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Interesting!
9:15 AM EST One Spy Too Many (1966)
11:00 AM EST The Venetian Affair (1967)
12:45 PM EST How to Steal the World (1968)
The Venetian Affair isn't actually an U.N.C.L.E. film although one could easily believe it was: It's a spy-themed film made when UNCLE was still in production, it stars Robert Vaughn and has the word Affair, which was part of the title of each episode, in its title.
Never actually seen the film, though, myself. David McCallum also made a couple of similar films around that time.
As with many ‘spy’ programs from the 1960’s (Get Smart, The Wild Wild West, Secret Agent Man, I Spy), The Man from U.N.C.L.E has virtually disappeared from syndicated television in recent years (at least in the NYC market). And while I remember watching the program on TV during it initial syndication in the 1970s, I have forgotten almost all of the plot details of individual episodes. Most of what I do remember consists of the great theme song and that there were a wide array of guest stars on the program.
I almost bought the large UNCLE DVD box set some years ago, but it cost IIRC about $300 USD. Unfortunately, like “The Avengers”, it is now virtually impossible to buy the complete set on DVD without paying a huge price on the re-seller’s market in the US. iTunes does, however, have the episodes for sale, so maybe I’ll go that route at some point. Of course, there is the "grey market".....
I watched The Venetian Affair recently - I'm a fan of Helen MacInnes, who wrote the novel it was based on, and of course of Robert Vaughn. It's pretty good!
As I stated in one of my prior post, one of the things that I remember (and really enjoy) about these MFU shows was the opportunity to see a “virtual who’s who” of 1950’s and 1960s TV/film stars in guest roles.
One Spy Too Many
Really enjoyable and the plot pacing is great.
Cast notables: Yvonne Craig (TV’s Batgirl and guested in many TV shows of that era), Dorothy Provine (Kramer’s “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World), Rip Torn and Teru Shimada (YOLT).
How to Steal the World
Some one actually pointed out on twitter how much the ‘evil headquarters looks like LAX from the outside?” 😉. A quick check on Bill Koenig’s TMFU guide indicated that this was indeed the case!!!! I think that this was the final TMFU show filmed.
Cast notables: Leslie Nielsen (!), Barry Sullivan, Eleanor Parker (!), Hugh Marlowe (or was it Richard Carlson!!! 😊) and Tony Bill (who for some reason always reminds me of Keir Dullea). Ruth Warrick (“Citizen Kane”).
All in all, a nice re-introduction for me to TMFU.
*Fans of 1950's "B" SCI-FI films will get that joke.
I can't ever remember UNCLE in syndication when I was a kid except in areas we couldn't get in those antenna days. My only exposure to it was through the movies until CBN broadcast it in 1985. Get Smart, Avengers and Wild Wild West showed up in my market when I was a kid but rarely afterward. I really discovered The Avengers, New Avengers and The Saint from the CBS Late Night Movie in the early '80s. Some would get exposure in different ways as the years went on and now are on a lot of streaming outlets.
I think the UNCLE DVDs can probably be found for a decent price if you look in the right places. My library even carries the series, all the movies and even the Girl from UNCLE, so that may be an option.
I have the entire Avengers series, but it's a Region 2 import and the only way I could watch it was on my computer and that one died last year and I'd need a multi-region player to watch them now.
low price. I've had fun watching them all and as I have most of the films on DVD, 1
experimented with watching a movie and then the two tv episodes it was made from
to see the small differences.
Must he replaced by American actor, if not..
William Moseley
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0608440/
Best known from Narnia movies and is seen in The Courier (2019) starring Olga Kurylenko. He is from1987.
He is also part of Bond 7 discussion/remour. https://en.cpost.org/poll/william-moseley/james-bond.html
Yes I saw this: I'd believe it when I see it. I don't see why they'd be interested in a sequel suddenly now (I guess it could possibly be something to go straight to streaming).
Cynics may say it's a story made up as a way of getting Cavill's name out there for Bond again.
I'm sure that stranger things have happened in the past. For example, look how many times Roger Moore came back after his initial multipicture contract had expired and after he had intimated that he was finished playing Bond. The same thing was true of Sean Connery coming back for DAF after all the publicised hard times filming YOLT in Japan. Of course money talks and memories of any agonies attendant to filming are fleeting in nature.
Why does he want the James Bond role after Daniel Craig. Isn't Solo & Superman enough
There is no talk whatsoever about a Blu-ray release. Go for the DVD's but make sure you get the collection that includes the extras.
A bit of a shame really, but I guess if the quality of the DVDs are good enough, that shouldn't matter. The collection with the extras is the grey box from 2014, am I right?
Frankly - and with Arnie Hammer apparently out, fairly or not - they may as well re-cast ALL the way round, and change director, and make an entertaining TV streamer.
When the TV was made, it intentionally was presented in a visual, thematic, acting and overall style as unreal. It was exceedingly hip, modern and cool. I think that was a large part of what made it popular. I read on the Batman page recently a note which stated that the Batman TV show producers went with the High Camp style partly because of what they saw on UNCLE.
The not-so-recent-anymore Guy Ritchie theatrical film, however, while still set in the 60s, and given some glamorous locations along the way, was very realistic-looking. That is no easy thing to accomplish, but they did succeed. However - I think that is what contributed to the film being somewhat dull and not setting large audiences abuzz and generating good word-of-mouth and bringing in other film-goers.
If someone were to make a sequel - really ? of a not-very-popular film and after a LONG time ? - or a TV streamer, yes, they could go with the same cast despite a significant tonal and visual change to be like the TV show, or they could go with a new cast along with those changes.
Given the numbers on the theatrical film, it sure seems more likely to bring in a new cast with the new (going back to the old, that is) style and appearance.
So here would be an interesting challenge - go with the style and appearance approach from the 60s tv show, but set in the present day. OK, noooow the mind boggles.