NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Paynbob It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Dan Franzen (dfranzen70) A curio from the late 1960s, Mr. Freedom is about a costumed super patriot who is sent to France in order to ensure that the Commies don't take it over and therefore the world. (Yes, it's an analogue to the Vietnam War.) The catch is that Mr. Freedom is more than willing to maim, rape, and murder anyone who doesn't agree with his particular brand of bringing true democracy to the masses, which makes him a bit more sociopathic than heroic. But them's the breaks, I suppose.Mr. Freedom (John Abbey) is in the employ of some faceless secret organization headed by, of course, Dr. Freedom (Donald Pleasance). The doctor sends the mister overseas to help the resistance, as if WW II were ongoing. The idea is that if the Reds capture France, then by the domino effect the rest of Europe will fall to the Iron Curtain - which here includes China. So how does Mr. Freedom hope to accomplish this? With guns, fists, and good ol' American know-how. His French contact Marie-Madeline (Delphine Seyrig) introduces him to the ragtag crew who hopes to forestall Communism - but could there be a spy among their midst? His costume looks like a combination of NFL player and Robocop. Soon all of the freedom fighters are similarly attired, which makes the whole outfit look like rejects from American Gladiators. Mr. Freedom has no time for nuance; he punches, shoots, kicks, and kills anything that seems anti-American. Seems legit. He's surrounded by stereotypes masquerading as symbols - China is represented by a giant dragon costume, of course. The movie, like its purported protagonist, ain't subtle. Mr. Freedom is sort of like the inbred half-cousin to Captain America; all machismo, no smarts, no figurative vision, and too damn angry.This was directed by one William Klein, whose IMDb page informs me directed quite a few documentaries - and not too many features. His fiction films were typically subversive, meant to satirize known conventions, whether they were the American stance on the war in Vietnam or the fashion industry. I'm not sure how well it was received in 1969, but Klein was so fearful about getting it shown anywhere that he opened it at the Avignon Festival. He was probably wise to do so. The movie is overbearing, crass, and pretty repulsive, even as satire. Phillipe Noiret, Yves Montand, and Simone Signoret each show up in brief roles or cameos, but I'd be willing to wager none was proud of it. Even worse, Abbey gives about as one dimensional a performance as possible; he plays Mr. Freedom as if he were the ROTC guy from Animal House, only not for laughs. Even the sexual scenes are drab. This is a colossal bomb.The overarching trouble with Mr. Freedom the movie is that the character's schtick runs thin about five minutes in and yet intensifies as the plot progresses. It's not long before he's fighting not just Commies but the French who aren't actively fighting with the freedom fighters, and later all of the French. I'm not sure if that's a commentary on how Americans overall view the French, but there you go. And, of course, since this is during the Cold War, there's a threat of using The Bomb to solve problems. You can probably guess Mr. Freedom's stance on that topic.

russianberserker The garage-built cacophony Mr. Freedom truly appears to be the thematic grandfather to Trey Parker's marionette spectacular Team America. During the political tumult of 1960's America, William Klein managed to create a knock down, drag out satire so brutal that nothing came close to touching it until 2004. This is a film that refuses to just poke fun at American chauvinism. Rather, it savagely tears apart the elitism held by many of the country's under educated inhabitants as well as foreign policy that equates to "agree with us or suffer". Mr. Freedom himself (portrayed brilliantly by rare actor John Abbey) is a Stetson crowned ass kicker for America, a representation of the citizens who ride their high horse all day long, looking down upon all others and who's number one fear is the threat of communism. Incredibly this film from 1969 is more relevant than most for today's disciples of 24 hour news networks and conservative radio. Simply replace communism with terrorism and this film could have been made last week.Only this film would never be made today. The entirety of the costumes seem like they were put together in an arts and crafts class in elementary school, which only adds to the absurdity of every situation. One of Mr. Freedom's key enemies is a massive inflatable commie chinaman. The ludicrous design of everything and homemade costumes and effects lend credit to the film's aim of showing us just how goddamned ridiculous our government's actions are. At one point Mr. Freedom even comes down with a surly case of stigmata, and the link between American extremism and Christian sensibilities is thrown into the limelight. Klein saw everything wrong with this country and attacked it with his kaleidoscopic dream imagery and a powerful wit so astute that his comments still matter and should be studied by the entirety of Washington DC 39 years after the fact.

Matthew Janovic This isn't a exactly a masterpiece, but a very brave and very funny look at American imperialism by-way of our consumerism, our over-consumption, our super-patriotism, our racism, and our basic stupidity as a nation.But since postmodernism is thankfully dead as an intellectual fad (the public never cared about it anyway), and because history has reared its ugly head again showing that American power has its vulnerabilities, this film has become very timely, and is definitely prescient in its criticisms of American culture and economy. That doesn't mean it's supposed to be entertaining, but far be it from us Americans to understand the difference.What's really boring is how whenever someone has the "temerity" to criticize American foreign policy, they're somehow being "pedantic" and "preachy," while the excesses of our corporate owned media get a free pass. It's a hollow argument whose lies are showing, and we've got a lot of criticism coming-our-way these days, even from our "allies" in the EU. We've earned it.Ken Russell is much better at this kind of comic book approach to satire--he's funnier. If Klein fails--which he sometimes does in Mr. Freedom--it's only because the subject matter isn't funny. America is a real horror, just as it was in the late-1960s, with more fun to come. What makes Mr. Freedom so great is how beautiful it looks, which should come as no surprise considering its source. Klein was a very successful fashion photographer for American Vogue during the 1950s-60s.Eventually, he grew tired and disgusted with the direction the country was taking at that time and left for France. Who can blame an intelligent man with a clue? If you can do it, then-by-all-means, do it. You couldn't make a movie like Mr. Freedom in America then, or now, and that's the real courage behind it. It was a labor of love and principle, a rarity in cinema.Most chilling is the slaughter of a poor Black family by Mr. Freedom in the beginning prologue. That he wears a cowboy hat, uses violence to get his way, that he eats excessively, that he's intolerant of the views of others, all speaks volumes of what America is really about, and that's criminality.

billwwr Good satire keeps you focused on the film ... cf. Dr. Strangelove which is as strongly critical of America as any of Klein's films, but it's a classic in the US. Everyone has seen it. Klein's films are intended to be harshly critical of the US as well, but they are so amateurish in their execution and pedantic in their dialog that I actually fell asleep during two of his films. Robert Mitchum was once described as having 'a crushing touch in an eggshell comedy'. This is no such comedy, but Klein does have the 'crushing touch' down to a fine science. This skill extends to Who Are You Polly Maggoo? which is part of the set issued by Criterion in the Eclipse series.