Our Man Flint
The spy spoof genre has produced quite a few well received items, from the masterfully insane direct spoof of the Bond films in 1967âs Casino Royale to the late 90s variations as seen mainly in the Austin Powers films. In 1966, the first of two films in what is sort of a mini franchise was produced which is notable to this day mostly because its title character still remains a wholly ORIGINAL creation (although the Powers films did borrow heavily at times from it), a complete non conformist with a cavalier attitude who nonetheless seems to have at least a passing knowledge on almost every subject known to man (which often comes in handy at random instances). Ironically enough, the film can almost be seen as being a straight up, âseriousâ spy film if not for the morbid political satire that creeps up throughout before fully rearing its lunatic head by the end. Cast in the lead role is James Coburn, again an unconventional choice for either a comedy or action hero, but one which is soon seen as being perfect for the role given both his cocky demeanor and suave sense of style, a swinger in his off hours with no less than 4 (!) live in girlfriends / servants who are all beautiful and all of whom are devoted to his every whim. The plot concerns some kind of unnatural weather disruptions which threatens to send the entire planet into chaos (including the systematic melting of the polar ice caps). When the responsible party finally appears on the closed circuit TV to make their demands, it is not some cackling maniac but rather three calm, even toned scientists in white jackets attempting to appear as non threatening as possible while telling the world leaders that they have actually come up with a better way for mankind to live amongst each other and that the leaders need to all agree to âsubmitâ to their methods or else they will pull the necessary levers and push the right buttons to enable their manipulation of the weather to reduce the world to a shambles. This creates a panic that leads the world leaders to persuade the head of the international intelligence community (Lee J. Cobb, expertly and hilariously playing a blustery, exasperated oaf) to bring in the retired legendary superspy Derek Flint (Coburn) to track down these scientists with their utopian intentions and put an end to them. The problem is that Cobb himself has a rather rocky history with Flint given the manâs known disregard for following standard protocol and regulations of conduct, but when The President Of The United States (portrayed as being the final word on all world affairs) gives him the direct order to bring in Flint, Cobb finally complies, at first sending in various generals to make an offer only to be immediately turned away by Flint, who has anticipated this day and eagerly awaits the sight of his old boss coming to him directly so that he can watch him grovel and beg for his return. Thus is the mindset of this particular character, but in Coburnâs capable hands, being an asshole was never so much fun to watch. As time goes on, we not only learn that Flint is able to administer expert medical treatment, but can also improvise in putting together little life saving gadgets using simple, everyday items (a quality that no doubt inspired MacGyver). But what makes this character stand out from Bond and others of his ilk is in Flintâs strongly underlined sense of independence when it comes to doing his job of saving the world, turning his nose up at the gadgets offered to him because he already has his own, using his own specially designed codebook to communicate with his superiors instead of the standard agency type and completely walking away from any and all acceptance of help or assistance of any kind probably because he knows all too well that any other âsecret agentsâ trying to work with him would most likely hurt rather than help the mission (much to Cobbâs chagrin which is why he didnât want to involve him in the first place). Instead he just does it completely on his own and unlike Powers (at his essence a pathetic dork who just doesnât realize it) or Bond (who for the most part was always a by the book type of guy), Flint operates in his own unique style and gets stunning results when it comes to bringing down the bad guys. There are some scenes here which simply have to be seen to be believed even in this day and age, including Flint disguising himself as an Arab and PRETENDING to be a suicide bomber in order to clear the building of a bomb which he knows is about to go off or Flint having the innate ability to âplay deadâ so well (he can stop his own heart at will in order to relax) that he actually fools the bad guys who load him into a casket which he can escape from, not to mention the notion of them having a bald eagle on hand which is trained to identify and attack any Americans (as Flint calmly says, âHow diabolical.â)! The quality he shares with both Bond and Powers though is in his devoted love of women, albeit with a more redemptive attitude than the other two with his seeming belief in their flawed yet natural goodness as can be witnessed with the beautiful operative in charge of killing him (Gila Golan) whom instead he treats like a romantic goddess, making love to her and turning her against her superiors. Itâs pretty notable in that the three scientists as part of their harmonious ideology of what constitutes a âperfect worldâ have access to brainwashing technology which they use to mentally condition beautiful women into becoming mindless drones who are only capable of giving pleasure to any man who wants it (making them almost akin to modern day human traffickers who use heroin instead) whereas Flint (a guy who has enough game with women that he doesnât need any of those kind of gimmicks to get laid) seems to believe in the notion that women should be as free and individualistic as possible to make their own choices in life on who they do and donât want to be with just as he does. Naturally when Flint arrives at their lair, he finds a tropical paradise with smiling, bikini clad women and no guns allowed (hence the bald eagle)! When heâs finally brought face to face with the scientists, instead of talking to him like heâs an old enemy, they come across instead as cordial and complimentary, telling him how his one of a kind abilities have gotten him to this point and that they would love to have him become a part of their organization. This benign attitude of the so called villains only drives home the point of them believing in a more collective, progressive society while Flintâs macho yet sensitive beliefs in his own rugged individualism, self reliance and in doing things his way clash harshly with the idealism that the scientists claim to espouse. All along the way it becomes pretty interesting in the way that the writing establishes the Flint character in all of his cocky glory and stays with him to the end, bringing on several clever and witty bits of banter without ever betraying him as being anything less than what he says he is and Coburnâs performance suits that just fine as he gets physical on a number of occasions with various henchmen (including one who is named Hans Gruber!) while showing off his impressive and legit martial arts abilities (not a surprise since he was personally trained by Bruce Lee). Again, perhaps the most unique quality of the character is in his steadfast beliefs of the redeeming quality of women, feeling that even the worse kind (especially one who was trying to kill him) can be healed and made right with just a little forgiveness and gentle tenderness from a man like him (unlike other males on for whom itâs open season) and this fairly entertaining spy comedy which even today remains quite audacious is one which deserves to be more widely seen and better known as it expertly showcases James Coburn as being one of the true all time Kings Of CoolâŚ
8/10