One Spy Too Many

'One spy too many' is two episodes of the Man from UNCLE TV show put together to create a film length version. Alexander (Rip Torn) is breaking each of the ten commandments as he carries out his master plan towards world dominance. When he steals a chemical weapon from a military base, leaving a number 8 behind, UNCLE agents Napoleon Solo (Vaughn) and Illya Kuryakin (McCallum) join forces with Alexander's estranged wife (Dorothy Provine) to stop his plan before it's too late.

Like most UNCLE films this is has TV-show production values and is generally not meant to be taken too seriously. Having said that the plot is not that ridiculous compared to some of the spy spoofs' other storylines, and Rip Torn makes for a good villain. The story manages to be fun without being too silly. However the idea of a drug that makes you calm and peaceful will probably not seem too farfetched for many of us!

Vaughn has the most fun as ladies man Solo and gets the lead role of the two agents. McCallum always seemed strangely sidelined and here is no different. He doesn't get any girls, any laughs and doesn't get that many fights either. However the two do manage to have a type of disapproving chemistry between them. Provine is a bit annoying as Tracy Alexander and is not a great female lead. Other minor female characters aren't key to the story but do provide a flirtatious sexy feel to the film especially the beautiful 'Control' (Yvonne Craig who also played Batgirl!) and Princess Nicole (Donna Michelle who played another role is the earlier UNCLE film "The spy with my face"). They both provide tasteful sexiness that feels at home in a 1960's film.

Rip Torn is almost unrecognisably young as the lead villain and plays him well - with an air of uncaring evil as he calmly goes about his businesses. There are actually no really bad performances in this film! Also, having been left out in "The spy with my face" that old friend makes a reappearance - the UNCLE theme tune! It now feels more like an UNCLE movie.

It's all a bit of fun, but it manages to have good performances, a reasonable plot and some dated action in order to make itself a fun, Saturday afternoon family film. Any fan of the TV series should be a fan of this.

The "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." TV-adaptations-into-movies are never off British TV rotation for long, although nostalgists like myself would be far happier if the rights to the complete original TV series could be picked up and shown the same way that classic British-made ABC shows like "The Champions", "The Avengers" and "Department S" more frequently are. I for that matter would love the chance to see other classic US fantasy / spy series like "The Wild Wild West", "I Spy", "The Green Hornet" and even "Get Smart" which somehow seem to have been permanently mothballed since their 60's heyday, certainly as far as British TV is concerned.

This U.N.C.L.E. composite shows its soldering too easily despite professional enough titles front and back-ending it. It doesn't strike me as one of the more memorable adventures Agents Solo and Kuryakin enjoyed, although it has its, albeit minor, moments. David McCallum gets most of the action here, neck deep in a marshy swamp, stripped to his shorts (no doubt his myriad teenybop fans of the time would have appreciated this) and suspended from a ceiling to be made into a modern-day mummy (it sounds strange just typing that never mind witnessing it), while Robert Vaughn does his usual debonair bit, courting the ladies, although here Yvonne Craig (later to become the leather-clad Batgirl in the "Batman" TV series) as his minor Miss Moneypenny interest, seems absurdly, as she was 30 at the time, almost too young for our hero. Another oddity is the crude insertion, at the end of master-villain Alexander's plane exploding mid-air in vintage black and white - talk about regurgitating your old stock footage!

The story is run of the mill spy-caper fare with Rip Torn (looking at times a ringer for Ralph Fiennes!) getting off on an Alexander the Great(er) global domination kick and coming unstuck at the hands of Solo and Kuryakin with the usual token meddlesome tag-along female in tow, played here with relish by Dorothy Provine.

To be truthful there are few real thrilling and suspenseful moments and even the stars' quips seldom raise a smile but Vaughn and McCallum look the part in their suits and haircuts and that great Jerry Goldsmith theme music is never far away.

Probably for 60's kids like me only, although, not unnaturally the child in me remembers TV series like this and the above-mentioned with rose-tinted glasses probably lacking today. Not that that will stop me watching the others in the series!

The series Man From Uncle ran from 1964 through 1968. this film, also with Robert Vaughn, came out in 1966. "directed" by joe sargent, who had done a lot of television, including.. Man from Uncle. and the first Taking of Pelham 1,2,3. it's kind of like a long episode of Get Smart. or Man from Uncle, which it is! some spy tricks and gadgets. when the opposition steals a secret nerve gas, it's up to Solo to track them down. It's actually footage from the original tv show, stapled together with added material by Yvonne Craig (Batgirl!) they are invited to a party hosted by Alexander (Rip Torn). a fun outdoor chess game, using live people. and then we're off to explore a tomb, with a whole lot of trick photography. it kind of goes on and on. like a usual spy flick, the good guys and bad guys take turns winning the battles. it's okay. just okay. two demerits for mostly reusing television footage. watch the Taking of Pelham 1,2,3. That one is really quite good.

The intrepid U. N. C. L. E. Agents are assigned to recover a specimen of lethal BG30 gas which has been stolen from the US army. In a race against time and the villainous Alexander, Solo and Kuryakin battle to avert world disaster - a task that takes them to the remote Greek island of Minos.

Out of all the UNCLE films, this one doesn't stand out much, lacks something distinguishing, or the usual humorous quips from our heroes, but it has an interesting villain played by Rip Torn and his main henchman is quite menacing. There are some good scenes: the human chess piece, Solo almost getting sliced by a saw blade, Kuriyakin chases by farm tractors. Dorothy Provine plays a dizzy character. It's not a standout UNCLE film, and it is close to average, but it's still fun.

It's 2 TV episodes spliced together so why am I even bothering to review it?