Woody Wilkins (Michael Crawford) is a cartoonist who writes a comic book called Condorman. Wanting realistic events in his stories he creates a Condorman outfit that he believes will fly. He attempts to use his “condor wings” in a test flight from the Eiffel Tower. Cheered on by his friend, Harry Oslo (James Hampton), Woody leaps from the tower and promptly falls into the Seine River. Woody goes back to the drawing board.
Woody’s friend, Harry, is a file clerk that works for the CIA in Paris, France. His boss, Russ Devlin (Dana Elcar) gives him an assignment to send highly sensitive documents to an agent in Istanbul. Devlin tells Harry to use a civilian and not an agent as the courier. Harry decides to ask his friend, Woody, to deliver the briefcase to an agent in Istanbul. Woody is excited to be in the middle of a cloak and dagger assignment for the U.S. government.
In a restaurant in Istanbul Woody is contacted by Natalia Rambova (Barbara Carrera). Trying to impress Natalia, Woody tells her that he is a real agent whose code name is Condorman and not a civilian. Woody is attacked in the restaurant by three enemy agents. Somehow Woody manages to bumble his way into dispatching all of them. Natalia sees what she thinks is a seasoned agent handling three henchmen. During the exchange with Natalia, Woody becomes smitten.
After the mission, word gets back to Russ that a KGB agent called The Bear is seeking to defect to the U.S. but will only do so if the agent code named Condorman is the go-between. Harry tells Russ that Condorman is actually the civilian used to contact Natalia in Istanbul. Woody, having escaped by the skin of his teeth, refuses to help until he finds out that The Bear is actually Natalia and that she is in danger.
“Condorman” was released in 1981 and was directed by Charles Jarrott. It is an American superhero comedy spoof produced by the Disney Studios. A sequel had been planned; however, a poor showing at the box office caused the filmmakers to cancel it. The movie was sort of based on the 1966 book “The Game of X” by Robert Sheckley.
The movie has a similar vibe to Christopher Reeve’s Superman; unfortunately, there’s not a lot of condor in Condorman. The costumed alter ego only appears in the opening credits and the third act. Despite the fact that the movie is a bit silly, there are some really fun chase scenes. In between there are lulls punctuated by slapstick and camp. It is very much a kid friendly film.
Baskin Robbins created a special promotional ice cream flavor in honor of the film called Condorman Crunch. It is chocolate ice cream with praline pecan pieces and chocolate syrup. The Condormobile is a modified 1972 Nova Sterling spots car. In the 60’s and 70’s you could buy a kit that used a Volkswagen Beetle chassis and engine covered by a fiberglass body. Its most prominent feature is the canopy door that sits on the car and lifts up instead of having gulf wing or standard doors.
Michael Crawford, who plays Condorman, is best known as the phantom in Andrew Lloyd Weber’s stage play “The Phantom of the Opera”.