Paul Gulacy Paints Flint Tribute with Nick Fury, Black Widow and Shang-Chi

Paul Gulacy, a comic book artist instantly synonymous with spies thanks to his stellar work on titles like James Bond 007: Serpents Tooth and Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, has revealed a new piece on his website that will be of particular interest to fans of the genre. The commission recreates Bob Peak's famous poster art for In Like Flint with Marvel spy heroes like Nick Fury, Black Widow (a la Maud Adams), Shang-Chi, Clive Reston and Leiko Wu. I particularly love seeing Fury in the Flint pose, as James Coburn would have certainly made an excellent Nick Fury at one time! (His role in Hudson Hawk, though not patched, actually feels of a piece to some degree with the Fake Nick Furies that populated filmdom prior to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, like Charlton Heston in True Lies, Angelina Jolie in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and a pre-Fury Sam Jackson in xXx.) Interestingly, Gulacy drew a spot-on Coburn as the hero of a horror comic that ran in Eerie Magazine in 1979. His epic espionage saga Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu (written by frequent collaborator Doug Moench) is currently (finally!) being reprinted by Marvel in massive hardcover Omnibus editions, which are worth every penny of their somewhat steep price tag. Here's the iconic original poster that inspired this awesome painting:

Lots of Los Angeles Sixties Spy Screenings Coming Up in August

There are a lot of very stylish Sixties spies playing on the big screen in Los Angeles this month.

First up, on August 7 and 8 (a Sunday and a Monday), Quentin Tarantino's New Beverly Cinema will screen the fourth and final Matt Helm movie, The Wrecking Crew (1968) on a Sharon Tate double fill with Roman Polanski's wonderful Hammer spoof The Fearless Vampire Killers. Besides Tate, The Wrecking Crew stars Dean Martin (The Silencers, Murderers' Row), Nancy Kwan (Wonder Women), Tina Louise (Fanfare for a Death Scene), Nigel Green (The Ipcress File, Deadlier Than the Male) and my own very favorite Sixties Spy Girl, the stunning Elke Sommer (Deadlier Than the Male, The Prize). Sure, the silly, spoofy Helm movies are very poor representations of Donald Hamilton's terrific, hard-hitting, and very serious novels, and sure, they're not very, er, good (in the conventional sense), but they are certainly entertaining! It's rare to see any of them play the revival circuit, and when one does it's usually one of the first two. I don't think I've ever seen The Wrecking Crew playing in a theater during the 16 years I've lived in L.A. The Wrecking Crew will screen in 35mm. Tickets are just $8.00 for both films, available at the box office or online.

Then, on Sunday, August 21, the American Cinematheque's Aero Theatre in Santa Monica will present a double feature of two particularly pop art spy movies, Our Man Flint and Modesty Blaise (both 1966) as part of their series "The Groovy Movies of 1966.") The first of the Derek Flint spy spoofs stars the inimitable James Coburn as the suave, know-it-all superspy, along with Lee J. Cobb, Gila Golan and Charlie Chan regular Benson Fong. But the film belongs, 100%, to Coburn. It simply wouldn't work without him, and because of him it's a must-see.

Joseph Losey's Modesty Blaise has about as much to do with Peter O'Donnell's series of novels and comic strips as the Dino Matt Helm films do with those books... and also like the Helm movies, it can't really be called good. But it's still an eye-popping miasma of glorious Sixties design excess with a wonderfully infectious score by Johnny Dankworth (The Avengers). In fact, it boasts by far the best production design of any of these three films, and would be well worth seeing on the big screen for that reason alone... except that there is another reason. And that reason is Dirk Bogarde (Hot Enough for June) as Gabriel--positively the greatest Sixties spy villain trapped in one of the decade's otherwise weaker mainstream genre entries. Bogarde is an absolute treat in this film. Every line delivery is exquisite, and surely this role ranks among the all-time great camp performances. Terrence Stamp (Chessgame), Harry Andrews (The Deadly Affair, Danger Route), Clive Revill (Fathom) and a hopelessly miscast Monica Vitti in the title role also star. These films will be shown on DCP. Tickets to the double feature (which kicks off at 7:30pm) are $11.00 for the general public and may be purchased online or at the theater box office.

