Tuesday, August 13, 2013

On DVD: In Like Flint (1967)

James Coburn's 2nd and final outing as secret agent Derek Flint, "In Like Flint", sends Flint on an impromptu world tour to put down an attempt at world domination from some unlikely sources.

The Fabulous Face spa in the Virgin Islands serves as a front for a group of wealthy, likeable women who want to take over the world. To this end, they abduct the President (Andrew Duggan) and replace him with an out of work actor who has been turned into the chief executive's exact double via plastic surgery. Spy chief Lloyd Cramden (Lee J. Cobb, The Virginian) discovers that his stopwatch was working at the time, and now, there's three minutes he can't remember.

Flint's trail takes him on a circuitous path to Moscow, where he joins the ballet to meet a contact (Yvonne Craig, right before she joined the cast of Batman), who turns out to be a double agent. Once he escapes the Russians, Flint finally makes his way to the Virgin Islands, but the women of Fabulous Face have in turn been betrayed by a more power-hungry General who decides to go up into space to detonate a nuclear device. Yeah, this does get wacky at the end.

The DVD package includes a testimonial from another fictional spy, Austin Powers (Mike Myers), who said in the 1999 film, "The Spy Who Shagged Me", that "In Like Flint" is his favorite film. Hey, give him credit for good taste.

Scope the trailer:



There are some silly spots where you'd have no choice but to facepalm, but otherwise, it's fine for what it is.

Rating: B-.

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