Casino Royale
by Peter Sellers
Average Customer Review:
DVD (07 October, 2003)
list price: $14.95 -- our price: $11.21
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Editorial Review

John Huston was only one of five directors on this expensive, all-star 1967 spoof of Ian Fleming's 007 lore. David Niven is the aging Sir James Bond, called out of retirement to take on the organized threat of SMERSH and pass on the secret-agent mantle to his idiot son (Woody Allen). An amazing cast (Orson Welles, Peter Sellers, Deborah Kerr, etc.) is wonderful to look at, but the film is not as funny as it should be, and the romping starts to look mannered after awhile. The musical score by Burt Bacharach, however, is a keeper. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

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• Dolby

Reviews (94)

Either You "Get It" or you DON'T
This is true 1960's brilliance.Yes, it is crazy, hard to follow, but wasn't the 60's?It is a Psychedelic Trip into an alternate 007 world.But the BIG deal about this film is this: Every good idea that Michael Myers ever had in his Austin Powers films was lifted out of this wonderful parade of sound and vision. Like 60's psychedelia, don't try to analyze it, just experience it.

Best BOND Movie Ever!"You're joke-shop spies."
"The one & only, original, James Bond."I've been waiting since I first seen this on Cable for the DVD and it didn't disappoint.I was already a 5-star fan before, but what makes this dvd great are the special features.For one I learned that Peter Sellers got fired for not showing up for one take that included scores of extras.I think he said he was ill.Also, Orson Welles didn't like him & was loathed to work with him.Despite this, it's interesting that Sellers is credited as the star of the show.They also show the t.v. version which makes the feature seem as a work of high art.

Last, but not least, if one wonders about all those hot femmes as bit players, we're told that the studio was made in the London's Playboy Club.When one considers the bond catalog, its highs & lows, Casino Royale has to be near, if not the, top!

Buy the sound track instead
It's a star-studded cast, but the story line lags badly in several places leaving the viewer wondering when the movie will finally end.The sound track is a classic one featuring many of the premier musical performers of the middle to late 1960's.I would buy the sound track rather than the film if I were you, which is also available through Amazon.com ... Read more

Asin: B00005JL0I
Subjects:  1. Feature Film-comedy   

The President's Analyst
by James Coburn
Director: Theodore J. Flicker
Average Customer Review:
DVD (08 June, 2004)
list price: $14.99 -- our price: $13.49
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Editorial Review

Greenwich Village satirist Theordore J. Flicker made one of the zaniest spy spoofs of the '60s--the ultimate in paranoia and conspiracy. James Coburn stars as a hip New York psychiatrist recruited by his mentor to take on the president as his exclusive patient. After quitting his job because of the stress, he's forced to go into hiding when spies from all sides want to know his secrets. The social and political satire never lets up, as the usually unflappable Coburn becomes completely neurotic. Godfrey Cambridge is hilarious as his cohort and former patient (his opening monologue about self-hatred is a classic), and so is Severn Darden, who plays a charming Russian agent. A true original with the utmost retro appeal today. --Bill Desowitz ... Read more

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Reviews (36)

Restored !! This Is The Good Stuff !!
******
Here's the short version of my review of the DVD .Here's what you need to know about this new DVD version .
******
The original music has been restored .The meadow scene( perhaps the very heart of the film )has been restored .The picture quality isSUPERB .The audio quality is excellent .
******
This is the version of this wonderful and influential film ,that you want to buy .
******

Which cut is this?
Loved this movie when I saw it many years ago - but the TV cut from the 1970s deletes a bunch of stuff and adds a long hippy commune sequence that was cut from the theatrical version.So, which version is this DVD?

Comedy For Paranoids
"The President's Analyst" is a pleasant surprise.It's a consistently amusing cold-war comedy that lightly tweaks at everyone's most paranoid fears about espionage, government beauracracy, and monopolistic public utilities among other things.Being the sixties, it also sends up suburban liberals, hippies, and yes, psycho-therapy.James Coburn is brilliant as the analyst who finds that taking on the job as the President's analyst makes him the target of competing interests, some benevolent and some not so.The movie really takes hold when his paranoia starts to set in.Good supporting cast that includes Godfrey Cambridge as a U.S. spy and Severn Darden as an affable Soviet spy.My favorite bit has to involve William Daniels as the gun-toting self-proclaimed suburban liberal. ... Read more

Asin: B0001XAOBG
Subjects:  1. Feature Film-drama   

Austin Powers Collection (International Man of Mystery/The Spy Who Shagged Me/Goldmember)
by Mike Myers
Average Customer Review:
DVD (14 September, 2004)
list price: $44.52 -- our price: $40.07
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Editorial Review

If you don't think Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) is one of the funniest movies of the 1990s, maybe you should be packed into a cryogenic time chamber and sent back to the decade whence you came. Perhaps it was the 1960s--the shagadelic decade when London hipster Austin Powers scored with gorgeous chicks as a fashion photographer by day, crime-fighting international man of mystery by night. Yeah, baby, yeah! But when Powers's arch nemesis, Dr. Evil, puts himself into a deep-freeze and travels via time machine to the late 1990s, Powers must follow him and foil Evil's nefarious scheme of global domination. Mike Myers plays dual roles as Powers and Dr. Evil, with Elizabeth Hurley as his present-day sidekick and karate-kicking paramour. A hilarious spoof of '60s spy movies, this colorful comedy actually gets funnier with successive viewings, making it a perfect home video for gloomy days and randy nights. Oh, behave!

"I put the grrr in swinger, baby!" a deliciously randy Powers coos near the beginning of The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), and if the imagination of Austin creator Mike Myers seems to have sagged a bit, his energy surely hasn't. This friendly, go-for-broke sequel finds our man Austin heading back to the '60s to keep perennial nemesis Dr. Evil (Myers again) from blowing up the world--and, more importantly, to get back his mojo, that man-juice that turns Austin into irresistible catnip for women, especially American spygirl Felicity Shagwell (a pretty but vacant Heather Graham). The plot may be irreverent and illogical, the jokes may be bad, and the scenes may run on too long, but it's all delivered sunnily and with tongue firmly in cheek. Myers teams Dr. Evil with a diminutive clone, Mini-Me (Verne J. Troyer), then pulls a hat trick by playing a third character, the obese and disgusting Scottish assassin Fat Bastard.

Despite symptoms of sequelitis, Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) is must-see lunacy for devoted fans of the shagadelic franchise. Unfortunately, the law of diminishing returns is in full effect: for every big-name cameo and raunchy double-entendre, there's an equal share of redundant shtick, juvenile scatology, and pop-cultural spoofery. All is forgiven when the hilarity level is consistently high, and Mike Myers--returning here as randy Brit spy Austin, his nemesis Dr. Evil, the bloated Scottish henchman Fat Bastard, and new Dutch disco-villain Goldmember--thrives by favoring comedic chaos over coherent plotting. Once they've tossed Austin into the disco fever of 1975 (where he's sent to rescue his father, gamely played by Michael Caine), Myers and director Jay Roach seem vaguely adrift with old and new characters, including Verne Troyer's Mini-Me and pop star Beyoncé Knowles as Pam Grier-ish blaxpo-babe Foxxy Cleopatra. A bit tired, perhaps, but Powers hasn't lost his mojo. ... Read more

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Reviews (18)

i'm still laughing
you have to buy the entire series to understand. it is so creative and funny and the jokes never,ever get old. Yeah baby

Great Movies
Yeah I did'nt like these movies until about 2000. I did not get it I thought he was serious then I saw it and I understood. There were 3 movies about Austin Powers and his battles against Dr. Evil. I thought the best one has to be the third where they meet Mr. Roboto and they find out Austin and Dr. Evil are brothers. We find out that Dr. Evil was the #1 in his spy class.
The Second Movie had the Intro of Mini Me and Fat B******.
The First one is the Introduction to the series.

Good trilogy...
they need to come out with a new one, I'm getting mad because the last one they came out with so far was in Summer 2002... anyway onto the movies.

Austin Powers:International Man of Mystery - 9/10, I like this one because it was the first & the jokes are really funny, Probably the most crude of the 3 also.

Austin Powers:The Spy who Shagged Me - 7/10, My least favorite of the 3, It just didnt have what the first one did, but Fat (...), & Mini Me were cool.

Austin Powers (in) Goldmember - 10/10, The best & funniest one, Mike Myers plays Goldmember, Goldmember is the funniest charactar from these movies I can remember, The best by far, but they need a fourth one!!! Buy these if you dont have them ( I bought the 3 pack). ... Read more

Asin: B00006WUWQ
Subjects:  1. Feature Film-comedy   

Double Trouble
by Elvis Presley Annette Day
Director: Norman Taurog
Average Customer Review:
DVD (03 August, 2004)
list price: $14.97 -- our price: $13.47
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• Color
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Reviews (11)

Double Trouble - Elvis Presley
I really enjoyed this movie! Its not one of the best and a little cheesy! but easy to watch and one of the funniest films ive seen him in!Just a shame he never got to show us what a good actor he could have been!