L.A. spy fans, don't miss the rare opportunity to see any of these campy Sixties spy spoofs on the big screen!

Roach and Myers Still Contemplating Fourth Austin Powers Movie

Dark Horizons reports that director Jay Roach (whose LBJ biopic All the Way recently premiered on HBO) and star Mike Myers (Inglourious Basterds) are still kicking around ideas for a fourth Austin Powers movie. "You know, we talk about it every time we get together," the director told Larry King Now. "It ebbs and flows, and I would say it's in a latent phase right now, but someday if we find the right idea that seems to have it earn itself, for sure." Asked by King if they had a specific idea for the sequel, Roach replied, "We've had a whole bunch. It's been many years of kicking around, and we've had so many, but there's no one that's kind of stuck yet." So it doesn't sound like anything very concrete is happening on this front. That's probably for the best. While the first film (which will be two decades old next year, if you can believe it) was brilliant and hilarious, the sequels proved the law of diminishing returns. Still, they managed to shine a spotlight on Sixties spy movies, which is always a good thing. It was in the run-up to the third Powers movie that Fox released Our Man Flint and In Like Flint on DVD for the first time (with a weird cover blurb on the sequel attributed to Austin Powers himself proclaiming it, "My favorite movie!"), along with Fathom and Modesty Blaise (the latter of which makes its Blu-ray debut this summer via Kino Lorber). So if another Austin Powers movie meant more obscure spy titles making their way to home video, then I'd be all for it.

Digging into the Double O Section archives, I see that I've already written this blurb virtually verbatim (right down to the Fathom reference) at least twice before, and probably more. Rumors of another Austin Powers adventure tend to pop up every couple of years. Back in 2011, New Line was reported to be "close to a deal" with Myers for a film focusing on the villainous Dr. Evil and his son Scott. More recently, The New York Times reported that Myers was planning to resurrect the character on Broadway instead. Neither ultimately panned out.

A Great Sale on Flint Blu-rays Ends Today

Twilight Time titles rarely go on sale. In fact, they never have before. But to celebrate the boutique label's third anniversary, exclusive distributor Screen Archives Entertainment is offering $10 off a selection of their titles, including several spy releases! And since Twilight Time discs tend to be quite expensive, that discount might make all the difference if you've been holding off on buying these because they cost too much. The good news is that the sale includes the terrific, special features-laden Blu-ray releases of the James Coburn spy classics Our Man Flint and In Like Flint (discs featuring yours truly as a "talking head" expert in the new documentaries, hubris requires me to add!), and Twilight Time's very first offering, the only ever DVD release of John Huston's The Kremlin Letter. The Flint titles, normally a possibly prohibitive $29.95 apiece, are on sale for a more than reasonable $19.95 each, and The Kremlin Letter is just $9.95! The bad news is that I have been remiss as a dutiful spy blogger (damn that hubris, always coming back to bite me in the ass!), and have waited until the very final day of the sale to let you know. Which means that you only have until 4:00pm Eastern Time, or 1:00pm Pacific, to snag these amazing deals. To repeat, the sale ends today at 4pm Eastern! So act quickly. And while I may have blown all credibility as an impartial reviewer by admitting that I'm part of the documentaries on the Flint discs, I want to make it clear that I'm not just hawking these titles because of my involvement. It's more because they're truly fantastic releases of seminal Sixties spy spoofs. The new documentaries, exclusive to this release, are produced by John Cork, who co-produced all those excellent documentaries on the James Bond Special Edition DVDs and Blu-rays. And even though I'm in them, I have to admit I also learned a lot from each piece. On top of those new features, the discs also contain all the original special features previously available on DVD. (They don't, however, included the TV movie Our Man Flint: Dead on Target, which came with the DVDs.) These are truly essential spy Blu-rays.

Read more about the special features on Our Man Flint here.
Read more about the special features on In Like Flint here.
Read more about The Kremlin Letter here.

Order Our Man Flint here.
Order In Like Flint here.
Order The Kremlin Letter here.

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.

New Spy DVDs Out Today: James Bond and Beyond!

