Condorman (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Good
Special Effects	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Good

Advantages:	Great Walt Disney film, excellent sketches
Disadvantages:	None

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

This is a Walt Disney film and it shows..... This is a funny film, cross between the Pink Panther and James Bond. The film itself was made in 1981 and is a great comedy for all the family. It follows the hilarious antics of cartoonist, who becomes enlisted by the CIA. The Director Charles Jarrott (Boys In Blue & Anne Of A Thousand Days), has made this film something special.

The Story....

A Cartoonist by the name of Woody Wilkins (Michael Crawford) is the inventor of Condorman, who is cartoon character who stands for honesty and American way. His friend Harry (James Hampton) enlists Woodys help to take on an assignment in Istanbul, where some papers are required to be exchanged, the only rule from the Russians - the American must be a civilian.

Woody gets to Istanbul and makes the exchange, but not before telling the beautiful Natalia ( Barbara Carrera) aka The Bear, that he is the top international operative known as Condorman. through look and daring, a fight breaks out at the exchange as Turkish spies try to kill her.
In the end Woody is again enlisted to go back to Yugoslavia and bring out The Bear as she wishes to defect and has asked for the Condorman. He persuades the CIA that the only way he will do it, is if his designs for Condorman are manufactured for his use in the extraction.

As you can imagine the fun really gets going here and the race is on for Woody to get the Bear out before Sergei Kokov (Oliver Reed) manages to kill him and possibly her.

I won't spoil the film by telling you the end of the story, but the sketches and scenery are reminiscent of James Bond. The gadgets used include, lasers, fast super charged condor car, boat and flyer. Costumes / disguises as well, and the fight scenes remind me a lot of the Pink Panther sketches.

In conclusion the film is fantastic fun for everyone. Comedy, gadgets a splattering of James Bond and the Pink Panther add up to a good film. Not skimping on the budget, Walt Disney has hit the jackpot.
Michael Crawford and Oliver Reed play excellent parts throughout the film. the boat chase and car chases are brilliant and the special effects aren't bad either. For the price this film is excellent.
I would recommend this film for any James Bond / Walt Disney / Pink Panthers fans out there.

Stars:-
Michael Crawford ; Oliver Reed ; Barbara Carrera ; James Hampton ; Jean-Pierre Kalfon ; Dana Elcar ; Vernon Dobtcheff ; Robert Arden

Disc Features:-
Three languages
Three different subtitles for English/French/German
Cert U
Colour
Running Time 87mins
Widescreen

Price about £4-£8