Review of Our Man Flint (1966) by Charlie G — 29 Nov 2015

The difficulty with parody of '60s spy dramas is telling the difference between the intentionally absurd and a regular Bond film. Almost every ridiculous feature of this film showed up in later Bond films, from the plot to destroy the world except for a few elites (Moonraker) to the hero's ability to stop his heart through meditation (Die Another Day).

It even manages to presage Blofeld's hidden island lair from You Only Live Twice (released the following year). About the only hint that it's a parody come in its self-referential jokes, such as agent 0008 blaming Spectre or Flint rejecting a very Bondsian briefcase.

So what we're left with is a spy parody that feels like a regular '60s spy film except where the hero is even more annoyingly perfect than Bond. This still makes it perfectly watchable as a '60s action film, and probably the best of the Bond knockoffs, but if you want pure parody you're better off trying the Austin Powers films (which copy this film a lot actually, from the evil plan to hold the Earth for ransom to the forklift murder) which are a bit more openly parodic.