Today is a huge day for spy DVD and Blu-ray releases! The celestial body around which all of these releases are orbiting is, of course, Skyfall (review here). The 23rd official James Bond movie is available on DVD and Blu-ray from MGM and Fox. Special features include two audio commentaries (perhaps to make up for none on Quantum of Solace?), one featuring director Sam Mendes, the other with producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson and Production Designer Dennis Gassner, an hour-long making-of documentary called "Shooting Bond," a featurette on the premiere, a 1-minute spot advertising the soundtrack, and the film's theatrical trailer. The film is presented in a 2.40:1 widescreen aspect ratio, which is somewhat controversial because it could be seen in two different aspect ratios theatrically. Personally, I preferred the taller 1.9:1 presentation seen in IMAX theaters. Mendes and cinematographer extraordinaire Roger Deakins shot with both formats in mind, but claimed not to have framed specifically for one or the other. The 1.9:1 version cut off some information on the sides of the frame, but the 2.40:1 version cut off some information at the top and bottom. To my eye, the IMAX image looked more natural. But the difference is really negligible enough that it's not worth dwelling on this much; I just wanted to let people know which one is on the disc. Had they provided both options, I might well end up so paralyzed with Hamlet-like indecision every time I put the movie on that I would never end up actually watching it, and that would be a tragedy! Skyfall is a wonderful Bond movie, and it really goes without saying that it belongs in every Bond fan's library. Retail is listed as $39.99 for the Blu-ray and $29.98 for the DVD, though both are already significantly discounted this week on Amazon and at other retailers. Amazon also has the Bond 50 Blu-ray collection on sale this week for just $129.99, and that's even got an empty slot reserved for Skyfall. So if you held off buying it last year, pick it up now and you'll have all 23 official 007 movies to date in one convenient, attractive package!

Also out today (though pre-orders have been shipping early), and making its high-def debut, is Twilight Time's Blu-ray of In Like Flint. Last month the specialty label released its predecessor, Our Man Flint on Blu-ray, and the sequel comes just as loaded with special features as that one was! And like on the first release, I'm on some of them (under my actual name, Matthew Bradford, and billed as a "Spy Film Historian," which is certainly accurate), discussing the impact of the Flint movies and their star, James Coburn. I'm in these ones a lot more, in fact, than I was on Our Man, so if you're among the millions and millions of fans buying these for me rather than Coburn, you're in luck! Bonus material on In Like Flint includes an audio track featuring Jerry Goldsmith's complete isolated score, an audio commentary with Cinema Retro's Lee Pfeiffer and film historian Eddy Friedfeld, trailers, a rare screen test, and the featurettes "Derek Flint: The Secret Files," "James Coburn: The Man Beyond the Spy," "Designing Flint," "Flint vs Zanuck: The Missing 3 Minutes," "Puerto Rico Premiere," "Future Perfect," "Feminine Wiles," "Spy School," "Musician's Magician," "Spy Vogue," and "Take It Off." That last one is a vintage featurette that seems to be promoting the movie to women(?) while at the same time insulting them (?), and doing it via a weight-loss advertisement. If you manage to make it all the way through its interminable running time, I sincerely doubt you'll ever revisit that one, but it's still nice to have, of course, as a weird, unwatchable time capsule. Fortunately, the rest are all fascinating! Some of these are retained from the previous DVD edition, but some are brand-new documentaries created exclusively for the Blu-ray release by John Cork, co-producer of those wonderful documentaries on the James Bond Special Editions. Sadly what's missing from this release that was on the DVD edition is the attempted Seventies TV revival of the character, Our Man Flint: Dead On Target, starring Eurospy leading man Ray Danton as the irrepressible Derek Flint. It's true that the TV movie is far from essential (in fact it bears little resemblance to the Sixties films, and Flint himself is a mere private eye, not an international playboy superspy) and that poor Danton (who was excellent in some of his Eurospy work) struggles to fill Coburn's large shoes... but as a spy completist I still want to own it. That means I'll have to hang onto my DVD set despite buying these new Blu-rays. Oh well. The new special features on Twilight Time's edition certainly make this Blu-ray a must-buy for Sixties spy fans even without the TV movie! Seriously, this is sure to be one of the major spy releases of the year. The region-free Blu-ray is a limited edition of just 3,000 units, and retails for $29.95 exclusively through Screen Archives Entertainment. These limited editions do sell out, so be sure to order soon!

