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.

MartinHafer "So, the French are the white man's burden!" "Anti-Freedomism is at a new high." The above quotes are some of the funny lines from this strange piece of political satire. While I am an American and am reasonably conservative, this overtly anti-American film didn't offend me. After all, dissent is good and I could respect both William Klein's concept of a very flawed superhero as well as some of his points about American foreign policy circa 1969. This idea COULD have worked--even though it was bound to offend many viewers. And, while it DID start well, the entire film turned out to be a mess simply because the satire falls flat again and again--mostly due to very poor writing, acting and horrible production values. To put bluntly, many of Ed Wood's films looked better! Too bad, as this piece of commentary might have had a lot more impact if the film simply didn't look so craptastic. This film is one of the best examples of a movie that was a great idea and had great moments--but had absolutely nothing else going for it.The film is not as relevant as it used to be and I assume it would mostly be a welcome film for people who were alive during the 1960s as well as fervent America-haters--who love the idea of any film that works this hard to make fun of the United States. And, quite frankly, some of the points the film made WERE pretty clever and on--it's just too bad the film had nothing--absolutely NOTHING else going for it. Cheap and wildly uneven--this film is one that actually would probably be best viewed while under the influence.

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.

MARIO GAUCI I have always been intrigued by a still of the entrancing Delphine Seyrig in a majorette outfit gracing the cover of one of my favorite issues of the British film magazine “The Movie” – which, among others, discussed in detail such films as Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’ AVVENTURA (1960), Alain Resnais’ LAST YEAR IN MARIENDBAD (1961), Chris Marker’s LA JETEE' (1962) and John Frankenheimer’s THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962); on closer inspection, I found out that the film in question was one I was unaware of and, under the circumstances, I took to be an ordinary potboiler. Several years later, I learned on the Internet that both MR. FREEDOM and its director’s preceding film, WHO ARE YOU, POLLY MAGGOO? (1966) had been released on DVD in France (appropriately enough) and, frankly I have been toying with the idea of picking them up ever since – despite their prohibitive price ($30 apiece). Luckily, I held firm and, a couple of years later, Criterion’s more adventurous sister label Eclipse sprung the 3-Disc “The Delirious Fictions of William Klein” set – consisting of these two films and the later THE MODEL COUPLE (1977) – on a largely unsuspecting public. Once again, my interest was intensely aroused by the prospect of owning these enticing movies but, perhaps thankfully, their release came at a very low ebb in my DVD collecting hobby which, due to family problems and time constraints, has sensibly made me cut down on my reckless online purchasing! Still, as a local saying goes, what doesn’t enter from the door, gets in through the window – and so it is that I have managed to score these three William Klein films via DivX torrents which, however, I then still had to convert to DVD-R given the fickle nature of imported English subtitles! Despite its 2004 inclusion among eminent critic Jonathan Rosenbaum’s “1000 Essential Films” and the fact that I was fully expecting to really love this one (given its comic-strip leanings), regrettably I have to admit that MR. FREEDOM proved to be a case of a long wait for a certain title not being totally repaid on realization. Like William Cameron Mezies before him and anticipating Robert Fuest, William Klein was himself a writer-director-production designer whose unusual combination of talents likewise (and understandably so) gravitated him towards the fantasy genre when dabbling in movies. Anonymous actor John Abbey, then, is the arrogant all-American hero – the sometime Stetson-hat-wearing/sometime rugby-player-attired Mr. Freedom – and his pompous characteristics instantly reminded me of Eddie Constantine’s Lemmy Caution characterization in Jean-Luc Godard’s ALPHAVILLE (1965) – a film with which it shares not only the satirizing of pulp fiction heroes but, by extension, American intervention in foreign countries. Indeed, MR. FREEDOM can perhaps best be described as a wildly uneven and wholly unholy satirical blend of French Nouvelle Vague sensibilities, Pop-art kitsch and comic-strip campiness.Getting back to Delphine Seyrig, she has arguably never looked sexier than she does here – sporting a frizzy-haired red wig and that seemingly clashing cheerleader costume, she plays Mr. Freedom’s main associate ‘over there’: French agent Marie-Madeleine; also on their side is Abbey’s employer Dr. Freedom who, played by Donald Pleasence, only appears to him in intermittent TV communiqués. On the other hand, the villains are more opaque if not a little eccentric in themselves: Philippe Noiret is the inflated, cap-wearing Moujik-Man and then there is the dragon-like, life-size puppet Red Chinaman! The film also features some notable (and notably irreverent) cameos: Yves Montand as the deceased French superhero, Capitaine Formidable, Serge Gainsbourg as a Mr. Freedom acolyte (he also composed the film’s playful score) and Sami Frey as Jesus Christ!! For the record, both Noiret and Frey had both already appeared in Klein’s WHO ARE YOU, POLLY MAGGOO?Ultimately, you have to hand it to Eclipse for bravely going ahead with releasing on DVD – and, technically, for exclusive American consumption – this “most anti-American of anti-American films” during a period when anti-Bush/anti-Iraq War fervor is at its highest. But, then, isn’t the then-current anti-Vietnam War/anti-consumerist credo splattered all over the colorfully chaotic canvas of MR. FREEDOM?