45 years ago today -- "The Man from U.N.C.L.E."

[Benzadmiral]

Fellow fan Bill K. has said it better than I could: http://hmssweblog.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e-turns-45/

The show's fans are still out there, some pushing 60, still loving the best moments and giggling over the worst, and admiring Robert Vaughn and David McCallum both as actors and as family men (they've been married to their current spouses for 35-40 years -- astonishing, in Hollywood!).

And remember, this was the first big media fandom. This was two years before "Star Trek." TV Guide called the fans "The Mystic Cult of Millions." When the Beatles, idolized by all those squealing fangirls, visited America in 1964 or 1965, guess who they wanted to meet? Robert Vaughn.

Often, the stuff you love as a kid is horrible when looked at with adult eyes. Not too long ago I bought some of the old Whitman Western Stories for Young Readers featuring Roy Rogers, and read them for the first time since grammar school. Nothing great. Fast-moving storytelling, but with logic and plot gaps big enough to ride Trigger through.

U.N.C.L.E. at its best still works for me. Maybe you have to be a pre-teen or early teenager when you first see it to get hooked.

But that bulletproof glass scene . . . that'll stay with me forever.

"Open Channel D. . . . Mr. Waverly, Solo here. Our initial surmise was correct. This website, 'Bob Is the Oil Guy' or 'BITOG,' may very well be a front for Thrush."

"Investigate, but with caution, Mr. Solo."

"Agreed, sir. Solo out."

 

[mechtech2]

David McCallum is presently on another TV series [CSI or variant].
He looks practically the same as he did 45 years ago.
In addition to Man From UNCLE, there was I Spy.
I Spy was huge at the time.
Spies in the '60s were cool, like James Bond. Also, Bill Cosby was great in the show. Just another fine actor, not a race card player.

 

[tom slick]

David McCallum is "Ducky" (Dr. Donald Mallard) the coroner on NCIS.

I've never seen The Man From UNCLE

 

[daves87rs]

Good stuff.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Originally Posted By: tom slick
David McCallum is "Ducky" (Dr. Donald Mallard) the coroner on NCIS.

I've never seen The Man From UNCLE

Yes, and I understand there was a scene in an NCIS episode where someone wonders what Ducky looked like when he was young. Mark Harmon's character responds, "Like Illya Kuryakin."

AOL had a lot of the episodes on their special TV channel about two years ago. If you search on YouTube, you'll get lots of fan videos, but you can also turn up segments of the show. Look for one called "The Project Strigas Affair." It's a grand "Mission: Impossible"-style con game among spies, with William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy (on opposite sides, two years before "Trek") and Werner Klemperer, Colonel Klink himself, playing it straight as the villain. I think the entire episode can be viewed in six parts.

This video, put together as if it were a trailer for a movie, will give you a good idea of the flavor (it's in black and white, be warned): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQyJnAs7BlU

 

[ctrcbob]

To those who never saw "The Man From UNCLE", and wonder what is an Illya Kuryakin, David McCallum played the part of Illya Kuryakin.

 

[Benzadmiral]

True, I sometimes expect that "everybody knows that." At least it's laid out in the article I first linked to. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[bonnie john]

b&w just adds to it imo ...

 

[RWEST]

Heh, Robert Vaughn's on a billboard just down the road from my office, hawking for an injury lawfirm - "Tell them you mean business!!".

I liked him better as Nap Solo, fighting to preserve the American Way....

 

[Benzadmiral]

Originally Posted By: RWEST
Heh, Robert Vaughn's on a billboard just down the road from my office, hawking for an injury lawfirm - "Tell them you mean business!!".

I liked him better as Nap Solo, fighting to preserve the American Way....

Well, U.N.C.L.E. the show was kind of utopian; the organization was supposed to be enforcing the law and working for peace in many countries. Illya, Solo's partner, was Russian, after all, in the middle of the Cold War. (The counterpart today would be having a U.S. agent partnered with an Iraqi Muslim!) But yes, I'll always picture him as Mr. Solo.