Elvis and spies? Typical, but enjoyable.
"Double Trouble" took advantage of the spy themes in the '60s. Elvis does his martial art moves in this picture. Unfortunately, his fighting opponent falls down a boarded-up well and...well, enough said. Annette Day tries to put her move on Elvis. He's a little resistent at first, but eventually gives in. A lot of action, a lot of comedy, and a lot of music is what is made up of "Double Trouble". Whoever said that they were the only one enjoying this picture was wrong. You're not alone. I am a true and huge Elvis fan. I love all of his movies, no matter what they stuck him in. "Double Trouble" is double fun.

My First Elvis Movie
This was the first Elvis movie I ever saw. It's definitely not the way to start out watching Elvis' movies, but it is an honest effort. You have to give it credit for having a different setting (in Europe) and for having a different type of plot than other Elvis movies.It has a basically good soundtrack,"Baby,If You'll Give Me All Your Love","City By Night","Long-legged Girl","There's So Much World To See","Could I Fall In Love","I Love Only One Girl",and "Double Trouble" are all good, with the exception of "Old MacDonald". I wouldn't say it was a "horrid rendition", but just the fact that this song is sung, period, makes it beyond ridiculous. I like, however, the fairly engaging plot, kind of a spy-spoof at times. John Williams, Annette Day,and Leon Askin stand out among the cast. Not highly recommended, but recommended nonetheless. ... Read more

Asin: B00027JY80
Sales Rank: 9221
Subjects:  1. Horror   

Johnny English (Widescreen Edition)
by Rowan Atkinson Natalie Imbruglia John Malkovich
Director: Peter Howitt (II)
Average Customer Review:
DVD (08 February, 2005)
list price: $14.98 -- our price: $13.48
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Editorial Review

Mr. Bean meets Mr. Bond in Johnny English, a spy spoof that skewers the genre with Rowan Atkinson's trademark brand of veddy-British slapstick. It's a bit half-baked as a wannabe franchise, but Atkinson's creation of a new screen persona is just promising enough to warrant a sequel, despite critics' complaints that Austin Powers had already exhausted the spy-spoof's potential. Poppycock! Atkinson's gift for physical and, in this case, even verbal humor will surely please his devoted fans, even when a rather tepidly comedic screenplay prevents the British funnyman from reaching new heights of absurdity. As bumbling superspy Johnny English, who gains top-level MI-7 clearance after inadvertently causing a colleague's demise, Atkinson breathes life into gags that are too familiar to earn such an amusing revival. With John Malkovich as a smarmy Frenchman determined to overthrow the British monarchy, and Natalie Imbruglia as Johnny's comely comrade-in-arms, this slight but enjoyable comedy gives Atkinson plenty of opportunity to mug it up as only he can. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

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Reviews (111)

is this supposed to be hilarious?
there were only a few parts that were funny. utterly disappointing, even with Rowan Atkinson in it.

Quite the letdown.
This movie was funny and interesting for the first five minutes, and from that moment it was just a steady downward spiral towards boredom and redundancy.
Besides, Rowan Atkinson doesn't make the sexiest of hero's to fall in love with as he smashes into the wrong buildings, and constantly bumbles around destroy 'covert' operations.

I expected more, but for once the trailer was funnier than the movie, and frankly, thats never a good thing. You'd rather sit and watch the trailer three times over than spend uninteresting time over the whole movie.

For children maybe this would be interesting, but not for us that expect more out of a film. Quite a letdown, because I waited a long time to see this movie come out to DVD.

I think my heart is breaking.....no wait....nevermind, that was just my eyelids flickering open for a brief moment.

classic Rowan Atkinson
I rented this movie with the expectation that it would really never come close to the classic comic genius of his "Mr. Bean" series.When I actually watched the movie (which I did twice), I was pleasantly surprised to find that Mr. Atkinson, while playing a slightly more robust character (Johnny English), lost none of his comedic timing.The plot itself was interesting and exciting and yet that did not take away from the overall humorous element of the movie.In the end, the movie leaves you with a pretty warm feeling about the character and a slight bellyache from all the laughing. ... Read more

Asin: B00005JM20
Subjects:  1. Feature Film-comedy   

Agent Cody Banks
by Frankie Muniz Hilary Duff
Director: Harald Zwart
Average Customer Review:
DVD (08 June, 2004)
list price: $14.95 -- our price: $13.46
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Editorial Review

Doing for awkward teens what the Spy Kids movies did for grade-schoolers, Agent Cody Banks is a wish-fulfillment adventure for James Bond wannabes who are still too young to shave. Just in time for puberty's curtain call, Malcolm in the Middle's Frankie Muniz stars in the title role as a 15-year-old recruit to the CIA's youth-agent program, who gets what millions of men desire: a face full of Angie Harmon's cleavage. (It's just for laughs; the sexy Law & Order alumnus plays Cody's CIA handler, but you've got to admit this Bond Girl with a boy thing is a bit perverse.) Otherwise, the movie's a low-rent Bond clone from the director of One Night at McCool's, with a pair of twisted villains (Ian McShane, Arnold Vosloo) threatening to unleash stolen "Nanobot" technology that can ruin everyone's day. It's barely fun enough to be worthwhile, but the best gag (at 007's expense) is buried in the soundtrack, when a CIA receptionist announces, "Will the owner of a silver Aston Martin please report to security... you are parked in a handicapped zone." So much for respecting your elders! --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

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Reviews (84)

Creepy? We're the CIA, creepy is what we do.
This was a very stylish and respectful homage to the great Bond films.Over the years, I have seen Hollywood disrespect this genre with horrible adaptations and overwhelming clichés that almost give the Bond films a bad name.It always seems like if someone wants to make a spy film, you have to pay homage to the God of spy films, James Bond, and whether you give a good sacrifice or a bad one is how the audiences will react to the finished cinematic project.Luckily, Agent Cody Banks gives a great sacrifice to the films and takes off running on its own two feet without ever disrespecting the genre.Muniz is exceptional as the suave spy that has trouble with the ladies, and a strong secondary cast (that involves Hilary Duff, Angie Harmon, Keith David, and Ian McShane) only helps build the amazingly lighthearted feel to this film.I was shocked how much I enjoyed watching this.From the little jokes, to the copious amounts of action and violence, this film is one of those rare finds that works well for children, but also gives the adult at least an hour of entertainment.

I think what makes this a memorable film is the simplistic, yet very stylistic story that doesn't try to outdo itself.I think that is where this movie succeeds.In some spy films, the filmmakers are more centralized on the big explosions or the complexity of the bad guys plan, instead of trying to build a story from the ground up.That is where Agent Cody Banks excels.It gives us the heroine right up front as well as what he must do.There is no wish washing around the truth, just a straightforward story that keeps your attention by giving us this portrait of an every-man instead of some super-sleuth.The fact that Muniz cannot talk to women only grounds him and makes him more realistic and enjoyable.I never found myself thinking about where this guy came from, how he spent his money, and what were his hidden dark secrets because ... he was a kid.It was simply explained.I completely demise those films that try to build more upon a character than what is needed.This has the unfortunate side effect of ruining a story, but thankfully director Harald Zwart chose to stay on a very straight path.With his focused direction and skillful editing, he creates a beautiful homage to the great Bond films that heartily deserved a sequel.

Overall, I was impressed.I didn't think I was going to be and basically had written this film off until I actually watched it.This is one of those multi-pleasure films where children, and adults, of all ages will grab ahold of something and enjoy it.Me, it was the CIA director that continually made me laugh as well as Darrell Hammond's portrayal of Earl, the CIA scientist that equips Cody Banks with all the cool Bond gadgets.His role was sheer dynamite and he did exceptionally well with it.It is these types of surprises that allowed this film to keep its head above water.Now, this film is no feat of brilliance, but it does provide a good hour and a half of entertainment that I was not expecting.Check this film out if you are interested is trying something new and fresh.If you are not a fan of the series, Malcolm in the Middle, do not worry, Muniz plays away from his television character and defines himself as a pretty decent actor.I recommend it!

Grade: **** out of *****

soo cool!
I cannot conplain about this movie! All the gadgets were cool and the acting was awsome. The plot was better than normal(for me at least) And no bratty kids! I strongly recomend this movie!
I have not seen the second one yet though.

Formulaic but entertaining
2.5 stars

Films geared for teen audiences are often formulaic. Film studios seem to have a rather twisted idea that teens are interested in watching movies where the bad guys are bumbling idiots. If you look at today's contemporary literature for teens or young adults, you'll find that the opposite is true. The books that are being written (with the exception of spin-offs like The O.C. or Charmed) are usually intelligent. So why not make a movie for teens that's clever and thought provoking? Sure, the film made a good deal of money. Twenty-six million dollars was spent on its production, and it made forty-seven million in the theaters, and another forty-million for rentals. A good enough profit to make a second film.