Also timed to piggyback on Skyfall's release is BBC's DVD of the Top Gear special 50 Years of Bond Cars. The special, presented by Richard Hammond last fall to tie in with the theatrical release of Skyfall, is one of the best James Bond TV specials I've ever seen. It's a must-see for fans of Bond cars especially, and I'm so glad that it's getting a DVD release because it's one I definitely want to own for posterity. Not only does Hammond interview a number of 007 production personnel (including Guy Hamilton, Roger Moore and Daniel Craig) and test drive some original Bondmobiles, but he also pilots an actual working Lotus submarine car! Top Gear's version is based on an Excel rather than an Esprit, but unlike the production version(s) used in The Spy Who Loved Me, this one actually functions as both a street car and a submarine! Seriously, this is one you want in your Bond collection. Best of all, it's a real steal with a bargain SRP of just $9.95... and it's even less than that on Amazon.

What's this doing on here? Avengers fans, take note! Six years after the first two seasons of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries came out from Universal, Shout! Factory is releasing the third Hardy Boys season, sans Nancy this time, on DVD today. Why is this of particular interest to spy fans? Well, the show does sometimes deal in espionage, and in this season the Hardy men have graduated college and are official government agents themselves. In one two-parter, they even help a Soviet defector wishing to relocate to Hawaii... but that's not why I'm mentioning it. Not specifically, anyway. No, I'm mentioning it because Patrick Macnee (who celebrated his 91st birthday last week) turns up as a guest star in the episode "Assault on the Tower" playing a debonair, bowler hat-wearing British agent identified only as S. This was just a year after The New Avengers went off the air, so fans of John Steed will probably want to add the DVD to their library. (Well, completists, anyway, like myself.) The 3-disc set retails for $24.97, though it can be ordered through Amazon for significantly less.

I know I've been remiss on my weekly spy DVD alerts lately. So later this week I'll do a post rounding up all the spy releases so far this year. Stay tuned!

Pre-Order In Like Flint on Blu-Ray Today!

Following up on this month's release of Our Man Flint on Blu-ray, specialty label Twilight Time is releasing the 1967 sequel, In Like Flint, on February 12. And pre-orders for this limited edition begin today, exclusively through Screen Archives Entertainment! Like Our Man Flint, the In Like Flint Blu-ray (which is region-free) comes loaded with special features. And like on the first release, I'm on some of them, discussing (under my actual name, Matthew Bradford) the impact of the Flint movies and their star, James Coburn! Bonus material on In Like Flint includes an audio track featuring Jerry Goldsmith's complete isolated score, an audio commentary with Cinema Retro's Lee Pfeiffer and film historian Eddy Friedfeld, trailers, a rare screen test, and the featurettes "Derek Flint: The Secret Files," "James Coburn: The Man Beyond the Spy," "Designing Flint," "Flint vs Zanuck: The Missing 3 Minutes," "Take it Off," "Puerto Rico Premiere," "Future Perfect," "Feminine Wiles," "Spy School," "Musician's Magician," and "Spy Vogue." Some of these are retained from the previous DVD edition, but some are brand-new documentaries created exclusively for the Blu-ray release by John Cork, co-producer of those wonderful documentaries on the James Bond Special Editions. Sadly what's missing from the DVD release (apparently) is the attempted Seventies TV revival of the character, Our Man Flint: Dead On Target, starring Eurospy leading man Ray Danton as the irrepressible Derek Flint. It's true that the TV movie is far from essential (in fact it bears little resemblance to the Sixties films, and Flint himself is a mere private eye, not an international playboy superspy) and poor Danton (who was excellent in some of his Eurospy work) struggles to fill Coburn's large shoes, but as a spy completist I still want to own it. That means I'll have to hang onto my DVD set despite buying these new Blu-rays. Oh well. The new special features on Twilight Time's edition certainly make this Blu-ray a must-buy for Sixties spy fans even without the TV movie! (And even despite the steep $29.95 price tag.) Like all of the label's releases, In Like Flint is a limited edition of just 3,000 units. These titles sell out, so order soon! Luckily, the first movie hasn't sold out yet and is still available to order through the site.

