Our Man Flint
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| Our Man Flint | |
|---|---|
 original film poster by Bob Peak |
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| Directed by | Daniel Mann |
| Produced by | Saul David |
| Written by | Hal Fimberg Ben Starr |
| Starring | James Coburn Lee J. Cobb Gila Golan |
| Music by | Jerry Goldsmith |
| Release date(s) | January 16, 1966 (U.S.) |
| Running time | 108 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Followed by | In Like Flint |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Our Man Flint is a 1966 action film which stars James Coburn as Derek Flint. Directed by Daniel Mann, the premise of the film is that a trio of mad scientists attempt to blackmail the world with a weather-control machine.
Derek Flint is a parody of James Bond, which franchise had gained momentum in the 1960s with Sean Connery representing the British super-agent on the silver screen.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
Super-cool spy Derek Flint, ex-agent of Z.O.W.I.E., is lured out of retirement to deal with the threat of Galaxy (a parody of SPECTRE), a world-wide organization led by a trio of Utopian mad scientists: Doctor Krupov, Doctor Wu, and Doctor Schneider. Despairing of the world's governments ever getting their acts together, they demand that the governments all capitulate to Galaxy. To enforce their demands, they initiate earthquakes, volcanoes, storms, and other natural disasters with their climate-control apparatus.
Flint is motivated to take them on, not by the pleas of his former boss Lloyd Cramden, but due to a preëmptive assassination attempt by Galaxy's section head Gila, who covertly replaces a restaurant's harpist while Flint is dining with his four live-in "playmates": Leslie, Anna, Gina, and Sakito. Gila uses a harp string as a bow to fire a poisoned dart, which misses Flint, but hits Cramden. Flint uses field rescue techniques to suck the poison out of the wound, saving Cramden's life.
The discovery of a chemical trace on the dart takes Flint to Marseilles for bouillabaisse. In one of Marseilles' raunchiest strip clubs he stages a brawl to gain some useful information from "famous" Agent 0008, who is investigating the narcotics trade that is keeping Galaxy in business. Galaxy agent Hans Gruber is in the club enjoying his favorite soup while waiting to rendezvous with Gila. Gila sends Gruber to ambush Flint in the lavatory. Flint fights and ultimately kills Gruber in a toilet stall, while Gila exits the scene - leaving behind a cold cream jar she has booby-trapped with explosives. Flint detects the trap and chases all the (relatively) innocent bystanders from the club before he detonates the bomb.
The remains of the jar lead Flint to Rome. After checking out several cosmetic companies, Flint investigates Exotica, where he formally meets Gila for the first time. He seduces Gila, getting her to take him to her apartment for an exchange of information and "bodily fluids". Following their encounter, he steals the keys to Exotica and breaks into the company's safe, learning of Galaxy's location before being trapped inside by Gila's snide assistant, Malcolm Rodney. He and Gila assume the safe will serve as a suffocation-deathtrap as they transport it to a waiting submarine. During the journey, Flint learns that his playmates have been kidnapped and taken to Galaxy's island headquarters, then uses his power of self-induced suspended animation to fool his captors into thinking they have successfully killed him. Gila and Rodney take an evidence photograph of the "body", which they send to Cramden, then carry Flint back to headquarters on the submarine.
Flint covertly revives and sneaks into the Galaxy complex, but his infiltration attempt is thwarted and he is taken before Galaxy's trio of leaders. Offered a chance to join their new order, he declares that Galaxy's vision of the world doesn't sound all that Utopian to him, and is sentenced to death by disintegration. Gila's failure to eliminate Flint results in her being stripped of her leadership role and reassigned to a position where she "can best serve Galaxy": becoming a Pleasure Unit - a fate which has already befallen Flint's playmates. Between this horror, and the fact that she has (naturally) fallen in love with Flint, Gila changes sides, slipping Flint his gadget-filled cigarette lighter before she is hauled away. With the help of the lighter, Flint again escapes, rescues his playmates and Gila, kills Rodney and destroys Galaxy headquarters.
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| James Coburn | Derek Flint |
| Gila Golan | Gila |
| Lee J. Cobb | Lloyd Cramden |
| Edward Mulhare | Malcolm Rodney |
| Rhys Williams | Doctor Krupov |
| Peter Brocco | Doctor Wu |
| Benson Fong | Doctor Schneider |
| Michael St. Clair | Hans Gruber |
| Shelby Grant | Leslie |
| Sigrid Valdis | Anna |
| Helen Funai | Sakito |
| Gianna Serra | Gina |
The uncredited actor playing the overseer of the Pleasure Unit process is Dick Wilson, who later gained fame as "Mr. Wipple" in a long string of commercials for Charmin toilet paper.
[edit] References
Agent 0008 is an explicit parody of James Bond. In addition to his code-name, within the movie he is the subject of a series of books which detail his exploits.
The distinctive ring of Cramden's much-used "presidential hotline" phone was later reused in the films Hudson Hawk and Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.
The main villain in Die Hard is named Hans Gruber, the same as the enemy agent Flint fights in the bathroom.
The then-new Lear Jet makes its first appearance in a film with Bill Lear providing a cameo in the sequel In Like Flint. James Coburn travelled through the United States on one to plug the film.
The scene where Flint kills Hans in the toilet stall was parodied in the first Austin Powers film, where Austin fights and ultimately drowns Paddy O'Brien the Irish assassin in a toilet stall.
Herbie Mann plays the theme song on his album, "Our Mann Flute." The title of the album is a parody on the title of the movie.
[edit] Sequel
In Like Flint (1967) was directed by Gordon Douglas, and again starred James Coburn, with Cobb also reprising his role as Lloyd C. Cramden.