This was above average for your typical teen film - but not by much. The formula is simple. A kid has resources that are beyond that of a normal kid (and yes, I understand that this is meant to be a self-esteem booster), he faces some fairly daunting odds, overcomes them, and gets the girl. That's the formula. Everything else is either peripheral (parents) or gadgetry.

That said, the action sequences in the film were believable and well choreographed. I have no idea if Frankie Muniz is skilled in the martial arts, but if he isn't, then the double they had stand in from him did a good job - as did the director for making it seem that it was actually Muniz doing the spins and kicks.

Still, I would like to see more films geared towards teens that reflect current trends of teen literature. The literature is getting "smarter", and so should the movies.
... Read more

Asin: B00009QG6G
Subjects:  1. Feature Film Family   

Agent Cody Banks 2 - Destination London
by Frankie Muniz Anthony Anderson Hannah Spearritt
Director: Kevin Allen
Average Customer Review:
DVD (October, 2004)
list price: $14.95 -- our price: $13.46
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Editorial Review

The dark, bushy eyebrows of Frankie Muniz star in Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London, ably supported by the natty facial hair of Anthony Anderson (Kangaroo Jack) and the freckled chipmunk cheeks of British pop starlet Hannah Spearritt. Teenage secret agent Cody Banks (Muniz, Malcolm in the Middle) must track down a former instructor who's gone rogue with a mind-control microchip. Banks masquerades as a musical prodigy to get close to a snobby, egocentric scientist in London who's the only person who can make the microchip work. Along the way Banks hooks up with a demoted agent (Anderson) and a cute-as-a-bug Scotland Yard operative (Spearritt). Flimsy, disposable, but only occasionally insulting, Cody Banks 2 will most likely entertain fans of the first movie. Also featuring supporting stalwarts Cynthia Stevenson (The Player, Happiness), Anna Chancellor (Four Weddings and a Funeral), and Keith David (There's Something About Mary). --Bret Fetzer ... Read more

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Reviews (24)

Destination ... nowhere!
I will admit, I was a fan of the first film.While I didn't think it was one of the greatest films created, I did think that it had quite a bit of potential coupled with ample originality.It was fun, exciting, and it seemed like everyone involved seemed to be enjoying themselves.I only with that I could say the same for the sequel, Agent Cody Banks: Destination London.From the opening sequence of this film you could sense an aura of dislike, repetitiveness, and simple futility.Nobody, not even Frankie Muniz himself, seemed like they were bringing the same level of excitement to this project.Also, the level of originality was completely below par for this sequel.If you, like myself, brought any excitement from the first film to this one, it will be completely destroyed.Nothing worked in this movie, from the jokes, to the "spy" story, it just seemed flat and disrespectful.

My first issue is with the cast.If this was a true sequel, I think the producers could have budgeted a bit more to see about getting the original characters back.I understand that perhaps Hillary Duff's paycheck had risen since the original film, but she did bring something (as embarrassing as it is to say) to Agent Cody Banks that kept the spark alive.As did everyone else involved, sadly, Anthony Anderson (one of the most overused comic actors of this decade) brought nothing to the table.His jokes seemed generic and, honestly, repetitive.He had no character, all I could witness was Anthony Anderson being Anthony Anderson.They attempted to bring sympathy to his character by giving him this sub-story about being the "black" sheep of the CIA, but in my eyes it just wasn't enough.Anderson was just trying to showcase his "talent" so that he can continue to live the lifestyle that he has built.It was sad, and really hurt this film.Second, was Muniz himself.The bond between him and Hannah Spearritt was poor.I am not sure who the casting agent was on this project, but there was no chemistry between these two actors.They continued to prove that by reading your lines and walking the steps, you could inherit a $5 million dollar paycheck.Nobody cared, nobody stopped, they just continued to make this cheapened sequel.

Next issue, where was the story?The first film carried with it some decent events that built a strong story which ultimately lead to a better than average film, but it seemed like in this sequel they aimed towards children and empty minds.In most film sequels, they use a similar plot structure to give the audience a sensation of relaxation, while simultaneously building different elements to keep our attention.Well, none of that was used in this film.Instead, we find ourselves with a cheapened story that results in dogs playing piano and a very unspooky villain.In fact, I couldn't even tell you who the true bad guy was of this film, and that is a perfect sign that your film is struggling.This story just felt as if it was unfinished, as if the original screenplay was not dumbened down for children, but instead built another strong adventure, but the studio wanted to capture the child audience, so the butchered the product, leaving frayed edges and unfinished segments, so that they could make room for Anthony Anderson's cheap laughs.Yet again, proving the pathetic nature of the film.I went into this story expecting to be completely surprised, yet somehow walked away without any recollection of what I just experienced.It was the perfect example of a how a sequel should not be structured or released.

Finally, I would like to say that if you have a film that seems to do somewhat well at the box office, there should be no need to rush right into a sequel, especially if you see a growing decrease in the excitement behind Malcolm in the Middle.Frankie Muniz is a decent actor, but when handed poor material, he will not fray from making it exceptionally poor.He is one of those actors that brings good things to great material, but will falter if handed unseasonable stuff.I do not see a bright future for Muniz due to his ability to stray from decency.This could have been a powerful sequel, but instead Hollywood yet again strayed towards the side of childish behavior instead of truthful storytelling.

Overall, this film lacked the fun of the first film.With unfamiliar characters, comedy that seemed forced and incoherent instead of funny, and a story that had that cheapened Velcro feel to it, Agent Cody Banks 2 proved that jumping to quickly into a sequel will place a black cloud on your entire series.While once I had considered this to be an interesting and highly original concept, I now have second thoughts.I am not sure that Muniz was prepared for such a cheap sequel, and therefore he signed too quickly.I do not recommend this film to anyone that enjoyed the first film, or at least was under the impression that the first film was decent.This was a horrible sequel that should have never seen the light of day.YUK!

Grade: * out of *****

Why Widescreen?
This movie is a good movie. I rated it 4 stars though because it's Widescreen. I don't know why they made it that way. I always like Full Screen. I don't mind if Widescreen comes out on DVD but I don't like it on VHS. I bet when they showed this movie at the movies, it was full screen. That's what I like better. I don't know why they made it that way. The first movie is full screen but now as for the second one they made it Widescreen. But if you keep on watching the movie, you'll forget about the way you see it. This movie is great though and it takes place in London, England and it's about this guy Diaz (Keith Allen) who is like a dentist but he has this micro-chip and he puts people to sleep with this spray and then he puts his micro-chip into people's teeth and Diaz controls the people by the control from the micro-chip. Meanwhile the original Agent Cody Banks (Frankie Muniz) has to put a stop to this and he has two new partners, Derek (Anthony Anderson), and Emily (Hannah Spearritt) and although this movie says it has gadgets, it really doesn't. They just show one gadget and that's it. But this is a pretty good movie and it's almost better than the first.

Call Frankie's Agent!

"Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London" is the sequel to a film that I confess I've never actually seen.Based on what I HAVE seen here, I'm not sure I missed all that much the first time around.

For those unfamiliar with the premise, Banks is an under-aged spy who works for the CIA, sort of a teenaged James Bond for the Doogie Howser set. In this installment in the series, the organization sends Banks on an undercover mission to England to seek out and destroy a mind control machine that one of its rogue agents (who's feeling unappreciated and slighted by the agency) is now helping to develop and finance for his own nefarious purposes.

This is harmless enough wish-fulfillment fantasy for youngsters, I suppose, but adults forced to sit through it with them will quickly find themselves irritated and bored by all the lowbrow shenanigans.There's a very funny scene up front in which we see how the kids' spy training facility is converted into an innocuous summer camp to fool the parents on visiting day, but, I'm afraid, this cleverness soon gives way to an inordinately silly plot and a succession of tired chase sequences.Although the gadgets are cool, there aren't enough of them to distract us from the appalling overacting on the part of virtually the entire cast, including Frankie Muniz who, though a likable young performer on "Malcolm in the Middle," is here forced to wear a single expression of pained disbelief throughout.As an actor of undeniable talent and charm, hopefully he'll get the opportunity to tackle more varied and mature roles in the near future and won`t go the way of so many other juvenile performers - that of being stuck in roles for which he is too old and thus failing to make that successful leap from child star to adult actor. ... Read more

Asin: B00022FWTA
Subjects:  1. Feature Film-action/Adventure   

Matt Helm - The Silencers
by Dean Martin Stella Stevens
Director: Phil Karlson
Average Customer Review:
DVD (11 November, 2003)
list price: $24.95 -- our price: $22.46
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Editorial Review

Austin Powers undoubtedly stole a few moves from Matt Helm, the swinging secret agent embodied by Dean Martin in four intentionally dopey late-'60s movies. The Silencers is the first and best of the bunch--but at that, it's barely a movie. Dino is first seen reclining in his automated bed, and he hardly wakes up for the remainder of the picture. (When a stunt double performs athletic moves in the action scenes, you rub your eyes at the impossibility of Martin moving that quickly.) And yet Matt Helm manages to stave off a nuclear disaster in the southwest desert, the nefarious plot of a Chinese archvillain (Victor Buono). The 007-style gadgets include exploding sportcoat buttons, plus the wet bar in Dino's station wagon--so he cangulp whiskey while he drives. The women are, of course, outrageously sexist playthings, although Stella Stevens remains the most adorable of '60s sex kittens. --Robert Horton ... Read more

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Reviews (20)

Dean Martin's First "James Bond" Spoof as Matt Helm
Following four highly successful serious spy films starring Sean Connery as that world-famous fictional British spy James Bond, American film companies began playing with the idea of producing their own spy films with equally world-famous, but more humorous, spies in their own James Bond spoofs.On January 16, 1966, the first James Bond-inspired spoof hit the big screen starring James Coburn (1928-2002) as Derek Flint in Twentieth Century Fox's film "our Man Flint".Only one month later, on February 18, 1966, a second James Bond-inspired spoof hit the big screen starring the well-known comedic actor/lounge singer Dean Martin (1917-1995) as the semi-retired spy Matt Helm in "The Silencers", which was produced by Claude Productions and Meadway, and distributed by Columbia Pictures.

