man, over to their side, considering what they have to offer. As one of them says, they have the power to create a perfect world. But Flint coldly answer that this is not his idea of perfection. Flint, who is a cultured and spiritual being, versed in Eastern religions and martial arts, rejects the alluring but empty offer of science, of a world of mere sensation. And right there it hits you: this may be the most conservative film made in the 1960s--we're talkin' Robert Bork, Slouching Toward Gomorrah, conservative. It's easy enough to identify the libertarian strain that animates the early part of the story, what with Flint's repeated refusal to join the government agency, his insistence on working alone, and Z.O.W.I.E.'s reliance on a lone American individualist to save the world. But it's once they get to the island that the rest becomes clear... Who would have thought such a hipster flick could turn out to be so square? GRADE: A
Rating: Summary: An Intelligent spoof of Bond. Review: Fleming's James Bond was derived from Charteris' Saint, and Flint is derived from James Bond. Derek Flint is the best agent the United States has, and now they need him. Of course the fact that he has moved on, adds a bit of difficulty to bringing him in. You see he only takes an assignment if he wants to. This was the best spoof of the Super-Spy genre up until True Lies. Flint is not anomalous with Bond, he is better in every way. He has more girls, more devices (though he designed his devices himself instead of relying on a Q division), is a superb martial artist, a scientist, an animal trainer, and the ultimate gentleman. Of course, the opposition is aware of him, and they try to remove him before he can be a factor, leaving a clue for him to track down. Though Flint is too good to be true, Coburn carries the role out with just the right amount je ne sais quoi. Flint comes across as witty and charming, which is how I could describe the entire movie. It was very entertaining and I highly recommend it to anyone, expecially to fans of the Super-Spy genre.
Rating: Summary: All that's missing is the extras Review: Go to your local video store or even right here on Amazon and it seems that every DVD coming out has a commentary and some sort of extras. More to the point, given the technology and the medium, it is expected! Given the popularity of the Derek Flint movies and that fact that in this reviewer's opinion, they were the best Bond spoofs to come out of the 60's, couldn't we have had a little more on the disc? A commentary by James Coburn comes immediately to mind, how about by Jerry Goldsmith, surely one of his best scores. Other than that, a thoroughly enjoyable edition, (and I guess asking for a 5.1 remaster of the score is out of the question.)
Rating: Summary: Changed my life Review: I also saw this movie when I was eight years old. I ended up working as a part time soldier in the Australian Army, worked in various electronics defence companies, and spent the remainder of the time as a part time barman in a girls only nightclub. I blame this movie.
Rating: Summary: our answer to James Bond Review: I became obsessed with finding this film, along with its sequel, after seeing the second Austin Powers. As a huge James Bond fan, I found Derek Flint and his ultra-cool approach to saving the world very entertaining. James Coburn is perfect in this role. He has more gadgets than Q could ever think up, he has four beautiful women living with him, and he can save the world without even trying. Overall, this film was a very amusing satire of the 007 series, and a must for any Austin Powers fan
Rating: Summary: Rather dated; never very funny Review: I don't agree at all with the reviewers who lauded this movie and am sorry I paid attention to their reviews. Thus, just to warn away anyone with any taste, I will do this review that will gather many unfavorable votes from the rabble. I have hundreds of better comedy DVD's than this. This film is almost 40 years old. It never was the outstanding parody that it might have been. A couple of the late "Pink Panther" movies in which Clouseau infiltrates a den of bad guys a la Bond were much funnier, and they are still funny today. The gags and tech marvels in "Our Man Flint" didn't have the staying power to be funny decades later, if they ever WERE funny. Also, why didn't anyone do the technology homework in a film about technology? Even in the 60's, computers were vastly different than depicted. The filmmakers went to the trouble of hauling in data processing gadgets; why not show it as actually used at the time instead of depicting non-computer data processing techniques used over 50 years earlier, especially in a film supposedly involving cutting-edge technology? The bimbo sidekicks were another minus. Other films and TV series of the time, parodies or not, co-starred much more memorable women: Diana Rigg, Lesley-Anne Down, Ursula Andress, Dyan Cannon, and Raquel Welch, to name a few from better films. Does anyone remember the women from "Our Man Flint" as more than generic T&A? The stupidest gag in the film was having an Asian scientist named Schneider working together with a Caucasian scientist named Wu. The script repeated it a couple of times to make sure we got it. HA ha h . . . zzzzzzzzz. That this film made enough money to generate a sequel underscores my favorite quote from H. L. Mencken: "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public."
Rating: Summary: I LOVE this flick but come on, 4 or 5 stars is crazy! Review: I first saw this film when it first came out and I was in fifth grade. To a ten year old boy Flint was one of the coolest guys on Earth and months after I saw the movie I was still trying to figure out how to turn the girls in my class into "pleasure units." Lucky for all of us, I never succeeded. Both Flint movies are a cornucopia of camp and to really enjoy them you have to turn your brain down a few notches and turn up your suspension of disbelief to the max. Just enjoy the silly, sexy adventures of our improbable hero. Now about all those stars in some other reviews. To me a five-star movie is Casablanca, The Wizard of Oz, Days of Heaven, The Conversation, Lolita--perfect of near perfect examples of cinematic art. As amusing as Our Man Flint is, it falls far short of such glory. Still, this is a fun flick worth a look.
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