Actor James Coburn's breakthrough role after years as a character actor, Derek Flint would be the most serious rival to James Bond if his two cinematic adventures of the sixties had been a little more serious.
I think Flint *would* have been, if Coburn had agreed to more sequels the way the studios wanted. But he didn't want to get typecast, apparently, so he bowed out. Not a bad idea, really: the spy genre went belly-up after '68, except for Bond, and work might have been tougher to find.
That said, Flint's always been one of my fave spy characters and I had such a kid crush on Jean Hale (Lisa in IN LIKE FLINT) that I based my first heroine on her.
I think Flint *would* have been, if Coburn had agreed to more sequels the way the studios wanted. But he didn't want to get typecast, apparently, so he bowed out. Not a bad idea, really: the spy genre went belly-up after '68, except for Bond, and work might have been tougher to find.
ReplyDeleteThat said, Flint's always been one of my fave spy characters and I had such a kid crush on Jean Hale (Lisa in IN LIKE FLINT) that I based my first heroine on her.
If the Austin Powers flicks would have been more subtle in humor like Flint, they'd have been FAR more sucessful.
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