Similar to Derek Flint, Matt Helm loves to be surrounded by beautiful women; but unlike the super-serious & high-tech Flint, Helm is far more laid back.Helm's bedroom is equipped with a rotating circular bed (which was also part of Mike Myer's 1997 portrayal of British superstar/super-spy Austin Powers in "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery"), which can also role forward and raise at an angle so that it can let Helm (and anyone else in Helm's bed) slide into a waiting olypic-sized bubble-bath.Doing his best to avoid being used in yet another spy mission, Helm leaves his expensive home and travels to Acapulco where an unexpected blond woman is waiting in his bedroom.While in his arms, she is shot from behind by one of Helm's former spy coworkers Tina (Daliah Lavi, who appeared in yet another James Bond-inspired spoof in 1967: the highly comedic "Casino Royale" that also starred Woody Allen, David Niven and Peter Sellers).Discovering that they're being watched by operatives working for the evil mastermind Tung-Tze, a.k.a., "Big-O" (Victor Buono, 1938-1982), Helm & Tina escape in his station wagon to Phoenix, where they expect to find a highly sought after computer tape.The tape is in possession of a singer named Sarita (Cyd Charisse), who ends up shot while performing on stage, but hands the tape over to the highly-accident prone Gail Hendrix (Stella Stevens) who runs on stage to help her.Helm & Tina quickly rush Gail out of the club and away from enemy agents, but suspect that she is also an enemy agent working for "Big-O".After being temporarily knocked out by gas shooting out of a phone, Helm is assisted by his & Tina's boss Sam Gunther (Robert Webber, 1924-1989), who also prevents Gail from escaping.Helm then takes Gail to San Juan, which is where Sarita told her that something was going to happen before she died; but can Helm stop the dastardly Tung-Tze and his evil plan?You'll just have to watch the film to find out!

In typical 1960's motif and humor, "The Silencers" is still a very humorous spoof to this day and I rate it with 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it to anyone who enjoys a non-serious spoof. Dean Martin would portray Matt Helm in three more subsequent films: "Murderer's Row" (later in 1966), "The Ambushers" (1967, which is my personal favorite) and "The Wrecking Crew" (1969).Hopefully these other three Matt Helm films will also be released on DVD.

A word about the cropping
I won't review the film as this has been done by others. However, I would like to add some thoughts about the "cropping" issue--

To many fans of DVD, a key selling point is seeing a film the way it was orginally presented in the theatre.

Most people are aware today that widescreen films shown on a full frame standard TV's are cropped-- that is, they are panned and scanned and you lose information (images). Pan & Scan changes the composition of the film.

With this in mind, people expect to see ALL of the composition when a film comes out on DVD and is viewed on a widescreen televison-- not less. However, there are exceptions:

In some circumstances, the director of a film will compose a shot with more information than is meant to be conveyed to the audience.

The "extra" information is never meant to be seen. When the film is "matted" for release, the additional info is covered up and you are left with the director's original conception of the shot.

Now here's the thing: when the film is shown on commercial television in a standard full screen format, the "matts" are opened up and the film subjected to pan and scan. In this case, you may now see parts of the shot that were covered up-- and also lose other parts that were originally shown.

The bottom line here is that this release of "The Silencers" shows the film in its "matted" form the way it was shown in theatre's. People who have seen the film on television all these years became accustomed to seeing the "open matt" pan & scan version. They have seen more information than was intended and now think that the released DVD version has been "cropped" because the afore mentioned images are now missing.

Here's a great example:(warning: spoilers below)

A previous reviewer makes mention that in a certain part of the film, actress Nancy Kovack is shot in the back and we her bare bottom. This reviewer then complains that in the DVD version, we don't see that far down. The conclusion that is drawn is that this scene is to riske' for the DVD version for some reason and has been cropped or edited out.

As explained above, this is simply not true.

In the pan & scan "open matt" scene, we see the actress wearing only a shirt and pantyhose. Dean Martin is holding her and we see Kovack from the back. As she is shot, Kovack arches up and we see her pantyhosed butt come out of the shirt.

This "nyloned butt" shot was never intended to be seen-- remember this was a film made in the mid 60's-- nudity simply wasn't going to make it in to a film that was rated the way this one was.

Further, there was also another bit of nudity just slightly earlier in the same scene that is in the "open matt" pan & scanversion-- Kovack in shirt and pantyhose rushes up to Dino and we see both of the actors side by side.

As Kovack turns towards Martin, her short shirt lifts and parts slightly, and we see a glimpse of Kovacks "front" (for want of a more descriptive term).

Again, this was not meant to be seen and never would have made it past the censors during the original release.

So, in this instance, viewers have seen a more racy version of the film on televison than was ever shown in theatre's-- the complete opposite of what is expected with a DVD release-- hence the complaints.

Just cool as Dino only could be
Forget 007 he means nothing !!
If you really want to be someone else you don't need immagination any more, just look at Dino! He is cool, easy-going, polite, just perfect! And look the girls too, they are wonderful, sexy and never voulgar.
Big movie, big actors, big actress and naturally big big Dino !!
We want all the others Matt Helm movies on DVD. ... Read more

Asin: B0000CDRW1
Subjects:  1. Feature Film-action/Adventure   

Murderers' Row
by Dean Martin Ann-Margret Karl Malden
Director: Henry Levin
Average Customer Review:
VHS Tape (07 July, 1993)
list price: $14.95
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Reviews (3)

Second in the Series ...First in Entertainment.
Murderers Row is the second installment in the Matt Helm (starring Dear Martin as Matt) series ... but probably the best out of all of them.

Dean does the tongue and cheek spy routine in this James Bond spin off from the sixties, and even entertains us with a song segment or two.

The late sixties was a era of spy spoofs/thrillers based on the phenominal success of Sean Connery as James Bond. The Helm series is a light-hearted look at the 'super spy' world. Matt's only known photo is one of his back holding a drink (It's Martin .. go figure)

If you don't expect to take the movies seriously, they can be fun. If you expect a 'Goldfinger' here, you'll be greatly disappointed.

Matt has the whimsical gadget in each movie too. This time its a gun that delays firing for a few seconds (the Silencers had the gun that shot backward). Matt/Dean uses this to great effect while battling his evil opponent's henchmen which are about one step above the 'moron' level. Still, its fun to watch.

This isn't released in DVD yet, but should be soon. When it is, it's probably the only one of the series I'll buy (The others are just too gamey for my tastes).

Gave it four stars because it was the most well done, though you may feel it doesn't rate them. Also, Dean Martin gives this particular episode a special shine. As an alternate series which is a little better done (but still a spoof) try 'In Like Flint' and 'Our Man Flint' with James Coburn.

~P~

Let's not forget chrome-dome
The villainous henchman with the black chrome-plated head was a formidable nemesis. And how about near the end when Karl Malden shot his own mistress with the harpoon. You could feel the air hissing through her lips as shefell dead to the floor. Dean Martin was always cool and any movie with avivacious, young Ann Margret is worth watching.

THE STORY OF SECRET AGENT MAXWELL BOND
Hopelessly dated, Dean Martin's foray into spy satire is often funny. A cool car that seems to bend around corners, odd gadgets like a bed that dumps the occupants into a pool, Vodka dispenser, reverse gun, beautifulwomen, corny dialougue, etc, do make this parody an amusing ride in a MADMAGAZINE kind of way. ... Read more

Asin: 6302413850
Sales Rank: 13869
Subjects:  1. Feature Film-action/Adventure   

The Ambushers
by Dean Martin Senta Berger Janice Rule
Director: Henry Levin
Average Customer Review:
VHS Tape (07 July, 1993)
list price: $14.95
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Reviews (9)

dboud's review is for the wrong film
Mr. "dboud" has reviewed the wrong film.His review would apply to the Matt Helm flick "Murder's Row" co-staring Ann Margaret.In this, Dean's third Matt Helm, he finds fellow agent Janice Rule a mental patient in a straitjacket.She's lost her memory -- and a top secret aircraft she was test piloting.Matt helps jog her memory while looking for the craft.Kurt Kasznar (Land of the Giants) appears as one of the villans.A front for the bad guys is a brewery that makes XXX beer!Maybe this is where Dos Eques got the idea from?It also features an improbable telekinesis pistol whose only control is a simple trigger.Delightfully non-serious superspy spoof.Viva la Helm!

