It's been a while since the last update so today's entry will make it up to you, I promise. Comic book heroes are not always born in a comic strip, sometimes they're born in the big screen just like today's entry. The year 1981, the movie Condorman and believe it or not, this film was made by Disney and in a way it is one of the earliest spoof films that became so widely popular in the late 90's. Condorman is not meant to be taken serious, it is an entertaining film that makes fun of spy films & superhero films at the same time.
If you're like me, once you've seen one spy movie, you've really seen
them all. They're all the same, with different details. Spy movies, the
normal variety, are highly overrated. The same is true with super hero
movies, comics, cartoons, etc. Once the original Superman, Spiderman,
etc, are introduced, nothing is ever original after that, and it's just
so much hogwash that takes itself far too seriously.
Slightly inspired by DC Comics' Hawkman.
When is this nerd going to fuck me?
Enter the spoof, or the farce. This delightful genre of movie or TV
show takes something known to be serious, and makes it silly. The fun
in watching something like this does not come from thinking "wow, this
really could have happened, it's so realistic" but rather from
thinking, "Aha! They are making so much fun of James Bond in this
scene, it's just hilarious!" A spoof is a variation of a farce-- a
farce is a silly story that no one could really expect to happen, but a
spoof is a farce that makes fun of something that people take way to
seriously. Other popular farces and spoofs have included Get Smart,
Gomer Pyle, USMC, The Inspector General, Mathnet (on Square 1 TV), The
Princess Bride, Robin Hood Men in Tights, and all the Monty Python
adventures. There are many others.
Condorman is just such a spoof. It is meant to be funny. It is comedy
first, romance and drama second. It appeals to a wide range of age
groups because children actually think it's cool (if they're not
already spoiled with too many brain-numbing robot and ninja cartoons to
be able to appreciate true comedy) and adults love the stabs and jabs
taken at the serious spy movies and superheroes.
I'm helpless & dripping!
I may not be Hawkman but I sure can fly.
Once again, we have a film about a cartoonist (or writer or filmmaker) who
is drawn into his own work. Conceptually, the notion is rich: one gets to
support two simultaneous levels and play with the notion of self-created
narrative. We've seen a few experiments along these lines that are
intelligent. This one is along the lines of `Misadventures of Margeret,'
`Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle' and `Monkeybone' which fail because
they take the cartoon end too seriously.
The most interesting element is what drove Disney to explore such an
approach. The second most interesting feature is the casting of Barbara
Carrera. She is a fine example of what defines spy movies: exotic
appearance, damsel in distress, obvious acting deficiency deliberately
engineered to produce a characterless sex object. She is perfect, in fact,
I'll see if I can find her anywhere else after this.
The hero gets the girl.
The girl gets the hero's facial.
and they both get the getaway car.
Yes, Condorman might have been better with a bigger budget, and maybe a
little more effort could have been put into some of the plot, but I
still love it and I think it is by and large one of the most satisfying
and memorable films ever made. They don't make anything like it any
more-- it's of the same ilk as Strongest Man in the World, and Herbie.
Maybe Don Knotts would have been a funnier Condorman, but I still think
it was great. I never noticed the wires holding Condor man up or the
poor American accent while I was a kid-- come on, you people still
watch the Wizard of Oz! For overall watchability, I think this is one
to keep on the front row of your DVD collection just make sure where you look for it because the DVD it's out of print and that means its price has gone up since then.
Man how I loved his car back then.
the Condorboat!
This is a great movie to watch if you want to let your brain rest awhile.
"Phantom of the Opera" alumnus Michael Crawford plays a carefree
comic-book
writer who inadvertantly ends up helping a Russian spy (played by Barbara
Carrera, the definitive 007 femme fatale from "Never Say Never Again")
defect to the West. The film is helped by beautiful location photography
in
Paris, Monaco, and Istanbul and two awesome chases (one is a car chase in
Yugoslavia and the other is a boat chase in Monte Carlo) But there are
some
parts that try to be humorous but fall flat. Overall, though, "Condorman"
is
a pretty cool movie.
80's Bush, hairy doggy style.
Bond girl.
On a side note, when the world found out Disney was planning to buy Marvel Comics everyone scared the hell out, maybe they thought Disney would turn legendary heroes into their updated rendition of Condorman. Thank god they didn't.
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