Customer Reviews

Ultimate Flint Collection (Our Man Flint / In Like Flint)

5 star:		(64)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

A very nice repackaging of the Flint movies, well worth purchasing by diehard fans. All the principles of the films are now unfortunately dead (including the late great James Coburn, who would've added immeasurably to any commentary tracks), but the commentary tracks included are definitely the highlight of this new edition. Two uber movie geeks (sorry, can't remember their names) bring tons of charm, enthusiasm & wit to the commentaries which are chockablock with endless fun spy-movie/TV trivia. (They, along with the rest of us Flint fans, whine long & hard about the fact that Coburn chose not to continue the series after a mere 2 films---hell, he could've at least made it a trilogy.) Additional features on a 3rd disc are pretty lame (including the SUPREMELY lame 1977 made-for-TV movie---a Flint flick in name only with virtually no connection to the Coburn films). Again, the commentaries are what make this collection worthwhile. Highly recommended!!

What's with these reviews that are simply parroting the DVD contents and Amazon's own description? Nothing like trying to stuff your review numbers with garbage in an attempt to make the top 1000, 500 or whatever. Make it a real review or shut up!

That said, if you have not seen the Flint movies, do so! Envisioned as a competitor to the James Bond franchise, the Flint movies follow the adventures of secret-agent, super-playboy, part mad-scientist Derek Flint. Played by James Coburn (one of the last people to be personally trained by Bruce Lee), the movies are part tongue-in-cheek with plenty of action. Yes, the special effects are dated, but the plots are still pretty darn good. May people consider the movies to be a simple spoof on James Bond, kinda like the Dean Martin Matt Helm movies. The Austin Power's telephone ring - taken right off the Flint movies. It's the telephone ring on the Presidential Hotline to Lloyd Cramden's. The soundtracks from both movies were recently released - by popular demand. Not bad for 30 year old movies!

In Like Flint: The last film that 20th Century Fox filmed in CinemeScope, this sets Flint against some of the world's wealthiest women, bent on world domination. How? By brainwashing them with hair-dryers at the Fabulous Face salon, located on a private island.....

Our Man Flint: This sets Flint against some of the world's brightest scientists, bent on world domination. How? By controlling the weather. The machine is located on a, well, a private island.....

OK, so the plots are similar, but come on. Flint making "bloooba, bloooba" sounds - communicating with dolphins. Moving around in space via his sonic belt buckle. Nailing a fly with his cigarette blow-gun. The gymnastic fight scene. The weightless battle in space. All priceless moments. Watch these two movies and you'll be thinking "so that's where (insert movie name here) got the idea!"

I was born the same year this movie came out (1965), but I remember how much I loved it as a kid in the 70s. When the DVD came out I jumped at the opportunity to see it again.

What I didn't expect was how I was seeing it from an entirely new perspective. In my younger years, I saw Fint as another James Bond; I didn't consider it a parody or spoof of any kind.

Seeing it as an adult I realize just how well thought out it was. It's not an in-your-face spoof like Austin Powers is, but rather an exaggeration of traditional spy films in such a way that you can't help but laugh.

As Flint's boss (played by Lee J. Cobb) explains a standard issue spy briefcase to Flint filled with some 62 hidden weapons, Flint insists he doesn't need it because all he uses is his tiny cigarette lighter, which contains 82 functions (83 if you want to light a cigarette).

All in all, if you enjoy Bond films, you'll love Our Man Flint (and the follow up "In Like Fint").

Even as a spoof of James Bond and his world, Derek Flint is a superior hero. First, this film, and its sequel, have much more humor than any Bond film yet. Bond may lay down a few funny lines at the right moment, but Flint is witty more often, and in a more intelligent, less demeaning way. Second, Bond takes orders, Flint chooses his assignments. This gives Flint an edginess Bond lacks. In fact, in this film, Flint initially refuses to save the world because he's too busy conducting research or something. Third, Bond is given gadgets by M, but Flint makes his own. In fact, when he is asked to memorize the government's secret code, he asks the government agents to learn his code to save time (because he already knows his own code). Finally, and most importantly, Bond wouldn't be Bond without the so-called Bond women. Flint is also constantly surrounded by admiring women, but that is not what motivates him or holds his interest and attention. He is first a scientist and humanitarian. All real men are whole men without the need for women to complete them. I could go on favorably comparing Derek Flint to James Bond, but the result would be the same. Flint is superior, and this film, and its sequel, will never lose their advantage or their audience to that other sissy.

