Monday, February 17, 2014

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)

Director: Jay Roach

Writers: Mike Myers

Composer: George S. Clinton

Starring: Mike Myers, Elizabeth Hurley, Michael York, Mimi Rogers, Robert Wagner, Seth Green, Fabiana Udenio, Mindy Sterling, Paul Dillon, Charles Napier, Will Ferrell, Clint Howard, Burt Bacharach, Tom Arnold, Lois Chiles, Carrie Fisher, Rob Lowe, Cheri Oteri, Christian Slater

More info: IMDb

Tagline: If he were any cooler, he'd still be frozen, baby!

Plot: A 1960s hipster secret agent is brought out of cryofreeze to oppose his greatest enemy in the 1990s, where his social attitudes are glaringly out of place.



My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

Hilarious.  As a fan of 60s spy movies and a HUGE Bond geek, this is simply delightful.  The opening credits dance sequence is too much fun.  Myers was brilliant with these movies.  Not only with the acting and writing but of the universe and the sheer level of fun he and everyone involved brought to it.  The scenes where Austin (Myers) walks about the apartment naked with his twig and berries covered up by appropriately placed objects is hilarious.  I'm convinced that he took inspiration from THE LAST OF THE SECRET AGENTS? (1966) where there's a lengthy scene in a go-go bar with lots of topless women using the same device to keep the audience from seeing any naughty bits.  George S. Clinton's score deserves a lot of praise for reviving that 60s John Barry sound in the score and major points to whoever had the brilliant idea of using the Quincy Jones 60s tune, Soul Bossa Nova (what's become the Austin Powers theme tune). It's been ages since I saw this last and, after more than ten years, it's still holding up well.  If you dig this series then you MUST watch the James Coburn Derek Flint movies, OUR MAN FLINT (1966) and IN LIKE FLINT (1967), and you'll see a lot of where Myers took some inspiration.  Great stuff.


 

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