Condorman (film) Woody Wilkins, a comic book artist of “Condorman” stories, occasionally tests the character’s comic gadgetry himself. Woody is asked by a CIA-agent friend to deliver diplomatic papers to a Russian agent with whom he falls in love, and when she offers to defect, he bumbles through a series of exciting and comic chases in trying to save her from the KGB. First released in England on July 2, 1981; U.S. release on August 7, 1981. Directed by Charles Jarrott. 90 min. Stars Michael Crawford (Woody Wilkins), Oliver Reed (Krokov), Barbara Carerra (Natalia), James Hampton (Harry), Jean-Pierre Kalfon (Morovich), Dana Elcar (Russ), Vernon Dobtcheff (Russian agent), Robert Arden (CIA chief). Suggested by The Game of X by Robert Sheckley. The movie was filmed at Pinewood Studios in England as well as on location in France, Monaco, Yugoslavia, Italy, and Switzerland. First- and second-unit crews filmed simultaneously in separate locations. While the principals filmed scenes with dialogue, the second-unit crew performed high-speed chases—in racing cars on stretches of road in southern France, and with boats in the Mediterranean off St. Tropez and Nice—rigged explosions and crashes, and performed aerial work on the tram cable at the Matterhorn and off the Eiffel tower. Automobiles and boats used in the movie were a speed enthusiast’s dream: seven Porsche 935 Turbo Carreras comprised the deadly pursuit squadron of the Russian KGB; two Group 5 Lemans Porsches, competition racing cars, were used by the squadron leader, Morovitch, and the “Condor Car” was portrayed by four modified Sterling racers. Woody Wilkins’ comic book inventions, which include a machine gun/walking stick, a laser cannon, self-propelling jet rods to ride the cable up the Matterhorn, and his semi-aeronautic Condorman wings, were built by Academy Award-winning special effects artist Colin Chilvers. Released on video in 1981.
