Our Man Flint – The Original Austin Powers

Cue Soul Bossa Nova, Austin Powers is due to make landing on Netflix South Africa by the 1st of September. The wickedly silly spy comedy series of dubious quality, which blasts the bounds of good taste to smithereens, actually shows some restraint compared to the out and out lunacy of spoof movies of the day, but for every pointed parody of a classic secret agent trope expect at least two phallic jokes in return.

For as low brow as Mike Meyers’ series is, it has certainly stood the test of time. His International Man of Mystery still does the rounds of popular impressions and a huge audience from the late ‘90s and early 2000’s remembers the films with a great fondness, mostly coming down to the amount of fun everyone involved is having. Austin, Dr. Evil, and everyone in between delight in the pair’s outdated cat and mouse espionage. It’s all a big adventure.

The Austin Powers series does however owe a lot to a certain predecessor in spy-spoofing, and no, it’s not the Casino Royale spoof. Take a look at the opening minutes of the first sequel; Austin turns on the TV, spots that In Like Flint is on, and announces: “Hey, In Like Flint, that’s my favourite movie!” The titular Flint is the pre-modern Powers, and this is the sequel to the much more important film for today’s purposes; Our Man Flint.

In the wake of the James Bond shaped meteor at the box office that was Dr. No, studios everywhere scrammed to slap together their own super spy super earners, with results which were mixed to say the least. Everywhere you turned, so long as you wandering around a cheap theatre, you’d see spies. Italian spies, lots of those, spies who introduce gravity-defying gadgets without ever using them (think of the budget), spies who were 3 feet tall and that was the gimmick. Well before the Bond series ever had to start mixing up the formula, spy movies had gotten so plentiful and so predictable that we’d gotten our first spot-on lampoon of the era: Our Man Flint.

How to explain Our Man Flint? You could just watch the near 7-minute trailer below. Maybe a plot description? A secret society of climate scientists called GALAXY, concerned over the world’s lack of foresight into the matter of mutually assured destruction, manipulate weather across the globe into violent tempests and erupting volcanoes in attempt to disarm the nations of the world. There’s only one superspy sly enough to take down this dastardly scheme: Derek Flint. If you’re wondering whether or not Flint is a lovable goofball like Austin Powers, or a more stern-faced master of the universe like Sean Connery’s James Bond, refer to the poster: Our Man Flint makes love in 47 different languages! He’s a Karate Champion, Brain Surgeon, Swordsman and Nuclear Physicist… He’s the top Master Spy of all time, with his Cigarette Lighter containing 82 Death-Dealing Devices, his 2 Man-Eating Dogs, his 4 Luscious Playmates and his Love Nest- Built-For-5…

This god among men wanders his way through a hodgepodge of plot points lifted from Fleming’s James Bond novels, mostly straight-faced, avoiding feeling too tongue in cheek. All the same there is very little in the way of heart or plot, the movie is basically a series of increasingly ludicrous set pieces on its way to the demise of the semi-boring villains. Flint’s polyamorous relationship is somehow treated quite respectfully, the women are generally very supportive of each other, and Flint doesn’t favour anyone. That doesn’t keep the film from having a little fun with the subject; instead of ‘his & hers’ towels, they have hers & hers & hers & so on. Also stick around for mass brainwashed dance parties, bar brawls, self-induced suspended animation, waterfall dives, etc.

Just like Austin Powers, Our Man Flint was followed by a couple of lackluster sequels. There’s always time for another addition to bring things around for that series, because much like Ghostbusters, the older and more pathetic or behind the times Austin gets, the funnier the movie would be. The original Our Man Flint is not a truly great film, but compared to most Bond rip-offs and satires, this is Ibsen. It’s got a big production on a dime, an appropriately jazzy theme song, a smooth-as-butter star, flying fists, killer pets, and an undeniable charm.

Whilst Austin Powers marries its satire of the Bond film with jabs at all things ‘60s, Our Man Flint was made in the middle of them, and so over the years has grown a second layer of irony atop its spy-theme spoofiness. Austin Powers and Dr. Evil are men out of time, Flint and his enemies fit right in, and don’t pay much mind to any of the absurdity around them. Powers asks what happens when James Bond is plucked from the more forgiving swinging sixties, Flint revels in them. They are different takes on the subject, but they share a cheerful sincerity that refuses to date them. The results are groovy.