A noi piace Flint

Well it looks like I'm in a minority with this one as I think 'In Like Flint' is better than 'Our Man Flint'! It's goofier than the original and for me that makes it more entertaining. It's filled with silly stuff like exploding golf balls, brainwashing via hairdryers, Flint talking fluent dolphin and Lee J. Cobb in drag. It's similar in approach to the 'Batman' TV series (Yvonne "Batgirl" Craig even appears as a Russian ballerina) so if you enjoy that show, and yes, Austin Powers, you'll have lots of fun.

Super-spy Flint : James Coburn is called by the organization Zowie that is an acronym for Zonal Organization World Intelligence Espionage led his old boss : Lee J Cobb to take on a new dangerous international case against powerful women who want to conquer the World. This time Flint takes on a cabal of women plotting to rule the World through subliminal brainwashing in beauty saloons or spas they own . As they are hypnotizing Girls all over the World to create an Army of faithful followers. Flint's back ! In action in Danger in Fun ! The original man of Mystery ! Flint's Back in action...in Danger .in the Virgin Islands ...when the Bad Guys ...are Girls ! The Man who makes no Mistakes !

Fun and entertaining follow-up in the wake of 007 series but with patently embarrassing plot , adding pop imagery , as well as hilarious and ironical elements. This is a sequel to Our Man Flint 1966 by Daniel Mann starred by James Coburn/Flint, James Bond-lookalike , along with Lee J Cobb , Gina Colan , Edward Mulhare, Rhys Williams . Like 007 , Flint uses a lot of gadgets and often accompanied by gorgeous Girls, in bikini-clad at a luxurious love nest . Nice acting by the always sympathetic James Coburn along with some fine secondarios , such as : Jean Hale , Lee J Cobb, Andrew Duggan , and, veteran Anna Lee.

It displays a thrilling and moving musical score by Jerry Goldsmith in his usual style . As well as colorful cinematography in Technicolor by William Daniels, Greta Garbo's regular cameraman . The motion picture was profesionally directed by Gordon Douglas . This Hollywood filmmaker was a prolific artisan whose career spans over forty years . And directing all kinds of genres : Western, Drama, WWII, Action , Comedy, SciFi , Thriller, Adventures with sucesss enough , such as : Fortunes of Captain Blood , Up Periscope , Them, The Great Missouri Raid , The Doolins of Oklahoma , Sylvia, Río Conchos , Stagecoach , Robin and the 7 Hoods , Massacre, The Detective , among others. Rating 6/10. Acceptable and passable thriller spoof movie . The pic will appeal to James Coburn fans .

Coburn goes way way over the top in ILF. In OMF he plays Flint as someone who is 'sort of real' ... for example, when Cramden asks him, "Is there nothing you don't know?" "A great many things, sir." In the fight sequences, they are also played 'not campy' ... the fight in the bathroom ... it's more fun when it looks somewhat real, and when the toilet paper and grunt of Gruber comes at the scene's end, it's the right touch.

The same with the fight with the two guards outside Cramden's office. Great stuff. I think Coburn's style influenced Bruce Lee ... or other way around? If Coburn did OMF in 1965 or so, and he met Lee a couple of years later (I'm not certain) .... And after the fight, the comedy is just right; a blend of silliness (the light bulb) and straightness, with Flint saving a life.

Notice also when Cramden is darted, and Flint doesn't mug when he does the cut.

But in the sequel, Coburn is all over the place, over-mugging. While most of the credit for the downsizing of Flint goes to the writers, Coburn also has to take some blame. There is hardly an action scene where he plays Flint like a fighting master ... just for laffs. Again, counter this with OMF : when he climbs the ladder with the guitar rift, happily Coburn doesn't wink and mug. With that great music, it would've ruined the scene(s).

However, the scene in the penthouse, with Flint talking about eating grubs is the Flint form the first movie.

The director should have seen this. Or maybe Coburn thought the script was so dumb, he just let loose and had his own jokes. But Flint loses his fun when it became too much Austin Powers.

Btw, the Powers movies would have been much better if they had been played as a homage to Flint/Bond. That's what OMF did so well. Created a great character with the perfect actor to play him.

But even tho ILF is so inferior to the first, it's still a lot of fun. How can I say this? Because he's still Flint!

This is James Coburn's second outing as Derek Flint. Though it is ultimately worth a viewing, it doesn't quite live up to it's predecessor. The film takes a while to get going and at times the spirit of fun that infected the original seems to be missing. But when that spirit is present, the film is loads of fun! Anyone know where I can buy a copy of Flint's Dolphin Language Dictionary? Never know when it might come in handy.

Did Flint (and the producers) know something America didn't in 1967? I'm making reference to that remark in the title of my review. Reagan was already Governor of CA at this point. :)

Anyway, the plot is unique, the parody unqualifiedly silly but fun.

All the cliches and spy references are present and accounted for. Of course there are plenty of continuity problems, bad special effects and inaccurate ones.

James Coburn was in his prime and drawing good box office. What else did he need? More fun as witnessed here.

Overall, an entertaining film with lots of eye candy as required.