Dean Is Matt Helm, actually he's just Dino.
The Matt Helm Spy Film Series was never a serious competitor to The James Bond Films, but they were entries into the faltering end of Spy Film Craze which vaporized in the Seventies (But now seems to be making a comeback.) Dean Martin played Matt Helm Agent for ICE (Intelligence Counter Espionage) or rather Dean played Dino playing at being a secret agent. Never doesa chance to booze it up, make a play for any available female, or have a smoke go untaken. It's typical 60's and 70's kitschy fare with girls in go-go boots, psychedelic dresses and big hair. When the girls are wearing anything at all. While the Helm movies would get a low-end PG rating today, they we're rated M for Mature when they debuted, an equivilent for R without the nudity, or foul language that you see in today's R rated releases. I don't think Helm utters anything stronger than "hell".The best of the four flicks was "Murderer's Row" where Helm has to stop a crazed Karl Malden as millionaire Julian Wall from scorching Washington DC with something called a "Helios Beam". It's all great fun, as Dino quips, boozes and loves his way from one end of the flick to the other with the casual aplomb of someone who is strolling back to the bar for another round. The gadgets in this film are chic, the villian's henchman "IronHead" is hulking, has a metal cranium and is as unstoppable as Oddjob or Jaws in the Bond flicks, and there's a chase involving hovercraft . If 60's spy flicks are your cup of tea then Matt Helm is your sugar.

Smile & prepare to snicker constantly throughout! :-)
Dean Martin as super cool, super lover, super boozer, super slick, super spy Matt Helm, aka Eric, aka James A. Peters, aka Lash Petrone, Beverly Adams as his secretary Lovey Kravezit, Karl Malden as arch villain and arch enemy of Matt, Julian Wall, Camilla Sparv as his assistant Coco Duquette, Tom Reese as his, snicker, hard-headed muscleman 'Ironhead', Corinne Cole as 'Miss January', James Gregory (I) as Matt's boss MacDonald and director of I.C.E. (Intelligence Counter Espionage), Ann-Margret as Suzie Solaris and Richard Eastham as her poppa and inventor of the super gizmo, Dr. Norman Solaris, in a fun little film that to watch you must first park your brain, your cynicism and put a smile on your face and prepare to snicker endlessly throughout! A delicious little spoof of the James Bond genre has Martin doing what he and the rest of the 'Rat Pack' did so well, drinking and wooing the ladies despite those pesky villains trying to take his mind off his favorite hobbies. This rates a solid 2.5 stars out of 4. ... Read more

Asin: 6302413869
Sales Rank: 19516
Subjects:  1. Feature Film-action/Adventure   

The Wrecking Crew
Director: Phil Karlson
Average Customer Review:
VHS Tape (16 April, 1996)
list price: $14.95
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SHARON TATE stands out in her BEST COMIC effort
The fighting scenes and the idea that Denmark has MOUNTAINS makes this in the class of a turkey - I mean - a spoof is OK - but you still have to do your research....What if we found a wonderful beach in the film The Sound Of Music(with Austrian locations???)???

What saves this film is the comedy of Sharon Tate. She`s right on target every time she appears and the film should be granted many TV-screenings because of her... The music is pure 60s(quite amusing...)The scene in?which Matt Helm,upon seeing a dead Linka(Elke Sommer), informs Freya Carlson "That could have been you" - and her stubborn denials - puts tears 2 1s eyes - knowing what happened to Sharon a year later....

It is campy but by now I enjoy the film because it is so hilarious....If you watch Sharon`s films... you`ll see she works on her magic differently in all her six films..... She`s a diabolique witch in EYE OF THE DEVIL, a fragile starlet in VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, and a teasing ill-fated-teenager in THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS(all 1967)....

Fun movie! I need this on DVD!
I saw "The Wrecking Crew" when I was kid on TV in the 80's. I only saw it once but never forgot it. It was funny and a bit like "Austin Powers" meets "James Bond". Sharon Tate was beautiful, I think she was wonderful in comedy. She plays a tough but sexy undercover agent like "Charlies Angels", she does some great leg kicks! I think Dean Martin was a bit tipsy during the filming LOL! Seems like he was having alot of fun in the Matt Helm movies. I'm hopeing this will come out on DVD soon, I'd love to see it again!

A classic masterpiece
I'm not familiar with the other movies in the series but, apparently, this is the only one I need to see.

Sharon Tate is the star of this film.This is her best role, finely displaying her talent for comedy.From the moment she comes on the scene as a clumsy Danish tour guide to the last,where she seduces Dean Martin (Matt Helm), she was well suited for her role.

To all serious movie collectors, this is a must have for your collection. ... Read more

Asin: 6304017618
Sales Rank: 11118
Subjects:  1. Feature Film-action/Adventure   

Our Man Flint
by James Coburn Lee J. Cobb
Director: Daniel Mann
Average Customer Review:
DVD (16 July, 2002)
list price: $14.98 -- our price: $13.48
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Editorial Review

There's really been only one rival to James Bond: Derek Flint. That's because of James Coburn's special brand of American cool. He's so cool, in fact, that he doesn't care to save the world. That is, until he's personally threatened. He's a true libertarian, with more gadgets and girls than Bond, but with none of his stress or responsibility. Here he's totally unflappable as he thwarts mad scientists who control the weather--and an island of pleasure drones. Lee J. Cobb costars as Flint's flustered superior, and Edward Mulhare plays a British nemesis with snob appeal. For fans of Austin Powers, incidentally, the funny-sounding phone comes from the Flint films. However, Our Man Flint's best gadget remains the watch that enables Flint to feign death. There's a great Jerry Goldsmith score, too. --Bill Desowitz ... Read more

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Reviews (40)

Technology versus content
The movie gets 5 stars, simply because it is the best "James Bond" spy-spoof to ever exist. The content is a 5, but unfortunately, the video quality is a 1, ergo, average of 3. I thought I left drop-outs and interference behind when I switched to DVD's, but the copy I purchased of this movie appeared as if it was recorded from a very old VHS tape. I'd be an unlikely candidate to purchase another, as much as I'd like to.

Dubble oh spoof
One of the better spy spoofs to emerge from the 60's. Ok, Bond is great, and he'll always be #1, but Flint was a close second. I remember seeing this on TV every now and then when I was a kid in the 70's. I always enjoyed it.Basically our man flint has to save the world from evil (not really that evil, more like miss guided) scientists. Flint reluctantly accepts the mission, on his own terms. The plot was far fetched, the sets outrageous, the costumes wild, that cool swinging music and silly dialog all add up to a great campy film. The great James Coburn was perfect as Flint. (We will miss him)
If you want to know where Austin Powers got most of mojo from look here first. I only wish there would have been a few more Flint movies. I'm sure they would have been as mush fun as the two that were made. If you enjoy 60's spy films, and don't take life too seriously you'll enjoy this...and you'll get the "in-between" jokes in the Austin Powers movies.

Fun! Much better than In Like Flint.
I wanted to rent In Like Flint because it is mentioned in the Austin Powers movie. Reviews on amazon said that Our Man Flint was better, so I checked that one out first. I actually liked Our Man Flint. It was NOT what I expected though. People make it out to be a mockery or parody of james bond films, but I didn't think it was. When I think of parody, I think of Airplane or Naked Gun movies. This was NOTHING like those. Sure, there were a couple of funny things, like the name of the secret government agency was W.O.W.I.E. and he had his super tool that had 80 secret functions (of which you never saw him use more than maybe 6). Our Man Flint had an interesting story, and you honestly wanted to know what happened next. Even though it's a fairly old movie, it didn't seem as dated as it could have been. I liked Our Man Flint and I would watch it again.

