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Saturday, Sep 19, 2009
6:30 pm
Mr. Freedom
Klein's zany spoof of American adventurism is a perfect care package of buffoonery, bombs, and bombast. Mr. Freedom (John Abbey), a steroid-stuffed superhero with a John Wayne swagger and a voice like a bullhorn, is sent to Paris to snuff a Commie invasion; as he declares, “wrong is Red and right is Red, White and Blue.” He joins forces with Marie-Madeleine (super-sexy Delphine Seyrig) and her underground conspirators to combat their archenemies, Moujik Man, a bulbous Bolshevik, and the inflatable Red China Man. When their foes turn out to be formidable, Mr. Freedom uses that old U.S. of A-Bomb. “You're dying for freedom,” he says with grave irony. Klein's superhero is a classic American huckster, pushing democratic ideals “direct from the Freedom Factory to you,” just another commodity to contain communism. Splashy colors, zippy slogans, and kitsch-happy costumes make the frenzied Mr. Freedom a cartoonlike blast at imperial boosterism.
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