Vaughn's always been a working actor, taking the jobs as they came. He started with "The Ten Commandments" back in '56 or so, his Academy Award nomination for "Young Philadelphians," loads of early TV, MfU, then movies like "Bullitt" (he and Steve McQueen were good friends) and "Superman III." He knew Jay Sebring, the Hollywood hair stylist, who invited him to Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate's house at least once. I don't recall if it was the night Charles Manson's "family" came calling, though. If so, good thing he turned it down, hey?

 

[Gary Allan]

Get Smart probably owes its existence to TMFU ..and as we've discussed before, MIB appears to pay tribute to TMFU with their signature logo/moniker

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: RWEST
Heh, Robert Vaughn's on a billboard just down the road from my office, hawking for an injury lawfirm - "Tell them you mean business!!".

I liked him better as Nap Solo, fighting to preserve the American Way....

This effect is nationwide! If they have ads on TV watch carefully, they dub in the lawyers' name, where you can't see the actor's lips moving! Footage of Vaughn talking "business" at the end is probably at least ten years old too. Around here Joe Bornstein is the ambulance chaser.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Gary, the story goes that Mel Brooks and Buck Henry visited the set of MfU during the spring of '65 to absorb items they could parody for "Get Smart." The opening sequence of GS, in which Maxwell Smart strides down a seemingly endless corridor with one security device or gate after another, was almost certainly inspired by the corridors of U.N.C.L.E. Headquarters.

And you're right -- the first time I saw the trailer for MiB, I flashed back to the U.N.C.L.E. logo!

 

[UncleS2]

We used to watch that show. One of my younger brothers had a "Man From UNCLE" toy camera- that turned into a pistol!

Let's see you beat that , James Bond!

It was one of the first shows- along with Secret Agent - to ride the wave of spy-stuff popularity generated by James Bond flix in general, and Goldfinger in particular. That movie was a big deal- and Dad wouldn't let me go see it! Such injustice to an 11-year old! Oh well- soon after, they re-released Dr. No and From Russia With Love- they played as a double feature in our area, maybe nationwide- and I did get to see them.

I caught the Ilya K. reference on NCIS, & wondered how many even knew of that today. Hmm- a few years ago they ran some episodes(on AMC, I think)-- spliced together to be used as TV movies. I taped some- but they've probably been taped over. Gonna have to look for those!

 

[UncleS2]

Amazing- I did find a tape, full of Man From UNCLE "movies", 3 that are about 1 1/2 hr each, plus ~50 min of of another that ran out of tape! I labeled it & broke the tab out- now ready for viewing and safe from being erased.

And I wuz wrong- it was TCM, not AMC, that showed 'em.

Is the entire series is available on DVD now?

 

[sprintman]

Robert Vaughn stepped up and played a superb part in one of the best TV series ever, Hustle. If you havn't sseen it check it out. Cast, scripts, locations, everything is absolutely the best. Can't wait for the next series.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Originally Posted By: Stuart Hughes
Amazing- I did find a tape, full of Man From UNCLE "movies", 3 that are about 1 1/2 hr each, plus ~50 min of of another that ran out of tape! I labeled it & broke the tab out- now ready for viewing and safe from being erased.

And I wuz wrong- it was TCM, not AMC, that showed 'em.

Is the entire series is available on DVD now?

Yes! It came out in late 2007. The neat silver "briefcase" has all 105 episodes, the color pilot ("Solo," it was simply called), plus commentary from Vaughn and McCallum and lots of other people who either worked on the show or are big fans, or both. It's a great package. Time-Life has it, and I'm sure it's available more places now.

The movies were planned from the beginning. They shot extra footage for the pilot, in color, and some extra footage for another episode called "The Double Affair." This turned the two TV episodes into two 1.5-hour movies that were released in 1966 as a double feature. After that, two-parters, two per season, were filmed, with bigger budgets and guest stars, and released as movies -- most of them only overseas.