higherall7 There is a party atmosphere to this film that its sequel never quite duplicated, though I have read that 'IN LIKE FLINT', grossed rather well in its own right. I read the paperback book in my teenage years a few months before the film came out and like the know-it-all I wanted to be, knew the story and all its particulars long before my friends and buddies at Joy Junior High School. But nobody expected 'OUR MAN FLINT' to camp out at the Grand Circus Theater here in Detroit for as many weeks as it did upon its initial release.James Coburn was an unusual leading man choice for this affair. I remember him mostly from playing heavies in movies like 'CHARADE', and doing his guest bit on THE TWILIGHT ZONE and other television shows. But he is perfect as Derek Flint. Remember, this was the time of Jack Kennedy and Pierre Elliot Trudeau. A time when even leaders of State were expected to come across a vigorous men of action.The reference to Pierre Trudeau seems particularly apt. The Prime Minister of Canada possessed an impressive skill set. Besides being skilled in Politics and Debate, he was a Judo expert, spoke several languages and when I wandered over into Windsor one afternoon, I caught a glimpse of him doing back flips on a trampoline someone set up at the corner of an outdoor street. He was known as something of playboy and ladies man before he married Margaret Trudeau; who rivaled Jacqueline Kennedy in grace and beauty. On a special program on Channel Nine broadcast from Canada, I saw him sliding all the way down a Hotel lobby staircase before bounding through the revolving doors with his entourage. Whatever his political accomplishments may have been, he certainly appeared to be a lot of fun.Enough about the Canadian influence. Derek Flint is an All American version of James Bond, whom he brilliantly spoofs. The weather patterns of the world are going to hell in a hand basket due to the machinations of a trio of scientists, Dr. Wu, Dr. Krupov and Dr. Schneider. These fellows come across as a nerd's version of the Three Stooges. But they have the world by the short hairs so who you gonna call?Lee J. Cobb rides herd over a meeting of the leaders of the world as Cramden, a high commanding operative of Z.O.W.I.E. He consults a battery of super computers to calculate beyond a doubt the one man who can deliver the world from this menace.All the cards come back out through the slots with Derek Flint's name on them!But Cramden isn't having any of this. He tells the leaders of the world that Flint is all wrong for this job, unlike James Bond, he is not a company man. He won't take orders and comes across as the ultimate noncomformist to hear Cramden explain it.This is where the fun begins.Cramden reluctantly sends men to summon Flint for the mission, but he's too busy refining his mastery of the Martial Arts and his Fencing Skills to give them an audience. Finally, Cramden decides to visit Flint at his upscale apartment and is led before him by a man eating German shepherd. Once again, Flint refuses the mission as he is being pampered and shaved by a harem of beautiful women. Only after having to save Cramden's life, does Flint report to accept the mission. But we see at the outset that it will be only on his terms.The writers Daniel Mann and Hal Fimberg milk this concept for all it is worth. The highly enlightened and knowledgeable Derek Flint is too busy having fun with all the new experiences that his advantages of knowledge bring him; now that he has done his bit for God and country, to care much for the welfare of the world at this point. Besides, as the stereotype of Americans go, he prizes noncomformity and the freedom of the individual far too much to be a truly reliable asset.There is something intoxicatingly American about this film, and its sense of play and humor has stayed with me ever since. The freewheeling way that Flint trots around the world gleefully causing mayhem while making Cramden his Watson and conducting his own special study of Human Sexuality and in the end making an overt assertion for Women's Rights his way as he saves the world is done with such an air of hilarity this movie is not be be missed.I recommend it highly and must admit it is one of my personal favorites.

John T. Ryan STANDING IN LIVING testimony to the power and popularity of the JAMES BOND Series, super spies in celluloid sprouted up in all corners of Hollywood. The two FLINT movies, with James Coburn, were about the most successful.BEING THAT THEY were parodies, the production team had the broadest of parameters. In addition to the usual trappings of cool hero, sensuous females, hot cars and futuristic gadgetry; the element of parody played a major role.WE EVEN HAVE Flint (Coburn) meeting up with a virtual James Bond double at a waterfront dive in Marsallies. The conversation between the two would suggest that "all spies know each other." SOME OF OUR favourite gags were: a parody of then President Lyndon B. Johnson's talking (unseen) on the White House/Kremlin hot line and the President's vocal pause of "Uhhhh....." during a speech; also Flint's meting scientists Dr. Schneider (Benson Fong) and Dr. Woo (Peter Brocco, whose names and races are reversed.THE OVERALL EFFECT of the picture are most satisfying; as evidenced by the reactions of the audience members we saw in the theatre a mere 49 years ago.IT WAS FOLLOWED by the sequel, IN LIKE FLINT.

Robert J. Maxwell A "parody" is a piece of work that sets out to amuse by exaggerating stylistic and other qualities of the original and almost always meant to be amusing. A satire has more edge. That qualifies "Our Man Flint" as a parody of the James Bond series that had begun (to immense success) just a few years earlier. The question is how to parody something that is already a parody of itself? Is it a META-parody?There's no question about the intent, not even in the first five minutes. The pre-credit sequence focuses on a crowded warehouse full of international VIPs trying desperately plying giant computers to figure out how to stop a secret organization from manipulating the weather. Behind the credits there are writhing silhouettes of naked girls. And instead of Bond glimpsed through a gun barrel, there is Flint frozen in an open doorway.I don't think I'll bother with the plot much. The hero, Derek Flint, is an expert at everything from self discipline to self indulgence. He speaks one thousand and forty-four languages fluently. The only reason he doesn't speak still more languages is that there are no more languages. He's a black belt in karate. He rests by stopping his heart for half an hour or so. He has more electronic tricks on his person than your most powerful Krey computer, the one that takes the transcendental constant of π out to a million digits without revealing the climax. One useful piece of information you can draw using π is that the area of a circle is equal to πR². Thus, if you get the diameter of a pizza pie you can find its area easily, and if you divide by the amount you paid, you can get the cost per square inch of the pizza pie.If you think THAT'S silly, you ought to see this movie. It reflect every male fantasy -- of the 1950s. Flint is impossibly rich, and seems to stride around leaving a cloud of pheromones behind him because all of the "girls" in his vicinity have too much make up and throw themselves at his feet. He has to keep saying things like, "Not now, Tondalayo." But these spy movies were very popular at the time of their release, the early 60s, say, and stayed so for the next ten years. They have worn out their welcome. It happens. Some jokes date badly. Our cultural history is littered with obsolete send ups -- "Gulliver's Travels," "A Modest Proposal," "Shamela", "The Master and Margarita." Except for the original "Casino Royale" in 1968. I always get a kick out of that until the last ten minutes.

ccthemovieman-1 Wow, here's another example of how times change...at least with me and films of the 1960s. What was fresh, new, exciting and funny back then now looks ludicrous, stupid and anything but funny. The women back then wore so much eye makeup they look grotesque, not beautiful.Anyway, this "Flint" series was another one that wanted to ride the popularity of the James Bond movies, so here we get a "spy spoof." The film is full of gadgets, humor, action and pretty women. Despite all that, looking at this 30-some years later, I found all of it too outdated and just plain stupid. It was fun then, but it's dumb now.