ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

This is how NOT to make a superhero movie.

Condor Man was Disney's cinematic turkey, and it laid one helluvan egg at the box office.

The movie is so "family friendly" it practically tries to sit in your lap and beg for love. Sadly, there was no love for this slow-paced, unfunny, unexciting "superhero" movie with a dimwitted idea and a script that was so desperate to be revised that it tried to crawl over to a telephone and dial 911.

The FX range from "pretty good" to "Oh please, just shoot me!"

For example, when comic book artist Michael Crawford is supposed to be flying in his Condorman suit, he struggles to flap the wings a few inches up and down while the men on the wires above him can almost be heard grunting with the effort to keep him aloft.

The title theme by Henry Mancini is fairly good, adding some much- needed energy to the movie's occasional action.


____________________ Condorman Main Title


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The best part of the movie is the scene bellow, a fairly good car chase on a twisting mountain road, with the hero using his hi-tech Condor Mobile's weapons.

What ruins it is the way he has to touch eight different buttons on a complex control panel each time he fires his lasers or his flame thrower.

Who the hell at Disney thought THAT was a good idea? ;roll:

Why not just have triggers on the steering wheel? I have steering wheel controls on my Toyota that operate the stereo!

Oh, well. It least we get to see the lovely Barbara Carrera looking feminine and worried while Condor Man practices his typing skills.

________ CONDORMAN Clip - "Car Chase" (1981)


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_________________Condorman 1981 TRAILER


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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Well, the movie sucks, but IMDB has several interesting trivia items.
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~ In one scene, Barbara Carrera's character is terrorized by Oliver Reed's. A perfectionist, Oliver felt that Barbara's acting was wooden and not fully projecting the true fear her character would be feeling at that moment.

Frustrated with her, he actually opened the door of the helicopter they were in and threatened to throw her out. The fear on her face is real.

Getting the shot needed, Oliver shoves her back and then relaxes with a slight smile. In anger, Barbara actually elbows him painfully, which you can see in Oliver's face. But not wishing to sour the scene, he takes the punch, though his displeasure is plain on his face. (This little fight is in the film during the escape attempt from the ski lodge.)

Note from me: Mr. Reed plays a Russian with a thick accent and the perpetually bad attitude, so his action in that scene actually suits her character.

~ During one take, when Condorman falls into the River Seine, Michael Crawford nearly drowned after the strength of the current was miscalculated. He was dragged five to ten feet under the water before two lifeguards pulled him out just in time.

Note from me: I don't know why the item above doesn't mention that Michael drops into the river while attached to wires for his flying scene. Curious . . .

~ Relaxing one night after a long day of filming, Oliver Reed was relaxing when Michael Crawford was walking by. Oliver, in his character's Russian accent, invited Michael to sit and have a drink.

When Michael declined, Oliver demanded by saying, "Come here into Russian Embassy and have drink, you little feathered fart!". Needless to say, from that moment on Michael was referred to as "Condorman the Feather Fart."

Note from me: Sounds a bit too long to be a nick name. And who exactly referred to him that way. (Hey, I'm just askin'. )

~ Oliver Reed was well known as a difficult actor to work with. One night after one too many alcoholic drinks, he actually tossed his tuxedo costume into the sea from a Monte Carlo hotel room.

The company manager learning of this the following morning, rowed out into the Mediterranean to retrieve it before it floated away. Rather than add an additional expense to an already tight budget.

Note from me: Some actors don't seem to give a rat's ass that their behavior during a production can cost them future roles.

~ When Cartoon Condorman falls off the Notre Dame Cathedral he performs the famous "YA-HOO-HOO-HOO-HOOEY" Goofy holler which was first recorded by yodeler Hannes Schroll for the short The Art of Skiing (1941).

Note from me: By gum, I KNEW that yell sounded familiar when I heard it at the 1:30 mark in the open credits, shown below.

_______________ Condorman - Title Sequence


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I would-a bet twenty bucks that the animated figure was done by the Don Bluth team of animators, but IMD says —

Michael Cedeno . . . title animator
Mike Gabriel . . . main title animator (uncredited)

The reason I was so certain is because of the way the animated figure is rendered. It looks like the cartoon animated video games of the 1980s. Dragon's Lair and Space Ace, both from Don Bluth (The Secret of NIMH).

_____ Original Dragon's Lair ( Arcade Game Intro )


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_______________ Space Ace Game Intro Trailer


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)