May 20, 2013

Secret Agent Spoofs on TCM Tonight

Set your DVRs: Turner Classic Movies has a great lineup of Sixties spy movies tonight! Spy spoofs to be exact. The fun starts at 8PM with James Coburn in Our Man Flint, followed by a pair of Matt Helm flicks, The Silencers and Murderers' Row (the latter being best of that series, in my opinion), Carry On Spying, and the two Vincent Price parodies, Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine and Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs. So it's a very silly night of spying. In my opinion, every one of those movies are worth watching, though the actual quality varies quite a bit. Girl Bombs, in particular, is rather horrible, even though it's directed by one of the all-time masters of the craft, Mario Bava. The U.S. cut airing on TCM, however, is not very representative of Bava's work, as it differs considerably from his Italian cut, which actually served as a sequel to an entirely different movie. (Read more about that here.) But the first Dr. Goldfoot film is really quite enjoyable! The only downside is that there are no real rarities in this batch; all of these titles are available on DVD. But despite owning them all, I have a feeling I'm going to find myself sucked into this marathon tonight nonetheless! It serves as a terrific primer to the sillier side of the genre. For more information, check TCM's excellent website, which has incredibly in-depth and informative write-ups on each individual title.

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