Thanks for the memories!

Good concept, poorly executed.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

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.

As the James Bond series debuted in the 1960s and had its great success, out came the imitators and the parodies, and "Our Man Flint" is a pretty good example of those particular genres. It's not quite good enough to really make it something special, but it's solid entertainment just the same, with enough laughs to sustain it for the duration.The movie does offer what could be considered quintessential James Coburn: the film star is every inch the dashing, charismatic hero, playing world renowned secret agent Derek Flint, who works for Z.O.W.I.E. (!); this stands for Zonal Organization World Intelligence Espionage. He's the only man who can possibly save the world when the terrorist organization Galaxy starts manipulating its weather. He's a little too self interested to give a hoot at first (You can't entirely blame him. He's surrounded by four gorgeous gal pals.), but soon realizes he must get involved.As directed by Daniel Mann, this movie does have just the right tone. It's frequently funny and thus easy to watch. It's very colourful and well designed entertainment, extremely well shot in CinemaScope and accompanied by a peppy Jerry Goldsmith music score. It definitely could have used more action, though, and it moves a little slow before picking up its momentum for an exciting finish. Its scenery attractions are most effective, especially Gila Golan, a stunner of an actress who plays bad girl Gila. It's got cool gadgets, such as the lighter with over 80 functions. The supporting cast is great, from Lee J. Cobb as Flints' frustrated superior to Edward Mulhare as intimidating villain Malcolm Rodney to Benson Fong, Rhys Williams, and Peter Brocco as the trio of scientists running things. Audiences are also certain to get a chuckle out of the fact that one of the bad guys is named Hans Gruber, 22 years before Alan Rickman played a man by that name in the action classic "Die Hard".Overall, this is worth watching for any fan of espionage, adventure, and comedy. Coburn is just so much damn fun as Flint that he makes it impossible to resist. It was followed, predictably enough, by a sequel, "In Like Flint", and even a TV movie (with Ray Danton as Flint) a decade later.Seven out of 10.

This isn't the type of film I would normally seek out, but I've been on the lookout for it on the cable channels for a while now. Back in the early Sixties when I was in Scouting, our local troop regularly went to New York City on the Sunday at the beginning of Boy Scout Week. Our Scoutmaster had this thing for a movie and a show at Radio City Music Hall, and this is one of the films I recall from those excursions. (The others included "Days of Wine and Roses" and "Hatari" on separate trips). Amazingly, I was able to recall a few details about the flick before watching it once again today, like the reliance on scientific gizmos and the villainous plot having something to do with weather control. And the girls. You know, in hindsight, I have to wonder what our parent chaperons must have thought about our Scout leader's choice of entertainment, but the subject never came up afterward.Back then, I was too young to realize that the picture was a spoof of the James Bond and spy mystery genre. All you have to do to realize that now is catch the opening of the picture with Lee J. Cobb heading up ZOWIE and you've got it knocked right from the start. But still, this picture had some pretty clever stuff for fifty years ago, like the disappearing building and the roll away vault trap. And how about Flint's heart stop trick used effectively to outwit those Galaxy goons. The best sounding gimmick though was the electro-fragmentizer, man I have got to get me one of those.Anyway, this was my first look at James Coburn, who I hadn't come to appreciate until many years later in a variety of screen roles, mostly those multiple appearances in TV and movie Westerns. He makes for an unusually suave and sophisticated Bond clone, but when the script calls for cheesy, he's pure cheddar, and extra sharp at that.In hindsight, I'm surprised that none of the young ladies cast as part of Flint's entourage were celebrities of the day, including his nemesis Gila Golan. But hey, right there near the top of the credits was one of Charlie Chan's favorite sons, Benson Fong as Doc Schneider. That was another clever bit actually, giving him the name Schneider and calling Peter Brocco 'Wu'.Here's something I thought about during the picture as well - you could really have some fun with this concept as a director today. You substitute the weather control plot with one involving global warming, and you put Al Gore in the Malcolm Rodney role. Then when you have him do battle with the hero, he gets swooped up by a giant pro-American war eagle, who carries him off to the top of an active volcano and drops him in. The world is saved once more.Say here's something to think about - if there's no such thing as a Battle of the Bulge ribbon, how did Flint know what the phony award was supposed to represent?

OUR MAN FLINT is, I guess, 20th Century-Fox's American answer to James Bond. FLINT isn't as much of a spoof as AUSTIN POWERS is, but it is without a doubt an imitation of 007. It's a little kookier than a Bond film, but it's not full of gags.Derek Flint (James Coburn) is a secret agent who has his own methods of doing things. A worldly man, he practices martial arts and meditation and lives with four beautiful women in a tricked-out bachelor pad. His fierce independence gets on the nerves of his commander (Lee J. Cobb).When a mysterious agency named Galaxy starts controlling the weather, the entire world is threatened. Galaxy can melt the polar ice caps, set off volcanic eruptions, etc. Founded by idealist scientists, the agency holds the world hostage in hopes of creating a new utopian world. A world with no violence, where there's no extreme weather and beautiful women are brainwashed to pleasure men.The leaders of Z.O.W.I.E. (an international espionage agency) choose Flint as the perfect man to put a stop to Galaxy's scheme. Using his unique skills and incredible knowledge (as well as some useful gadgets), Flint tries to get to the bottom of things.FLINT (the first of two films in the series) is not as good as the Bond movies that inspired it, but it's still a '60s-era spy film. It's not a big joke like CASINO ROYALE (1967) or AUSTIN POWERS. Rather, it's like the studio said, "What if James Bond was a more unconventional spy?"The movie is full of '60s hairdos and styles. There's the obligatory over-the-top enemy base as well as a lot of women running around in bikinis.I first heard of Derek Flint from the AUSTIN POWERS DVD. It was mentioning Mike Myers's various inspirations, listing the early Bond movies but also the Flint movies. I noticed a few things in this film that reminded me of POWERS.FLINT won't knock your socks off, but it's worth checking out if you have the time and you're curious.