Limited Edition Our Man Flint Blu-ray Now Available to Pre-Order

The Our Man Flint Blu-ray from specialty label Twilight Time is now available to pre-order from Screen Archives Entertainment! And pre-ordering might be a good idea; Twilight Time's releases are all limited editions, and they frequently sell out. Our Man Flint is strictly limited to 3000 copies, so ensure yourself a copy by ordering today. This is a very exciting release, because unlike a lot of Twilight Time titles, it boasts a plethora of special features, many of them newly created for the Blu-ray. (And some of those extras involve me, so, you know, I've got to admit, I find that kind of cool.) This disc will include an audio track with Jerry Goldsmith's complete isolated score, an audio commentary with Cinema Retro's Lee Pfeiffer and Eddie Friedfeld, the original theatrical trailer, the featurettes from The Ultimate Flint Collection DVDs "Spy Style" (6:46), "Spy-er-ama" (9:13), "Perfect Bouillabaisse" (1:28), "A Gentleman's Game" (4:15), screen tests with James Coburn and Gila Golan (4:36) and Coburn and Raquel Welch (1:53), three storyboard sequences ("Escape from Galaxy Island," "Control Room Battle" and "Escape from Armageddon"), and the all-new documentaries "Derek Flint: A Spy is Born" (24:54), "Directing Flint: Daniel Mann" (11:14) and "Flint vs Kael" (6:11). Those docs were produced by John Cork, one of the guys responsible for the amazing behind-the-scenes documentaries on the James Bond special editions, so they're bound to be good. (And I'd be saying that even if I hadn't been interviewed for them!) This spy spoof classic starring the inimitable James Coburn (surely the suavest of all the 007 wannabes) will be available exclusively from the online retailer Screen Archives Entertainment for $29.95, and is availble to pre-order now. The disc will ship on January 15. An In Like Flint Blu-ray (which I hope will also boast new extras) follows on February 12. That's a great way to start the new year for Sixties spy fans!

Details on the Flint Blu-rays: New Extras!

In October, we learned that specialty label Twilight Time would be releasing the two Flint films on Blu-ray in early 2013, which was very exciting news already. Now we know more, and now these releases are even more exciting. Our Man Flint (1966) will boast all-new special features! Twilight Time has released a list of extras on their Facebook page (along with cover art), and it's pretty impressive. The disc will include an audio track with Jerry Goldsmith's complete isolated score, an audio commentary with Cinema Retro's Lee Pfeiffer and Eddie Friedfeld, the original theatrical trailer, the featurettes from The Ultimate Flint Collection DVDs "Spy Style" (6:46), "Spy-er-ama" (9:13), "Perfect Bouillabaisse" (1:28), "A Gentleman's Game" (4:15), screen tests with James Coburn and Gila Golan (4:36) and Coburn and Raquel Welch (1:53), three storyboard sequences ("Escape from Galaxy Island," "Control Room Battle" and "Escape from Armageddon"), and the all-new documentaries "Derek Flint: A Spy is Born" (24:54), "Directing Flint: Daniel Mann" (11:14) and "Flint vs Kael" (6:11). Those docs were produced by John Cork, one of the guys responsible for the amazing behind-the-scenes documentaries on the James Bond special editions, so they're bound to be good. Additionally, one of the so-called experts interviewed is a certain spy blogger well known to readers around here, so if you're dying to see what I look like in high-def, then don't hesitate to buy this release! Pre-orders for this limited edition Blu-ray of Our Man Flint begin December 19 at 4PM from exclusive vendor Screen Archive Entertainment. The disc will be out on January 15, followed by In Like Flint (which I hope will also boast new extras) on February 12. That's a great way to start the year for Sixties spy fans!

Upcoming Spy Blu-Rays: Flint in High-Def

Specialty label Twilight Time, who release 20th Century Fox catalog titles in limited editions of 3,000 (and began their run with a spy release, The Kremlin Letter), unveiled their first titles of 2013 on their Facebook page yesterday... and among them are two eagerly awaited Blu-ray spy titles! Our Man Flint (1966) makes its high-definition debut on January 15, and its 1967 sequel In Like Flint follows a month later on February 12. Both star the inimitable James Coburn as the flawless superspy Derek Flint. No details are available yet, but Twilight Time Blu-rays tend to retail for $34.95 and the most common extra is an isolated score track. (Jerry Goldsmith composed the wonderful Flint music.) I happen to know for a fact that there was a documentary about the Flint films produced several years ago for a cancelled Fox Blu-ray release. I really, really hope that turns up on one of these Twilight Time discs! Twilight Time titles are sold exclusively by Screen Archives Entertainment.

