This Norman J. Warren Bond knock-off features one of the best lines of dialogue I've ever heard in a film: "what about my yogurt?". Trust me, you have to see Gunpowder to appreciate the brilliance of Rory McLean's screenplay, ninety minutes of the ripest wordplay imaginable. The film stars David Gillum and Martin Potter as secret agents Gunn and Powder (geddit??), assigned by shouty Sir Anthony Phelps (a tired looking Gordon Jackson) to investigate the flooding of commodities markets with a surfeit of gold, which threatens to destroy the world's economies. Meanwhile, a metallurgical laboratory has been destroyed by two milkmen (the previously unheralded Fontaine twins), who have also kidnapped a lady scientist (Susan Rutherford) and stuffed her into a milk tanker. Could the two events be related? From the hilariously bad Goldfinger-style theme tune to Sir Anthony's down-market super spy lair, Gunpowder is a marvelously entertaining cheese-fest that never ceases to entertain. It's also Warren's penultimate effort to date--he hasn't made a film since 1987's Bloody New Year. At the relatively young age of 65, is it too much to hope that the man's creative muse could yet be rekindled?
