Derek Flint's second outing falls juuuuuust a bit shy of recapturing the fun-filled spirit of this short-lived series' first film, 1965's "OUR MAN FLINT".
Being more in the style of the "BATMAN" TV series (which 20th Century Fox produced at that time as well), this film accentuates more of the absolutely outlandish camp, as opposed to the more subtle (okay, not REAL subtle, but...) tongue-in-cheek, nudge-nudge, wink-wink of the original "Flint" film (at one point, the audience is invited to "follow the bouncing Russian Star" & sing along with the Russian National Anthem as our hero, disguised as Fidel Castro, hijacks a plane FROM Cuba TO the Virgin Islands to foil the villains' E-ville plot... oh, yeah, & rescue his bevy of Flint-ettes).
For the record, even if this film had fallen WAY shy of the first film in everything overall, it'd still be better than the thankfully-aborted TV pilot, "Our Man Flint: Dead on Target". Sorry, but no one else but James Coburn can bring the character of Derek Flint to life. Even so, it seems that Coburn's interest in the character had begun to wane a tad by this time; after all, 2 years had gone by since "OMF", the world's political view had begun to change radically, & the Summer of Love was in full swing, baby... yeeeeaaaaaaahhhh!!
"IN LIKE FLINT" still has some of the first film's charm, but quite a few of the plot points are VERY dated & insulting, especially when viewed in the cold light of today's often harsh, overly-PC environment. The filmmakers' attitude toward women being able to quite easily take over the world are not as readily accepted as in "The Avengers" episode, "How To Succeed... at Murder". In fact, most of the time, the general mentality -- even that of the suave & cool, ultra-hip, super-modern Derek Flint -- is downright primordial, even in light of, or despite, the '60s Women's Rights Movements.
Even though it ain't great, it still ain't too bad, all things considered. I've seen much worse go around for years & if this is to be considered possibly James Coburn's only celluloid crime, he's waaaaaaaaay ahead of the game. Not a terrible feather to have in one's acting cap... or DVD collection.
Being more in the style of the "BATMAN" TV series (which 20th Century Fox produced at that time as well), this film accentuates more of the absolutely outlandish camp, as opposed to the more subtle (okay, not REAL subtle, but...) tongue-in-cheek, nudge-nudge, wink-wink of the original "Flint" film (at one point, the audience is invited to "follow the bouncing Russian Star" & sing along with the Russian National Anthem as our hero, disguised as Fidel Castro, hijacks a plane FROM Cuba TO the Virgin Islands to foil the villains' E-ville plot... oh, yeah, & rescue his bevy of Flint-ettes).
For the record, even if this film had fallen WAY shy of the first film in everything overall, it'd still be better than the thankfully-aborted TV pilot, "Our Man Flint: Dead on Target". Sorry, but no one else but James Coburn can bring the character of Derek Flint to life. Even so, it seems that Coburn's interest in the character had begun to wane a tad by this time; after all, 2 years had gone by since "OMF", the world's political view had begun to change radically, & the Summer of Love was in full swing, baby... yeeeeaaaaaaahhhh!!
"IN LIKE FLINT" still has some of the first film's charm, but quite a few of the plot points are VERY dated & insulting, especially when viewed in the cold light of today's often harsh, overly-PC environment. The filmmakers' attitude toward women being able to quite easily take over the world are not as readily accepted as in "The Avengers" episode, "How To Succeed... at Murder". In fact, most of the time, the general mentality -- even that of the suave & cool, ultra-hip, super-modern Derek Flint -- is downright primordial, even in light of, or despite, the '60s Women's Rights Movements.
Even though it ain't great, it still ain't too bad, all things considered. I've seen much worse go around for years & if this is to be considered possibly James Coburn's only celluloid crime, he's waaaaaaaaay ahead of the game. Not a terrible feather to have in one's acting cap... or DVD collection.