BUS, In Like Flint? What a bad movie. It had hardly anything of the interesting story that Our Man Flint had. In fact, I didn't even watch the ending, because I DIDN'T CARE WHAT HAPPENED! I should have known, In Like Flint got some pretty bad reviews here, but after watching Our Man Flint and enjoying it, I figured, how bad could it be? Well, it was pretty darn bad! Boring AND un-interesting. I would NOT reccomend In Like Flint, but I would reccomend Our Man Flint. After watching Our Man Flint, you'll laugh even harder when watching Austin Powers...especially when his super secret phone rings! ... Read more

Asin: B000067J16
Subjects:  1. Feature Film-comedy   

In Like Flint
by James Coburn Lee J. Cobb
Director: Gordon Douglas
Average Customer Review:
DVD (16 July, 2002)
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Editorial Review

There was bound to be a Flint sequel, and this one delivers the same kind of zany fun as its predecessor, Our Man Flint. Flint is recruited once again by Lee J. Cobb to be the government's top secret agent, this time to solve a mishap involving the President. Turns out, the Chief Executive has been replaced by an evil duplicate. The new plan for world domination involves feminine aggression, and Flint, with his overpowering charisma, is just the man to turn the hostile forces around. In Like Flint is still over the top, but some of the novelty has worn off, and it doesn't have quite the same edge as the original. Even Jerry Goldsmith's score is a bit more subdued. But the film still has James Coburn and that funny phone. --Bill Desowitz ... Read more

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Watch Our Man Flint instead....
I wanted to rent In Like Flint because it is mentioned in the Austin Powers movie. Reviews on amazon said that Our Man Flint was better, so I checked that one out first. I actually liked Our Man Flint. It was NOT what I expected though. People make it out to be a mockery or parody of james bond films, but I didn't think it was. When I think of parody, I think of Airplane or Naked Gun movies. This was NOTHING like those. Sure, there were a couple of funny things, like the name of the secret government agency was W.O.W.I.E. and he had his super tool that had 80 secret functions (of which you never saw him use more than maybe 6). Our Man Flint had an interesting story, and you honestly wanted to know what happened next. Even though it's a fairly old movie, it didn't seem as dated as it could have been. I liked Our Man Flint and I would watch it again.

BUS, In Like Flint? What a bad movie. It had hardly anything of the interesting story that Our Man Flint had. In fact, I didn't even watch the ending, because I DIDN'T CARE WHAT HAPPENED! I should have known, In Like Flint got some pretty bad reviews here, but after watching Our Man Flint and enjoying it, I figured, how bad could it be? Well, it was pretty darn bad! Boring AND un-interesting. I would NOT reccomend In Like Flint, but I would reccomend Our Man Flint. After watching Our Man Flint, you'll laugh even harder when watching Austin Powers...especially when his super secret phone rings!

Another Great Spy Movie Entry but Bare DVD
Less technicolor and more monochromatic than its predecessor, "In Like Flint" still uses broad strokes to great advantage in poking fun at the Bond films.The indomitable Derek Flint returns to save the world, this time from a bevy of beauties who simultaneously raise the ire of the world's women while replacing powerful males with surgically-altered substitutes (leading to, perhaps, the most prescient line of dialogue in any 1960s film--upon discovering that the man in the White House is not who he seems to be, a disbelieving Flint says, "An actor as president?").That is, until a renegade ZOWIE general (Steve Inhat) decides it's his turn to take the reins of power.The delightful Lee J. Cobb is back as Flint's curmudgeonly boss, Cramden, as are the secret agent's posse of female admirers, and TV's Batgirl, Yvonne Craig, even shows up as a Russian ballerina."In Like Flint" feels more grown up than the previous film, partly because the lighting and cinematography are more stark and partly because the humor is sometimes more rooted in satire than parody.Notions like the Red Scare being a feint to the very real dangers of corruption from within and the beauty industry actually having our worst interests in mind--and charging a premium for them--are slipped in with more obvious gags involving oversized eyebrows, cross-dressing, and the bouncing sing-a-long ball.Only the crankiest among us are likely to find the juvenile sexism of either Flint film worth comment, as it's a staple of the genre, meaning that the biggest weakness here is the same as the earlier effort:a no-frills DVD.

Beyond bad
This is without question one of the worst movies I have even seen.

I know---you're saying: "Aw, where's your sense of fun? It's a comedy. You know, it's a parody of spy movies."

Wrong. "Our Man Flint" was a parody of spy movies. "In Like Flint" is a parody of itself---a mindless, talentless puffball of a movie floating along on its predecessor's slipstream.

The producers must've been so high on the first movie's success, they thought they could do no wrong. Or maybe they just flew off on vacation and left everyone to do whatever they wanted. Watching this mess, it's entirely possible.

A ludicrous, unfunny plot (women try to take over the world, then the men who were helping them decide they want to take it over instead, completely invalidating the first premise, zzzzzzzzzzzz...); positively awful dialogue; home-movie-style cinematography (not one creative shot in the whole picture); squirmingly clowny fight sequences; high-school film-class lighting; sets positively cluttered with wooden non-actors; a maddeningly lilting, cloying score that defies anything happening onscreen...

And through the whole thing, there's James Coburn strutting around giving us his "It doesn't matter how bad this movie is, I'm so cool" smirk, like a smarmy lounge singer on the Titanic.

A parody needs some semblance of intelligence, of imagination, of planning, of technical proficiency. Oh, and of humor. This has none of that.

Proclaiming a movie a parody isn't an excuse for plain bad filmmaking. This is just a bad, bad, movie. Bad. ... Read more

Asin: B000067J15
Subjects:  1. Feature Film-comedy   

Modesty Blaise
Director: Joseph Losey
Average Customer Review:
DVD (16 July, 2002)
list price: $14.98 -- our price: $13.48
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Editorial Review

A pop-art explosion that makes Austin Powers look demure, Modesty Blaise is a bizarre relic from the heyday of Swinging London. Based on a comic book, the movie is strong on psychedelic art direction, long on camp (especially Dirk Bogarde's aristocratic, white-haired villain), and thin on plot--and what plot there is cannot possibly be deciphered. Italian actress Monica Vitti, the ennui-weary star of many Antonioni classics, makes an odd choice for stylish spy Modesty Blaise (a female 007 without portfolio), especially given her uncertain command of English. The gifted director Joseph Losey, not noted for his humor, apes various New Wave techniques in his approach, even allowing Vitti and costar Terence Stamp to warble an off-key song. But the most coherent contribution is the jazzy swing of John Dankworth's score, which you won't be able to get out of your head, even if you want to. --Robert Horton ... Read more

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Reviews (21)

Did it inspire Austin P?
I first saw this movie during its original release. All these years later, my memories were positive enough for me to buy it. Oh dear! Memories have a habit of being selective. Even though its a satire and by no means to be taken seriously, its so high camp that it just loses you. It doesn't really entertain at any level. The only positive was the thought that maybe it had sown the seed for the far more enjoyable and also-camp-but-not-so-pre-occupied-with-itself Austin Powers.

rock'n'droll
Though this is not a knee-slapper as satire, and certainly no thrill-giver as an action flick, this film has aged better than Bond films like Thunderball, generically speaking the ground of this satire.Modesty Blaise is loosely based on a comic-book super-heroine and played by Monica Vitti. The humor is very droll, yet needle-sharp in its mockery of the amorality of empire and espionage, and in its parody of the conventions of the action-hero movie, its mad-camp villain, its tools, its blue waters.It hits its dry humorous notes and jazzy visual chords without pedantry, seeming very British and looking very Italian, a nice trick. Stoned in a rather stately way, and head-scratchingly complex in places, this movie is shrewd enough to avoid the utter silliness of many 60s movies. The film is visually beautiful and engaging, with grand colors and compositions with lots of space and depth: the toughest thing about Modesty Blaise is that it moves at a pace more like an Italian sex-and-class study than an action movie or typical spoof; indeed, the film freely recalls Antonioni's L'Aventura, (which also starred Vitti), especially in its Mediterranean location shots. And after all else is said, Monica Vitti remains an absolute stunner here, a true movie star, with a face of a thousand shades of tenderness and cunning. She also has great hair that changes about every five minutes. (Her hair itself is a better actress than Madonna.)Vitti and her sidekick, Terence Stamp, a mod Adonis, have a cool chemistry, and even sing in one pleasantly bizarre scene. Dirk Bogarde, the villain, is in a role unlike any other he ever played, but he may steal the movie. This is an anomaly: a rocknroll movie--droll, nonconformist, and hip--with almost no rocknroll in the soundtrack.