The new regime at Fox has put out The Flint movies in a great set with a low price.

Fox Home Video has announced the release of the Ultimate Flint Colleciton, which bundles the James Coburn starring films Our Man Flint and In Like Flint with an added disc of special features, which also includes the previously unreleased 1976 made-for-television movie Our Man Flint: Dead On Target starring Ray Danton. The three-disc set will be available to own on the 7th of November at a retail price of $19.98. We've included a listing of the set's features below, along with the artwork for the release.

Our Man Flint (Disc One)
Commentary by Film Historians Eddie Friedfeld & Lee Pfeiffer
Theatrical Trailer
Fox Flix: In Like Flint, Fathom, Modesty Blaise

In Like Flint (Disc Two)
Commentary by Eddie Friedfeld & Lee Pfeiffer
Theatrical Trailer
Fox Flix: In Like Flint, Fathom, Modesty Blaise

Special Features (Disc Three)
Our Man Flint: Dead On Target TV-Movie
The Musician's Magician
Future Perfect
Spy School
Spy Vogue
Feminine Wiles
In Like Flint - Puerto Rico Premiere
Spy-er-rama
A Gentleman's Game
Spy Style
The Making of Bouillabaisse
Screen Tests: Gila Golan for Our Man Flint, James Coburn & Gila Golan for Our Man Flint, Deanna Lund for In Like Flint
Trailers: The Chairman, The Quiller Memorandum, Deadfall, Peeper, The Magus, Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls

I became obsessed with finding this film, along with its sequel, after seeing the second Austin Powers. As a huge James Bond fan, I found Derek Flint and his ultra-cool approach to saving the world very entertaining. James Coburn is perfect in this role. He has more gadgets than Q could ever think up, he has four beautiful women living with him, and he can save the world without even trying. Overall, this film was a very amusing satire of the 007 series, and a must for any Austin Powers fan

I had this on vhs but couldn't resist this collection. And its just great, although I could not make it thru the so-called Flint TV show from the 70's. The only thing that feature had in common with the movies is the word "Flint" in the title. But don't let that small distraction get in the way owning this essential dvd. The commentary was very well done as were the other special features. If you are a fan of 60's spy movies, or Coburn, this is a must have. Finally, as with any classic movie that you really like, I find it is better to pick up a copy while it is still in production and readily available.

Fleming's James Bond was derived from Charteris' Saint, and Flint is derived from James Bond. Derek Flint is the best agent the United States has, and now they need him. Of course the fact that he has moved on, adds a bit of difficulty to bringing him in. You see he only takes an assignment if he wants to.

This was the best spoof of the Super-Spy genre up until True Lies. Flint is not anomalous with Bond, he is better in every way. He has more girls, more devices (though he designed his devices himself instead of relying on a Q division), is a superb martial artist, a scientist, an animal trainer, and the ultimate gentleman. Of course, the opposition is aware of him, and they try to remove him before he can be a factor, leaving a clue for him to track down.

Though Flint is too good to be true, Coburn carries the role out with just the right amount je ne sais quoi. Flint comes across as witty and charming, which is how I could describe the entire movie. It was very entertaining and I highly recommend it to anyone, expecially to fans of the Super-Spy genre.

Having read most of the nearly 100 reviews of this film (so far) I think there are a few things left to be said. In my opinion, it's one of the great genre films of all time, and I'll say a few words to defend this view.

First, although some of the reviewers have commented on the acting of James Coburn, and a few on Lee J. Cobb, the really important point is the stunning level of acting in the interaction between them. For my money, few films in any genre present as rich an interplay of personalities, depicted by two of the greatest actors of their day. Cobb's authoritarian, business-like attitude is the perfect foil for the sly, stylish, independent panache of Coburn's Flint. One would not be as great without the other, and the scenes in which they go head-to-head are so dynamic just because these two brilliant actors have made them that way. (If I ran an acting school I would make it a requirement that students study these scenes carefully.) After all, they are representing the very faultline of society itself in the 1960's, the military/corporate mind that seeks order and authority vs. the cultural and sexual revolution that sees these institutional forces as an obstacle, at best, to a well-ordered society. Detail: When Coburn (Flint) rejects Cobb's (Lloyd Cramden) weapons arsenal for his own weapon-laden lighter, he is also rejecting a briefcase for... well, a lighter! (Draw your own conclusion...)

