Plot

In the opening scene, cartoonist Woody is trying out a flying apparatus for his comic-book hero "Condorman", as he refuses to write a comic about anything that could not actually happen in the "real world". His friend Harry, a CIA file clerk whom Woody is currently visiting in Paris, documents the test. Launching off the Eiffel Tower, the flying suit briefly works, and then promptly a wing breaks, forcing a crash landing into the Seine River.

Harry is told by his boss, Russ, to find an American civilian to perform what is thought to be a civilian paper swap in Istanbul. Harry recruits Woody, who dresses for the part by wearing a trenchcoat and enjoys the fact that the document-containing briefcase is handcuffed to his arm.

In Istanbul Woody meets a beautiful Russian named Natalia, who poses as the Russian civilian with whom the exchange is supposed to take place, but it is later revealed that she is in fact a Soviet spy. Woody does not tell Natalia his real name, and instead fabricates his identity to her as a top American agent code-named "Condorman". While in Istanbul, Woody manages to save Natalia from would-be attackers in the pay of a Chinese agent through sheer luck. Impressed by Woody, and disgusted by how she was treated by her apparent lover/boss Krokov when she returns to Moscow, Natalia decides to defect and asks the CIA to have "Condorman" be the agent that helps her.

Donning the persona of his comic strip character "Condorman", and with the aid of a wide array of gadgets and vehicles – such as a 'Condormobile' (in reality a Nova Sterling, a British kit car) – specially created by the CIA, Woody launches on an adventure to rescue Natalia and keep her from the clutches of her enemies, Krokov and Morovich.

Reaction

Critics panned the film. On their television show, critics Siskel and Ebert featured the film in their round-up of the year's worst films pointing out the less-than-special effects such as the visible harness and cable used to suspend Condorman in the air and the obvious bluescreen effect. The film also did poorly at the box office. It has not improved with age.