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Recently there was a story about plans to make the 1960's TV spy show The Man from UNCLE into a feature-length film. At age 53, I was only age twelve when the show went off-the-air in January, 1968: so it might do well to have a look to understand the renewed interest, forty-two years later.
Debuting in the autumn of 1964 (with its first season in black-and-white) the show was based upon writings by Ian Fleming, the creator of the James Bond film series. Screenwriter Sam Rolfe fleshed-it-out into a TV series that had the feel of Bond (fancy gadgets, sharp-dressing men and women, sparing use of tongue-in-cheek humor and far-out plots ... make that very far-out plots).
But it had some differences: instead of being a UK-centered spy agency this was an international agency, and with two male leads instead of one. And unlike its contemporary TV show Get Smart - a wonderful Mel Brooks send-up of spy shows with competing agencies CONTROL and KAOS that didn't stand for anything - UNCLE stood for United Network Command for Law and Enforcement with its chief Alexander Waverly, portrayed by Leo G. Carroll (who had previously starred in the TV series "Topper"). UNCLE's adversary was named THRUSH: the Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity. The show's two stars - at the height of the show's popularity - received 70,000 pieces of mail a month.
Robert Vaughn starred as American agent Napoleon Solo. He was one of the stars of the 1960 western The Magnificent Seven along with Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen - and today at age 77, Robert Vaughn is the only one of the Magnificent Seven still alive. He later appeared in the final season of the show The A-Team then had a recurring role in "Law & Order" and since 2004 has appeared on the BBC series Hustle which has been shown in the US on the AMC Channel.
Scotsman David McCallum co-starred (quite interestingly, coming just two years after the Cuban Missile Crisis) as Russian agent Illya Kuryakin (or as the MAD Magazine spoof of the time referred to him, "Illya Nutcrackin"). He was originally envisioned as a secondary character but worked with Vaughn so well that he was cast as his partner early on. Today at age 76, McCallum is the Chief Medical Examiner on the TV show NCIS in the role of Dr. Donald 'Ducky' Mallard.
The show received critical success in its first season (1964-1965) and during its second season (1965-1966, which is when I started watching) briefly reached #1 in the ratings (ahead of Bonanza, Bewitched and the Dick Van Dyke Show) with a 50-share rating: unbelievable in this 500-channel era. And its second season theme music was scored by Lalo Schifrin, the best version during the life of the show in my opinion.
But the production team overseeing the show kept changing, and the show's third season (1966-1967) was a disaster: modeled on the campy theme of the then white-hot Batman series. And thus a show that offered tooth-and-nail adventure now resorted all-too-frequently to titles like the My Friend, the Gorilla Affair - every episode ended with the word "Affair" - and the show's ratings plummeted to the point it was nearly canceled. It was given a reprieve in the form of a fourth season - but it never recovered and was finally canceled in January, 1968. NBC did replace it with Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In - so give the network credit for a productive change.
In 1983 a TV reunion movie was made: Return of the Man From UNCLE - "The Fifteen Years Later Affair". One of THRUSH's men had gotten out of jail, had a bomb and would only deal with Solo and Kuryakin (who had left the agency). Pleading with Kuryakin to return, Solo mentioned the future of the world, and was asked, "Didn't we used to save the world every week at one time?" Solo replied, "Yeah, I guess I lost count". Replacing the late Leo G. Carroll was former Avengers star Patrick MacNee (in a nice casting touch). During the film - at this link onetime Bond star George Lazenby sees his colleague Napoleon Solo in a "spot of bother" and helps him out (smirk).
Now, simply because a film has been planned doesn't mean it will make it to the silver screen. The so-far fruitless efforts to release a film about the life of Janis Joplin over the years - with many stars cast as her - are instructive. Nonetheless, should such a film come-to-pass: there will be many people who will be pleased. In the video below - which was shown on the Comcast Network - Professor Cynthia Walker of St. Peter's College in New Jersey gives her students the assignment to ask their mothers about Ilya Kuryakin - and they come back to class amazed that their mother screamed, "I loved Ilya!" McCallum himself tells of a Secret Service agent who tells him "You're the reason I got this job".
As a final thought from the video: I wonder how much the Man from UNCLE lunchbox I had as a child would fetch on eBay now?
And now: on to Top Comments:
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From Purple Priestess:
In Jed Lewison's FP diary Wingnuts Divorced From Reality, aaraujo really nails the conservative mind.
From bronte17:
RFK Lives made a salient comment today in Carnacki's wonderful diary Walking by the Capitol on a quiet evening. (Hi Carnacki! It's great to see you on the rec list)
While FDR did consciously expand his circle of key advisers to include Goopers, the war effort was primarily led by Democrats. More significantly, the public purposes for which the war was waged were both Democratic and democratic. Can you imagine for a second a GOP POTUS giving the Four Freedoms speech?