Fun If You Simply Take It for What It Is
As breezy and formless as a good vacation or a life of shameless self-indulgence, "Modesty Blaise" is likely to drive anyone expecting a standard Hollywood plot nuts.In a way, that's what makes it most appealing.With director Joseph Losey's eclectic mix of old-fashioned studio and handheld verite styles, set to a swinging 60s Eurotrash soundtrack, there's enough happening in each scene to dazzle the senses--if not the brain--provided you see the letterboxed version, of course.Sultry Monica Vitti is Modesty Blaise, an international thief recruited by the British government to interfere with a diamond payoff involving an old arch-enemy (Dirk Bogarde), presumed dead all these years.Along for the ride is the often-creepy Terrance Stamp, cast here perfectly as a Cockney ally handy with a knife.There's not much in "Modesty Blaise" that makes sense conventionally, but viewing it as something of a time capsule--not for its camp or art direction, but for the many crisply photographed scenes of locations like London and Amsterdam-makes for a fascinating experience.And though much is made of Vitti's heavily accented command of English, listening to her is a more pleasant experience than to so many other actors challenged by speaking the language, such as Sylvester Stallone, Rosie Perez, Arnold Swarzenegger, Anna Nicole Smith, or Snoop Dog.You might even notice scenes that may have inspired similar ones in "Arabesque," "Casino Royale" andthe "Charlie's Angels" redux.Like the much overhyped "Barbarella" a few years later, "Modesty Blaise" is a product of its time, no "Blow Up" but a curiosity to be experienced. ... Read more

Asin: B000067J18
Subjects:  1. Feature Film-comedy   

Fathom
Director: Leslie H. Martinson
Average Customer Review:
DVD (09 March, 2004)
list price: $14.98 -- our price: $13.48
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Editorial Review

A certain lime-green bikini reaches icon status in Fathom, clinging as tightly to Raquel Welch as those phagocytes that attacked her in Fantastic Voyage. Raquel was the reigning sex goddess of the moment, which is all you need to know about Fathom, an otherwise extremely silly example of proto-Austin Powers spy spoofery. She's a poster come to life, and the movie is geared around her '60s outfits (a purple-and-cornflower ensemble is particularly stupefying), her orange-peach lipstick, and the way her hair seems perfectly in place even after a high-speed boat chase. Sadly, Raquel's dialogue delivery is as stiff as her brunette mane, but the movie perks up when she is chased around by an angry bull, a sequence that may have you wondering whether you ate some bad cheese. By the way, her character is a dental assistant, visiting Spain as part of a skydiving troupe. Enjoy! --Robert Horton ... Read more

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Reviews (13)

Raquel Welch looking here best
This was my first movie that showed a young Raquel Welch. Raquel was simply gorgeous in this movie in here green bikini. Raquel plays a character named Fathom Harvill who's built a reputation as one of the best sky divers in the business. After hearing about Fathom reputation she's now being watch and then recruited by a top secret government agent whose want here to do a job for him. The agency wants Fathom to sky dive into the middle of Spain to try recovering a missing war defector Tony Franciosa and a missing H-bomb detonator he is believed to possess. However, Fathom gets in way over her head and gets more then she bargained for. As Fathom unravels the truth will she get out of Spain a live? The other question is whose double crossing who? I give the movie 5 weasel stars based on the beauty of Raquel Welch alone. She makes watching this movie worth the time. This review is based on the DVD version of this movie which you can get right here on Amazon.com.

Mildy Entertaining but Mostly Forgettable
Raquel Welch is a stunningly attractive woman, a genuine and deserved sex symbol that long before the so-called supermodels lumbered onto the scene gave men yet another reason to drop to their knees and be thankful.That's about the best thing I can say about anything related to "Fathom."Oh, I suppose the locations are picturesque, too, and Clive Revill turns in yet another fun, colorful supporting performance.Less a genuine spy spoof and more a cheeky travelogue with some warmed-over espionage shenanigans, "Fathom" doesn't really try very hard to do anything but show Welch in all of her mostly underdressed glory.I admit that that is a strong draw but still not really enough to keep a viewer's complete attention and like Halle Berry or Denise Richards, she'd probably do better if most of the time she said less onscreen.Believe it or not, the thin story comes from a novel and was adapted by Lorenzo Semple, Jr., a screenwriter known for both genuine thrillers ("The Parallax View"; "Three Days of the Condor") and camp ("Batman"; "Flash Gordon"), as well as the uneven "Thunderball" remake, "Never Say Never Again.""Fathom" falls mostly into the camp camp, meaning that we're supposed to chuckle knowingly at the thought of a skydiving dental assistant being recruited to be an international spy by character actor Ronald Fraser (who looks disturbingly like a grown-up version of "Stewie" from "Family Guy.")Never-quite-a-leading-man Tony Franciosa tries valiantly to inject some cool into the film and Tom Adams, who starred in his own, hard-to-find "Charles Vine" spy spoofs, is a stoic antagonist.While "Fathom" probably isn't worth an hour and a half of your time, Welch does look dazzling most of the time, and the photography is quite pretty.These qualities might be enough for some viewers.

It's Pure Raquel
It's not possible for me to think clearly when I'm watching a film starring Raquel Welch.However, when it comes to Raquel, I don't mind a befogged state.

Of course, I'm exaggerating.But FATHOM is a film I've truly enjoyed the five or six times I've watched it so far.She's a pleasure to watch here.And that I would like this film this much surprised me, as I obtained the DVD as one of the films included in the 5-disc RAQUEL WELCH COLLECTION, which I bought mostly for MYRA BRECKINRIDGE, about which I'd heard so much but had never seen.My sheer enjoyment of FATHOM, then, was lagniappe.It's a delightful farce, very light entertainment, featuring an exotic locale.It's typical of the escapist, pop-flavored feature films of that period, and it doesn't pretend to be anything other than a Raquel Welch vehicle.As that, if you're a fan, it succeeds.Her almost constant screen time, combined with the fact of her jaw-dropping pulchritude, makes this an easy film to watch again and again.Admittedly, my affection for FATHOM is slightly nostalgic, as it is so fluffy, it reminds me of my own innocence during the time this film was released.Also Raquel was the reigning Hollywood siren of my generation, her rise to stardom synchronous with my puberty.Therefore, when I'm watching it, it's a different kind of escapism than originally intended.I assume if you're considering buying this DVD, you're motivated by similar affections.You're definitely not buying it as part of a study of cinema.Let's face it: This is not LAWRENCE OF ARABIA; the only art on the screen is what Nature itself embodied in the person of Ms. Welch.

And that's enough art for me.The rest of it is just plain fun.To my taste, this is a sort of extended video, and, instead of it showcasing some MTV rock star, it permits me an uncluttered appreciation for this phenomenally beautiful and graceful woman.If you're a Raquel fan and you're looking for an opportunity to indulge your membership among her fandom, this is a film you'll enjoy.You'll find it a very relaxing, G-rated, escapist fantasy starring the premier screen goddess of any time.It'll be time well spent. ... Read more

Asin: B000067J17
Subjects:  1. Feature Film-comedy   

Top Secret!
by Val Kilmer
Director: Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, David Zucker
Average Customer Review:
DVD (01 March, 2004)
list price: $9.99 -- our price: $9.99
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Editorial Review

In between the disaster movie satire Airplane! in 1980 and the hardboiled cop show parody The Naked Gun in 1988, the comedy crew of Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and David Zucker put together a picture that's almost as funny as their better-known hits. Top Secret! sends up spy movies and cheesy teen rock & roll musicals. Val Kilmer stars as swivel-hipped American rocker Nick Rivers, a sort of blonde Elvis whose secret weapon is Little Richard's tune "Tutti Fruitti." On tour behind the Iron Curtain, Nick strikes blows for democracy overtly and covertly, with his music as well as his espionage skills. In short, this is a very, very silly motion picture. Some great gags, including a subtitled scene in a Swedish book shop, and an inspired bit with a Ford Pinto that not everybody may get anymore. (The Pinto, you may or may not recall, was notoriously prone to gas tank explosions when rear-ended.) --Jim Emerson ... Read more

Features

• Color
• Closed-captioned
• Widescreen

Reviews (99)

Airplanes? No, we're off to war!
The creators of "Airplane!" wanted another challenge, and thus they chose to spoof war films, rock films and anything else that came to mind.In doing so, they nearly lived up to the classic "Airplane!".

Strangely enough this is Val Kilmer's introduction to feature films.I know...He sings (yes, it's him), and really he fits fairly well into the overall spoof scene.

Ah yes, the plot.Well, the premise is that Kilmer plays an American rock-star that is requested to play at a German concert to help some elaborate plan; however, he gets more then he bargains for when he winds up beholden to a damsel-in-distress and an attempt to maybe even save at least a good part of the world.

Of course, this film is filled with mocking humor, but this time it appears gradually.At the beginning, the humor is more subdued and as time goes on the humor is more often, and thankfully, more funny.

Now, this is not a great film and if I could I would give it 3.5 stars.However, it still is pretty funny, and well, it's by the people who did "Airplane!" right?

HUSH HUSH IT'S FUNNY
Much of the humor in the Zucker/Abraham/Zucker movies is found in the background.While you may be focused on what's going on up front, look at some of the things going on in the background.One of my favorites in this one is in the pizzaria.Val Kilmer and Lucy Gutteridge are having a serious confrontation while in the background, pizza eaters are having a hard time getting the pizza off because the cheese is sooo stringy!It's prime example of the off the wall humor.
While TOP SECRET is sluggish compared to the AIRPLANE and NAKED GUN series, it is nonetheless funny most of the time.For those of us who remember the exploding Pinto crisis, the scene in which the Germans ping the Pinto is priceless.Christopher Villiers as the Torch has a sly moment when masquerading as a cow, a bull sort of gooses him.There's lot of sight gags and some really silly production numbers, but Kilmer and the gang, including an uncredited Omar Sharif, seem to be having fun.It's fun to watch.