Second, the film is a virtual inventory of sixties styling; it misses not a dress cut or a hairdo; even the switchable art decor of Flint's home carries the status of an iconic sixties look (Pop would be too obvious, I think). You can just follow this theme all the way to GALAXY's private island. I think it is easy to underestimate the brilliance of the styling: it serves as a kind of meta-spoof on what is already, in one aspect, a spoof of a genre. It's one thing to carefully recreate the look of an older era (e.g., The Sting) and quite another to capture the essence of your own era so carefully that it becomes a send-up of itself. Detail: GALAXY's front is... yuk yuk... a cosmetics company.

Third, the film hits on so many social themes of importance in the sixties that it is also a broader kind of cultural inventory: authority vs. individualism, women's liberation (one of the key scenes is when Flint "deprograms" Gila and his girlfriends, who have been captured and made into a "pleasure unit" - with the unmistakable implication that that is not a woman's role in life, even though Flint has enough slightly more conscious pleasure units of his own), the sexual revolution, the somewhat threatening advance of technology, the ability of human beings to alter the earth's environment, various influences of Eastern religion and culture, drugs (what's really in those cold cream jars?) and needless to say the whole idea of another world war between the West and... what? Keep in mind that GALAXY seeks to force everyone into a new Pax Romana, a sort of manmade paradise in which all the Shining, Happy People live in harmony forever... Does sound a bit Marxian, and Flint's "All I have to do is take a bite of your apple?" is a kiss-off to the far left, not so much on behalf of but in spite of the interests of the world powers who have tried to draft him to their cause. (Did I mention the draft?) Of course when I say it's an "inventory" I don't mean it in a dry sense, like a list - the film manages to interleave these themes in such a way that it hardly comes off as pedantic. Maybe not exactly subtle, but convincing enough given the film's broader structure.

Fourth, I'd like to know of another film that is equally brilliant as a spoof (though I think that word tends to give the wrong impression) and an action film. There may be a few, but they would have to owe something to Our Man Flint. I saw the film perhaps three of four times when it was in the theatres, and I did not get most of the comedy, really. I thought it was a great action/spy movie. When I bought the DVD many years later it was like watching a new movie. (Note to younger generation: when these films came out, there were no DVD's. There was no VCR or Betamax. Even color tv's were far from universal. Films were not released for a 2-week run and withdrawn as quickly as possible in order to sell as many home-viewing media as possible. Seeing a film again and again in theaters over a year or two was eminently possible - and "theater" meant a very large room with a very large screen, not the undersized multiplexed box with the spillover laughter from the film in Theater B. Will anyone ever see the Flint films in Cinemascope again? Seems unlikely. Too bad.)

Fifth, the special effects may seem dated now, but they were nothing to sneeze at then. Buildings that disappear into the ground? A lighter with 82 (other) weapons (a few of which are actually used in the film)? The destruction of GALAXY's core weather-control system, and many other scenes provide special effects that were second to very few films at the time. And the scenes in which GALAXY demonstrates its ability to destroy the world through the control of weather is eerily reminiscent of Day-After-Tomorrow-type scenarios of the effects of global warming; perhaps the first film to make that idea in some form a dominant theme.

Sixth (and I'll stop after this) the score is second to none. An absolutely brilliant job by Jerry Goldsmtith, which captures the excitement, the tension, the mystery, and the lulling effects of GALAXY's pseudo-paradise. A score that has since been covered by Hugo Montenegro, Herbie Mann, and many others, with good reason. As good or better than any James Bond score, except perhaps for the absence of a theme song. But then again, Bond doesn't have the Flint phone! In fact, how did I get to be writing a review here? Oh yes... I was looking for Our Man Flint ringtones!

So forget comparisons to Austin Powers, which can only demean this work of genius. Forget comparisons to Goldfinger or Thunderball, which put too much emphasis on just one aspect of this work. There are few other genre films this good; and I doubt there is another that can sport anything like the Cobb-Coburn team. Well - there is one: In Like Flint. But that does not have the grand conception or dramatic power of the original, and has some of the earmarks of a bad follow-up, picking up on similar themes (women's liberation in particular) without doing them justice (in fact, undoing some of what the first one accomplished). I'd say Buy This Film, but what I really want to say is: find a Cinemax theater and beg them to show this in its original version if they can. Second best, buy it and watch it five times. It will improve with experience.

If you enter with tongue firmly planted in cheek, and disbelief heartily suspended, the Flint series will not disappoint. James Coburn was the master of the slow-burn, and underrated as a comic actor--which is a shame, because the series is comedic in nature, despite the over the top earnestness. highly recommended!