FDR faced enemies far more dangerous than Al Queda, yet he never would've dreamed of saying "Bring it On." Truman wouldn't have ever considered a "Mission Accomplished" banner or a cheap carrier landing stunt after V-J day even though the war was actually over then. Plus, FDR actually went to war w/ the people who actually posed a threat to the US instead of invading a country that posed no threat whatsoever.
Our party led the "Great Crusade" that liberated Western Europe and then initiated the Marshall Plan to boot. WTF did the GOP ever do of note in the past century? Let's recall who we are and what we stand for and put "bipartisanship" on the ash heap where it belongs for good.
From Thinking Fella:
In BarbinMD's Ben Nelson's Important Principle, SeltzerDuke ponders empty phrases.
And from yours truly ....
TigerMom quoted Stephanie Miller from her radio show today:
"Charlie Crist was coming out this afternoon to join a three-way with two other guys".
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Top 30 (plus ties) Comments excluding tip jars, first comments and stuff:
1) you should update by route66 — 249
2) They Can't Call it "Off-Shore Oil" Anymore by JekyllnHyde — 142
3) That's all well and good, but people are by Jesselyn Radack — 136
4) come on, you're pounding a red herring by Uberbah — 126
5) You conveniently left out this from that NYT by amk for obama — 123
6) Thank you for reporting this. by cai — 117
7) yup by stevesmill — 110
8) Yes. Exactly! by electricgrendel — 100
9) I Was At Ohio State Where Troubles Began by Gooserock — 98
10) "Roundup Ready" by MadRuth — 97
11) Here is the Conundrum by shanikka — 95
12) I dare ya'll to click on the links. by TexMex — 88
13) Irrelevant, because... by alamacTHC — 88
14) Tipped and Rec'ed by LaurenMonica — 84
15) Powerful diary by GN1927 — 83
16) This was reiterated at the WH briefing... by grannyhelen — 79
17) Duncan Hunter's Family in the 1600's by JekyllnHyde — 78
18) Here's a Story on Dr. Height's Memorial by JekyllnHyde — 78
19) So the "Party" that wants government OFF... by Ken in MN — 77
20) Good for them by anastasia p — 74
21) Ahhh. Brought tears to my eyes to see by jalenth — 72
22) I think Crist has a strong incentive to veto this by I said GOOD DAY sir — 70
23) From the bottom of the first link in your diary by yuriwho — 69
24) Wait, so is this a MANDATE? by MinistryOfTruth — 69
25) Pictures of Dorothy Height by Scarce — 68
26) Can these fucking white-bred male Repubs by alkalinesky — 65
27) Dontcha know by alkalinesky — 64
28) ... made me cry too ... by nzanne — 63
29) They are already eating their own by Kristina40 — 62
30) Exactly... by MediaFreeze — 61
31) You can't give his DOJ credit when it does by Whatithink — 59
32) Here's a great post on the NPR website, from a by nailbender — 59
33) Finally, a comment that gets to the heart of it. by DaNang65 — 59
Top 30 Comments with no exclusions, aka the Tip Jar & Pooties list :-):
1) Tip Jar by TexMex — 403
2) Tip Jar by stevesmill — 359
3) Tip Jar by credstone — 338
4) Tip Jar by kainah — 314
5) Tip Jar by Carnacki — 287
6) you should update by route66 — 249
7) Tip Jar by Unenergy — 247
8) Tip Jar by blackwaterdog — 236
9) when all the costs are weighed by Turkana — 228
10) Tip Jar by Linda Marie Sacks — 217
11) Tip Jar by Drdemocrat — 210
12) Tip Jar by jjhalpin — 205
13) Tip Jar by Jesselyn Radack — 202
14) Tip Jar by Kendrick Meek for Florida — 170
15) They Can't Call it "Off-Shore Oil" Anymore by JekyllnHyde — 142
16) Tips for cleaning up after. :) by NCrissieB — 137
17) That's all well and good, but people are by Jesselyn Radack — 136
18) come on, you're pounding a red herring by Uberbah — 126
19) Tips / Mojo: 29 Apr 2010 by A Siegel — 126
20) You conveniently left out this from that NYT by amk for obama — 123
21) Thank you for reporting this. by cai — 117
22) yup by stevesmill — 110
23) Yes. Exactly! by electricgrendel — 100
24) I Was At Ohio State Where Troubles Began by Gooserock — 98
25) "Roundup Ready" by MadRuth — 97
26) Here is the Conundrum by shanikka — 95
27) Tip Jar by Ojibwa — 93
28) If it's Thursday, 10 AM Pacific... by SheKos — 92
29) Scritchie Jar by triciawyse — 89
30) I dare ya'll to click on the links. by TexMex — 88
31) Irrelevant, because... by alamacTHC — 88