Our Man Flint *** (1966, James Coburn, Lee J Cobb, Gila Golan) – Classic Movie Review 5923

Director Daniel Mann’s 1966 spy adventure stars smirking supercool James Coburn as quintessential Swinging Sixties American spy Derek Flint in this first of his series of send-up espionage thrillers (which surprisingly terminated abruptly after the 1967 sequel, In Like Flint).

Here his boss, American intelligence chief Cramden (Lee J Cobb), sends him after GALAXY’s enemy spy (Gila Golan) and her crazed secret agent people who are out for world domination via a secret weapon that controls the weather. There are shades of the ridiculous plot of the 1998 film The Avengers here.

The 20th Century Fox studio put a lot of money into this amiable daftness and big budget helps it to look sleek and run smoothly. But mostly it is Coburn’s success and its pleasures are almost entirely down to him.

Also in the cast are Edward Mulhare, Benson Fong, Sigrid Valdis, Rhys Williams, Steven Geray, Shelby Grant, Gianna Serra, Helen Funai, Michael St Clair, Russ Conway, Peter Brocco as Dr Wu, William [Bill] Walker and James Brolin.

It is written by Hal Fimberg and Ben Starr, shot in widescreen by Daniel L Fapp, produced by Saul David, scored by Jerry Goldsmith, and designed by Jack Martin Smith.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5923

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com