Rating: **
Review Date: 3/25/17
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Cast: James Coburn, Lee J. Cobb, Jean Hale, Yvonne Craig, Anna Lee
A tiresome and tedious sequel to "Our Man Flint" (1965) that pokes fun at feminism and the Cold War space race. A group of female tycoons infiltrate the White House by replacing the US President with a look-alike. Then they take over a space station and attempt to arm it with atomic weaponry so that they can rule the world. Only Derek Flint (James Coburn) and his disarming charms can save the day by battling bikini-clad beauties in the Virgin Islands.
Unfortunately, the inane silliness wears you down pretty quickly and the film feels like it's an hour too long. The gender politics are cringe-worthy and the chauvinistic dialog is hard to swallow, although the most profound and remarkable thing Flint says when asked why he's so irresistible to women is "because I don't compete with them." The budget seems considerably less than the original and the production looks cheap and tacky. Coburn has a lot of fun with the role and I have to give him credit for being able to project a sense of coolness and total concentration while attempting to communicate with a dolphin. However, for all of his wit and charm, Flint fails to be endearing and I found him completely annoying. Lee J. Cobb returns as a straight man to Flint's outrageousness, but his constant befuddlement wears thin. Many of the girls that adorn the film are very pretty, but they only serve as eye candy. Yvonne Craig has a brief cameo as a Russian dancer, which provides one of the film's silliest and sexiest moments.
The humor is very topical for the 1960's and doesn't play particularly well fifty years later. The film's most poignant stab at political commentary comes when a bewildered Flint says "an actor as president?" While this was probably a completely absurd notion at the time, it fails to be funny when you've got a former game show host running the country. The action scenes are weak and come across as a bizarre combination of Batman and James Bond. Overall, the film is a disappointment, and it's not surprising that it would be Derek Flint's last outing.