Derek Flint Returns... In Comics

This is cool! Moonstone, the comic book company specializing in licensed characters from a bygone era, has added Derek Flint to a roster that already includes Honey West and The Saint, among many others.  That Man Flint #0, a 16-page color comic book by Gary Phillips and Kevin Jones, will introduce a new generation of comics readers to the superspy and Jack-of-all-trades originated by James Coburn in the movies Our Man Flint and In Like Flint.  ICv2 reports that the cover price on this special preview issue is just $1.99, with a retailer incentive for ordering four copies.  Make sure you ask your local comic shop to order you a copy.  (Hey, while you're at it you should also ask them to order you a copy of my comic, Night and Fog, which finally came out in trade paperback in January. I just realized that I'm pimping someone else's book on my blog more than my own simply because it's not a spy comic, and that ain't right, so I decided to insert this awkward and unrelated plug. You can also order the Night and Fog trade paperback on Amazon. Ahem. Back to the business at hand.) Here's Moonstone's description of That Man Flint:

Mods, mini-skirts and Vietnam. Paisley shirts and satellites. Afros and lasers. The Cold War is hot and the Red Chinese aren’t the only ones doing the brainwashing. Love is in the air, but everyone isn’t groovy.

Derek Flint, inventor, ballet instructor, editor and contributor of <sic> the revised Kama Sutra, transcendentalist and translator of an ancient Mayan cookbook, seeker of the third eye and freelance spy, is the one M.A.C.E. (Mandated Actions for Covert Enforcement) calls on to tackle their most perilous assignments.

From crazed Nazi scientists hatching dastardly plans, sultry Russian spies with killer bodies and kung fu grips, super strength cyborg assassins, to fiendish henchmen and quixotic masterminds, these are examples of adversaries mystery writer Gary Phillips (Operator 5 and Decimator Smith) will throw at the cool, collected Mr. Flint. With his gadgets and skills, aided by his quartet of brainy glamour gals, That Man Flint is a retro revisionist series capturing the fun, feel and excitement of halcyon espionage fare such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Bond in Goldfinger, and Steranko’s Nick Fury for today’s audience.

M.A.C.E., huh?  So I guess they were able to secure the rights to the character, but somehow not his original organization, Z.O.W.I.E.?  That's kind of weird.  And did they get the rights to Flint's signature gadget, a cigarette lighter with eighty-two different functions ("Eighty-three if you want to light a cigar!")? I can't help but notice that it's no longer part of this revised Flint logo, and the copy mentions "gadgets" when the original Flint always relied on just this one. 

Even without the actor, hopefully this endeavor will channel James Coburn's Flint, because he simply is Derek Flint, as proven when Eurospy star Ray Danton ill-advisedly attempted to pick up the mantle for the TV movie Our Man Flint: Dead On Target. Mark Maddox's cover artwork definitely captures the energy and spirit of the Flint movies (it's a very nice Flint touch that he's kicking a uniformed authority figure in the top image, as the movies always figured out ways for Flint, who was sort of the counterculture's spy hero, to attack people in uniforms) except for one crucial detail: I feel like Derek Flint should be smiling.  James Coburn had a famous smile and always gave the impression that he was having a good time, however bad the situation he was in.  Bob Peak's classic Sixties poster images always captured that, so it's weird for me to see a grim, scowling Flint on these covers. That said, I do love the second image as spy art, despite the character's expression. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this project shapes up!

Upcoming Spy DVDs: Coburn And U.N.C.L.E. Return!

There were several very exciting spy DVD announce-ments yesterday.

The Internecine Project

First, we get a very hard-to-find James Coburn spy movie! While most of Coburn's more famous entries in the genre (the Flint movies, Hudson Hawk and the absolutely essential classic The President's Analyst) are currently available, 1974's The Internecine Project has remained elusive until now. (Though it did get a full-screen only Region 2 release in England.) No longer! DVD Sleuth reports that Code Red will release a Region 1 DVD this summer. "Internecine," by the way, means "pertaining to multiple murders" or "characterized by great slaughter," which actually gives you quite a good idea of what this movie's about. (Weirdly, I recently had occasion to publicly pronounce this word and found it very difficult to put the appropriate emphasis on the "nees" part, wanting for some reason to stress "intern" instead.) Coburn plays a former CIA agent appointed to a flashy new political post. But to get it, he'll have to remove anyone with knowledge of his shadowy past. To do so, he concocts a diabolical plan to get all of his enemies to kill each other. Surprisingly, this dark, dark thriller is directed by one of the five credited directors of 1967's farcical version of Casino Royale, Ken Hughes--and written by Barry Levinson!

