The late 70s and early 80s were interesting times for Disney. They had produced a range of live action movies in various genres with mixed success. So making a spoof spy movie seemed no more odd than any of their previous ideas.

"The Condor Man" - as the project was then called - would be a reworking of Robert Sheckley's 1965 novel The Game Of X, a comedy of one-upmanship in the James Bond-esque world of espionage.

For the movie version the hero would be a comic book artist who gets to live out his fantasy of being one of his superhero creations - Condorman. The plot would see him used by the CIA to help a glamorous KGB agent defect, in return for lots of spy gadgets to play with.

British actor Michael Crawford was cast in the lead role of comic book artist Woody Wilkins. Crawford had extensive experience of filming his own stunts for previous TV roles and could do a convincing American accent.





Model Barbara Carrera played Natalia Rambova, the defecting Russian agent Woody would fall in love with. He would also turn her into the comic book character Laser Lady - which would lead to Disney facing a lawsuit for copyright infringement as this character already existed!

Disney had high hopes for Condorman and spent $14 million on its production. Location shooting was in in France, Switzerland and Monte Carlo and included Crawford trying to fly from the top of the Eiffel Tower.





Unfortunately audiences weren't in the mood for a spy spoof, or a superhero they had never heard of. Box office taking were low and Disney had to write off $9 million on the movie. The planned follow-up films were quietly shelved...

Michael Crawford went on to Broadway success in Barnum and Phantom Of The Opera, whilst Barbara Carrera would play a Bond villain in Never Say Never Again before taking a role in Dallas.

Now that Austin Powers and Johnny English have made the spy spoof genre respectable again, more people are recognising Condorman as the genuinely great film that is always was. It's funny, fast paced and well made.





There were rumours of a Condorman reboot a while ago, which could be a good move: there's nothing Guardians Of The Galaxy has that Condorman couldn't deliver - plus the comic books would probably rock!



More stories another time...

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