In Like Flint Blu-ray Review

In Like Flint is a fun comedy for sure although it does overstay its welcome by a good 15-20 minutes. Still, James Coburn is charming once again as the title character and there’s just enough sly fun to keep one’s attention until the end.

 

 

In Like Flint (1967)

REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall

 

Genre(s): Comedy, Adventure
Twilight Time | NR – 114 min. – $29.95 | February 12, 2013

MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: Gordon Douglas
Writer(s): Hal Fimberg (written by)
Cast: James Coburn, Lee J. Cobb, Jean Hale, Andrew Duggan

Theatrical Release Date: March 15, 1967

DISC INFO:
Features: Commentary, Featurettes, Screen Test, Theatrical Trailer
Number of Discs: 1

Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), English (DTS-HD MA 1.0)
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 2.35
Subtitles: English SDH
Disc Size: 46.2 GB
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Region(s): A

THE MOVIE – 2.75/5

Plot Outline: In this 1967 sequel to the James Bond spoof, Our Man Flint, superspy Derek Flint (JAMES COBURN) is once again called upon to help out the harried head of Z.O.W.I.E. (LEE J. COBB), this time sidelined by a scandal engineered by a group of power-hungry women, led by Lisa Norton (JEAN HALE), intent on taking over the universe. The ladies, of course, are no match for the irresistible Flint: ballet dancer, dolphin whisperer, electronics expert, and all-around man of the world.

Quick Hit Review: In Like Flint is certainly a quirky adventure-comedy indicative of the crazy 1960s, all about girls and gags, and although the latter sometimes doesn’t work, there are plenty of girls to capture one’s attention. As a comedy most of the jokes are more on the chuckling kind rather than laugh-out-loud and in terms of plot, well, one should just ignore all that since the writer, Hal Fimberg, certainly did. All in all, it’s an inane movie but it doesn’t pretend to be anything of substance and instead went all out with its insanity from Flint being able to communicate with dolphins to inventing nifty gadgets basically all in a day’s work. On the positive side, these “skills” to come into play during the third act, so they’re at least not ignored.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 4.5/5

Feature Commentary – Film Historians Lee Pfeiffer and Eddy Friedfeld breakdown In Like Flint from the opening titles to the influences from the Bond movies and provides some insights into the film in some fine detail. I actually enjoyed the commentary that stays pretty much technical yet is still quite entertaining.

Derek Flint: The Secret Files (15:43; HD) – This featurette looks back at how In Like Flint was conceived and features interviews with film historians, the screenwriter of Our Man Flint and even children of those involved (including James Coburn’s daughter) plus Jean Hale also appears.

James Coburn: The Man Beyond the Spy (14:55; HD) centers on the late veteran actor told from those who knew him providing insight into his background and his entry into stardom.

Designing Flint (11:30; HD) looks at the production and costume designs in the Flint movies. Like the other featurettes, it’s a thorough and interesting examination into the design elements as told by film historians and the few involved during the era.

Flint vs. Zanuck: The Missing 3 Minutes (7:09; HD) examines the antagonism between Saul David and producer Richard Zanuck for the final cut on In Like Flint and in particular a speech by Flint which was drastically cut down.

Take it Off (8:41; SD) is a spoof about women’s beauty clubs and spas that serves as an advertisement for In Like Flint.

Puerto Rico Premiere (11:42; SD) is some footage from back in 1967 and also features an old interview with Sammy Davis Jr. amongst others.

The disc also has Take it Off (8:41; SD) which is a health club spoof and advertisement for the movie, footage from the Puerto Rico Premiere (11:42; SD); a Screen Test (2:15; SD) with one of the lovely ladies; Future Perfect (7:28; SD) featurette which chronicles the technology in the Flint movies; Feminine Wiles (6:19; SD) looks at the ladies in the Flint movies and its cultural impact; Spy School (6:28; SD) is another featurette on the glamorization of spies in Hollywood movies from the perspective of a former CIA agent; Musician’s Magic (5:11; SD) is about Jerry Goldsmith’s score; Spy Vogue (5:59; SD) checks out the styles of Flint; lastly we get two theatrical trailers and an isolated score track.

 

VIDEO – 4.75/5

Twilight Time releases In Like Flint with an extraordinarily impressive looking 1080p high-definition transfer. Presented in its original 2.35 widescreen aspect ratio, this 45-year-old movie features great detail levels throughout and a well balanced color array showcasing the vibrant era that was the 1960s. It’s easy to see that Twilight Time took care with this transfer, if only other studios would do the same with other catalog titles.

AUDIO – 4.25/5

The disc has two lossless tracks: a 5.1 and 1.0 DTS-HD Master Audio tracks showcase Jerry Goldsmith’s score, the adventure aspects of the story, coming through the front and rear speakers, and clear dialogue levels making use of the center channel.

OVERALL – 3.75/5

Overall, In Like Flint is a fun comedy for sure although it does overstay its welcome by a good 15-20 minutes. Still, James Coburn is charming once again as the title character and there’s just enough sly fun to keep one’s attention until the end. The Blu-ray offered up by Twilight Time is phenomenal with a good amount of substantive features combined with amazing audio/video transfers making this a worthwhile purchase even at the $30 price point.

 

 

Published: 02/17/2013