Hollywood Spies on Spies

James Bond, Honey West, Derek Flint, Modesty Blaise, Matt Helm, Austin Powers: patriotic men and women one and all, who regularly interrupted their day jobs of shagging, drinking, and engaging in witty repartee, to save the world from the likes of Goldfinger, brainwashed bikini-clad girls, and Dr. Evil. Originally shown on the American Movie Classics channel, this Patrick MacNee (The Avengers) narrated homage to the secret agent guys and gals that graced the big and small screens during the 20th century serves up a slew of nostalgic clips from WWI, WWII, Cold War and post-Cold War themed espionage films, both serious and not-so-serious. While there are obvious omissions (The Third Man) and questionable inclusions (Enemy of the State), the biggest disappointment is the almost complete lack of gadget talk--Bond's Aston-Martin is mentioned in passing, but we don't see anything from Q's bag of tricks or any of the wonderful toys that Our Man (Derek) Flint had at his disposal (remember that weird-sounding phone?). Loaded with more clips than insights, this should still be considered a strong, optional purchase since new Austin Powers (Goldmember ?!?) and Bond films are tentatively slated for release later this year. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)