Who?

The same article at DVD Sleuth also reveals that Code Red has acquired the rights to the 1973 Elliott Gould/Trevor Howard Cold War thriller Who? The plot mixes espionage and robots--but in a very gritty, serious, Seventies way, not a Sixties Casino Royale/Some Girls Do Way, if you can believe it! That's also scheduled for summer 2009.

The Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Hurrah! TVShowsOnDVD reports that Paramount will release the 1983 CBS TV movie The Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E. (aka "The 15 Years Later Affair") on DVD March 3, 2009. Being made for television, the 97-minute feature will naturally be presented in full-screen. Not only should this news thrill U.N.C.L.E. fans (many of whom lamented its omission from Warner's otherwise thoroughly impressive Complete Series box set), but Bond and Avengers fans as well. The movie fittingly co-starred other former spies Patrick Macnee (stepping in as a replacement for U.N.C.L.E. boss Mr. Waverly, owing to Leo G. Carroll's death in 1972) and George Lazenby (as a tuxedoed, Aston Martin-driving secret agent identified only as "JB"). No word at this point on any extras or cover art.

Burn After Reading

Focus Features has moved up the release date of the Coen Brothers' recent, hilarious spy comedy Burn After Reading from the previously-announced December 23 to the new date of Friday, December 21. Despite the unusual day of the week, this move should benefit last-minute Christmas shoppers, and make it more possible for spy fans everywhere to find Burn After Reading in their stocking come the 25th!

The Quiller Memorandum

Today Fox releases its batch of "Classic Spy Films" to coincide with the Bond release. This includes The Quiller Memorandum, The Chairman and The Ultimate Flint Collection. All the discs come in very nice packaging utilising stunning original poster artwork. Boy, I really sound like a studio press release there, don't I? I can't help it. I like original poster artwork. I like it a lot, and I can't understand why other studios DON'T use it! (I'm looking at you, MGM, with your lousy photoshop Bond covers!) Furthermore, each disc (or discs, in the case of Flint) is housed in a glossy cardboard slipcase with the same artwork. Sure, it makes it a little bulky, but it looks very classy. And Quiller even features alternate poster artwork on the back!

This is the first time on DVD in the US for The Quiller Memorandum. Quiller was written by playwright Harold Pinter based on a novel by Adam Hall (the pseudonym of Elleston Trevor) and stars George Segal, Alec Guiness, Max Von Sydow and Eurospy favorite Senta Berger.

I'll post my thoughts on the movie tomorrow. As for the features, apparently we get less than was offered on Network's Region 2 release earlier this year. I believe that release had some original on set interviews with the stars, among other things. What Fox offers is the original trailer and a commentary with "film historians" Eddie Friedfeld and Lee Pfeiffer. Spy fans will probably be familiar with Pfeiffer as the co-author of such books as The Incredible World of 007, The Essential Bond and The Films of Sean Connery. I'm naturally dubious about any commentary tracks from "film historians," especially when talent from the movie is still alive. (Where was George Segal? Where was Harold Pinter??? That would have been some commentary!) However, I'm happy to report that Pfeiffer and Friedfeld do a good job on this one. They do go off on tangents and make some of those annoying jokes that "experts" tend to make, but they know the material and they're clearly friends and have a good chemistry with each other. There's rarely a pause on the track, and they sometimes cut one another off or finish each other's sentences. What makes their track really interesting is that they disagree about the movie. One of them (I'm afraid I can't recall which) really admires it and the other is more ambivilant. They debate Segal's somnambulent performance and Pinter's refusal to ever give us any information about his characters. Both make good points. It's definitely worth a listen.

Overall, I'd say the movie is more a Pinter movie than a spy movie, but it still belongs in any thorough Sixties spy collection.