"Oingay ootay etgay iedfray in the airchay"
Funny, funny film from the people who brought you "Airplane!" and "The Naked Gun".Almost as funny as the film is the commentary track by the creators -- apparently they aren't very fond of this one, and spend a good deal of time during the commentary mocking their own film.But anyway, it's a very funny film.My favorite part: Nick activating the Polaris Mine in the prison lab (check out the submarine guy!).Also recommended (besides "Airplane!" and "The Naked Gun" of course): "The Kentucky Fried Movie", also by Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker. ... Read more

Asin: B000066C6Z
Subjects:  1. Feature Film-comedy   

What's Up, Tiger Lily?
by Woody Allen
Director: Woody Allen, Senkichi Taniguchi
Average Customer Review:
DVD (15 July, 2003)
list price: $19.99 -- our price: $17.99
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Editorial Review

What better way for writer-star Woody Allen to cash in on the success of What's New Pussycat? than to write a quickie exploitation comedy that makes fun of quickie exploitation films? In some respects What's Up Tiger Lily? is a forerunner of Mystery Science Theater 3000, only instead of having actors sit back and make sarcastic comments about a cheapo movie, here they dub new dialog onto a ridiculous Japanese spy extravaganza. Allen's exquisite sense of the absurd is in fine form as espionage professionals pursue a top-secret recipe for egg salad. At one point during the planning of a break-in, a spy unfolds a map of their quarry's residence, explaining that the man "lives here." "He lives on that small piece of paper?" questions one of the henchmen. It's that silly. But it's often uproarious. Louise Lasser, Allen's former wife (and co-star of Bananas and future star of TV's Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman) is among the voice actors. --Jim Emerson ... Read more

Features

• Color
• Widescreen

Reviews (38)

An enduring gem. Very atypical Allen, but worth it anyway
`What's Up Tiger Lily' is a puzzle in Woody Allen's body of work. On the one hand, it is such a creampuff I expect it's primary value is as material for the question on daytime `Who Wants to be a Millionaire':

Which 1960's folk-rock band was featured as performers on Woody Allen's `What's Up Tiger Lily'?:

A. The Byrds
B. Buffalo Springfield
C. The Lovin Spoonful
D. The Mamas and the Papas

The answer, Meredith, is C. Final Answer.

An even more difficult question is who, exactly directed the movie, who wrote it, and who filmed it. Woody Allen's name is above the title on the front, yet he gets no credit as writer, although it is pretty obvious that he was the primary writer of the English dialogue you see on the screen. He also makes brief appearances in mock interviews where he is credited with the idea of the movie and with the dialogue.

There is virtually nothing in common in this film, released in 1966, with Allen's first full time actor / writer / director work, `Take the Money and Run', released in 1969 and produced by the usual Rollins and Joffre team. American International, the B-movie studio of Saul Arkoff whose stock in trade was cheap second-rate movies and imports, released this movie, of all things.

I must say that I rarely agree with blurbs on the front of DVD jackets, but I really think there is something to the statement `The film that began America's laugh affair with Woody Allen. Funny then, funnier now!'. Remarkably, aside from the very `60's act by the Lovin Spoonful, there is virtually nothing in the movie that dates it. Some of the parodies apply as effectively to the latest `Lethal Weapon' opus and, even more amazingly, to `Kill Bill' as it does to the cheap spy / martial arts Japanese movies of the 1960's.

The stated premise of the movie is that the American producers (Allen is credited as an Associate Producer) took the film of a cheap Japanese flick and put their own dialogue into the Japanese characters' mouths. The transplant works so well, I almost find it hard to believe this is what they really did. While I recognize some of the names of the dubbing actors (Louise Lasser, for example), I recognize nothing on the screen, and, no credit is given for the Japanese actors, writer, director, cinematographer, or gaffer. I guess this was all part of the deal with the Japanese producer that they got the raw film with no credits given.

I also happen to agree with the blurb from Leonard Maltin who says this is `...One long, very funny joke'. In a sense, for all the parodies done by both Allen and Mel Brooks, this is probably the one from Allen that is most similar to Mel Brooks' style, where the whole premise becomes part of the joke.

I must warn those to whom this is important that all the bad things you see about the filming of movies in the 1950's and 1960's is true of this flick. There is none of the great Gordon Willis cinematography, let alone any of Allen's high talent guest lensmen such as Sven Nykvist or Carlo De Palma.

Allen fans should not pass this up as they may with `Casino Royale' and `What's New Pussycat', where Allen is simply paying the rent by acting in these high cast comedies.

Don't watch this if you like Woody for "interiors"
If you love Woody Allen because of "interiors", "fog and mist and darkness" (or whatever that was), and "What's new Pussycat" don't waste your time in this, because you wouldn't like it and it would probably cut into your reading of the latest book on "Asian Philosophy", or the "How to act more sophisticated than you really are" guide. Seriously, this is for someone who wants to see a unique, creative, and truly funny movie. The idea is to dub a cheap James Bond knockoff movie made in Japan, with English dialogue written by Woody Allen. You'll have to see it to truly understand the hilarity of it all, but if you're still hung up on the fact that "Fog and Mist and Darkness" wasn't the correct title for your favorite movie, then, as I said before, skip it and go wine tasting.

Woody Allen Film for People Who Don't Like Woody Allen Films
"What's Up, Tiger Lily" has nothing in common with what most people think of as 'Woody Allen films.' In other words, it isn't about an older intellectual having his heart broken in a seriocomic New York adventure with Dixieland jazz playing on the soundtrack. Instead, this movie is closer to what Mystery Science Theater might have been like with the Marx Brothers as hosts.

At this point you are either running from this review in disgust or want to learn more. To make this film, Woody took an early 1960s Japanese spy film, re-edited and redubbed it, and turned it into a pun-filled, absurd comedy about a stolen egg salad recipe. To further add to the chaos, the rock band The Loving Spoonful were tossed into the mix (without Woody's approval). The result is an exceptionally silly film, perhaps best viewed when slightly distracted. Woody stretches the single joke pretty far, and ironically his joke-filled dubbing has more accurate lip-synching than most imported Japanese films of the era that were given a 'straight' treatment.

Is this essential comedy? Not at all. Is it worth at least one viewing? Of course. There aren't any real extras on the disc (aside from a slightly less risque soundtrack), and while purist might have liked to see the original Japanese film on the same DVD, what purist could possibly find any of this funny?
... Read more

Asin: B00009Q4W7
Subjects:  1. Feature Film-comedy   

The Beatles - Help!
by John Lennon Paul McCartney George Harrison Ringo Starr
Director: Richard Lester
Average Customer Review:
DVD (14 November, 1997)
list price: $24.98
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Editorial Review

After the worldwide success of A Hard Day's Night, the Beatles and director Richard Lester reunited for a follow-up film, Eight Arms to Hold You. Well, that wasn't the final title; a pleading Lennon-McCartney tune provided the catchier handle: Help! A loose semispoof of the globe-trotting James Bond pictures, Help! has always been considered a somewhat disorganized comedown from its predecessor; but it presents "the famous Beatles" even more clearly as the English cousins of the Marx Brothers. The plot has an Eastern religious cult declaring that the new ring on Ringo's finger is the key element in a human sacrifice; they will stop at nothing to obtain it. Meanwhile, a mad scientist (crazed Victor Spinetti, who also appeared in A Hard Day's Night and Magical Mystery Tour) believes that if he has the ring, he could--dare we say it?--rule the world. The songs, including "Ticket to Ride" and "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," are filmed with gleeful ingenuity, in locations such as the Bahamas, an Austrian ski resort, and the Salisbury Plain. The relentless nonsense becomes nearly the equivalent of a swinging-'60s Alice in Wonderland: for instance, Paul shrinks to the size of a gum wrapper, John fishes a season ticket out of his soup, George wears a top hat on the ski slopes, the lads sing the "Ode to Joy" to a lion. Oh, and the film is dedicated to Elias Howe, "who in 1846 invented the sewing machine." Brilliant. --Robert Horton ... Read more

Features

• Color
• Dolby
• Full Screen

Reviews (132)

Cute spoof
Parts of this movie were ridiculous and nonsensical, but it was a surprisingly pleasant spoof of James Bond and the mystical East. The Beatles performed songs from their album, Help!, at just the right moments, and these alone are worth watching the movie (it was from watching this that I learned that George, not John, sang the lead vocal on "I Need You"). Still, I should say that if you're not a Beatles fan, you probably won't enjoy this.

This movie is great, I have to say.
Okay, first off my favorites in this hilarious movie have to be George, and the famous Ringo.I love John and Paul though (the pub scene, look closely at John and Paul, its hilarious!)George, is a little snitch, he can be seen stealing in the jeweler scene, and so can Paul. George also cheats in the card game with Ringo, and he's a sissy.Thats what makes him hilarious. ("I'm off!""typical")I strongly recommend this movie to fans of the beatles and non fans.It will make you laugh you're head off.

This movie is pretty darn good.
Being a Beatles fan, and probably the biggest one at my school, I find it hard to not get any item.I was eagerly looking through a Beatles ma