This isn't the type of film I would normally seek out, but I've been on the lookout for it on the cable channels for a while now. Back in the early Sixties when I was in Scouting, our local troop regularly went to New York City on the Sunday at the beginning of Boy Scout Week. Our Scoutmaster had this thing for a movie and a show at Radio City Music Hall, and this is one of the films I recall from those excursions. (The others included "Days of Wine and Roses" and "Hatari" on separate trips). Amazingly, I was able to recall a few details about the flick before watching it once again today, like the reliance on scientific gizmos and the villainous plot having something to do with weather control. And the girls. You know, in hindsight, I have to wonder what our parent chaperons must have thought about our Scout leader's choice of entertainment, but the subject never came up afterward.
Back then, I was too young to realize that the picture was a spoof of the James Bond and spy mystery genre. All you have to do to realize that now is catch the opening of the picture with Lee J. Cobb heading up ZOWIE and you've got it knocked right from the start. But still, this picture had some pretty clever stuff for fifty years ago, like the disappearing building and the roll away vault trap. And how about Flint's heart stop trick used effectively to outwit those Galaxy goons. The best sounding gimmick though was the electro-fragmentizer, man I have got to get me one of those.
Anyway, this was my first look at James Coburn, who I hadn't come to appreciate until many years later in a variety of screen roles, mostly those multiple appearances in TV and movie Westerns. He makes for an unusually suave and sophisticated Bond clone, but when the script calls for cheesy, he's pure cheddar, and extra sharp at that.
In hindsight, I'm surprised that none of the young ladies cast as part of Flint's entourage were celebrities of the day, including his nemesis Gila Golan. But hey, right there near the top of the credits was one of Charlie Chan's favorite sons, Benson Fong as Doc Schneider. That was another clever bit actually, giving him the name Schneider and calling Peter Brocco 'Wu'.
Here's something I thought about during the picture as well - you could really have some fun with this concept as a director today. You substitute the weather control plot with one involving global warming, and you put Al Gore in the Malcolm Rodney role. Then when you have him do battle with the hero, he gets swooped up by a giant pro-American war eagle, who carries him off to the top of an active volcano and drops him in. The world is saved once more.
Say here's something to think about - if there's no such thing as a Battle of the Bulge ribbon, how did Flint know what the phony award was supposed to represent?
Back then, I was too young to realize that the picture was a spoof of the James Bond and spy mystery genre. All you have to do to realize that now is catch the opening of the picture with Lee J. Cobb heading up ZOWIE and you've got it knocked right from the start. But still, this picture had some pretty clever stuff for fifty years ago, like the disappearing building and the roll away vault trap. And how about Flint's heart stop trick used effectively to outwit those Galaxy goons. The best sounding gimmick though was the electro-fragmentizer, man I have got to get me one of those.
Anyway, this was my first look at James Coburn, who I hadn't come to appreciate until many years later in a variety of screen roles, mostly those multiple appearances in TV and movie Westerns. He makes for an unusually suave and sophisticated Bond clone, but when the script calls for cheesy, he's pure cheddar, and extra sharp at that.
In hindsight, I'm surprised that none of the young ladies cast as part of Flint's entourage were celebrities of the day, including his nemesis Gila Golan. But hey, right there near the top of the credits was one of Charlie Chan's favorite sons, Benson Fong as Doc Schneider. That was another clever bit actually, giving him the name Schneider and calling Peter Brocco 'Wu'.
Here's something I thought about during the picture as well - you could really have some fun with this concept as a director today. You substitute the weather control plot with one involving global warming, and you put Al Gore in the Malcolm Rodney role. Then when you have him do battle with the hero, he gets swooped up by a giant pro-American war eagle, who carries him off to the top of an active volcano and drops him in. The world is saved once more.
Say here's something to think about - if there's no such thing as a Battle of the Bulge ribbon, how did Flint know what the phony award was supposed to represent?