In the 1960’s there was no one more exciting than James Bond, Agent 007. Inspired by his success at the box-office, other studios tried to come up with their own version of a playboy spy.(Matt Helm, anyone?) This spy would be different. This spy would be American. This spy would be “ours”. But what man could possibly be more exciting than James Bond? The answer is obvious: Errol Flynn. Naturally, the studio couldn’t name their spy “Errol Flynn”. So they simply, ingeniously, altered Errol’s name ever-so-slightly and christened their American super-spy “Derek Flint”. At one point, Flint even beats up a Sean Connery-look-alike playing “Agent 0008”. In other words, only Errol Flynn could beat up Agent 007.
The first film in the series was named “Our Man Flint” and its poster made it clear that “our man” was better than Bond. ” ‘Our Man Flint’ makes love in 47 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……”
If the name “Derek Flint” wasn’t clear enough, the sequel left no doubt. It was titled “In Like Flint”, a not-so-subtle reference to “In like Flynn”.
The film spawned only the one sequel but they are both highly entertaining, thanks immeasurably to the wonderfully tongue-in-cheek performance of leading man James Coburn. But their legend lives on because we all know that only one man is better than Bond.
— zacal
