Any fans from U.N.C.L.E.?

[Benzadmiral]

For those of you who remember the famous MGM-Arena TV series "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," a fan has created a new opening title sequence for the show with *perfect* casting for the leads, and with Samuel L. Jackson and Kirsten Dunst as well. Have a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd6x-TZ--Bc&mode=related&search=

While it's clumsy in execution in places, kind of first draft, the casting is dead right and the flavor is there. This kind of star power would be the kind of thing an U.N.C.L.E. project would need to get the attention of Hollywood's movers and shakers, don't you think?

 

[moribundman]

Blasphemy! Well, Sam would be good. Sam's always good. Sam's THE MAN!

 

[Gary Allan]

Do you remember The Return of the Man from Uncle (IIRC). Going back to the dry cleaners (or was it actually a "dry cleaner". I recall steam press). Trying the old coat hook (visions of Maxwell Smart, "The old coat hook trick"). Then finding a normal office building entrance.

Open channel D

I enjoyed TMFU ..but it would really need a major tune up. I can't honestly say that we're a more cerebral society now ..but looking at the reruns ..we weren't all that cerebral back then either (visions of Austin Powers "KARATE CHOP!")

I don't know if you can recapture certain things. The Avengers was great ..and impossible to duplicate. Same with The Prisoner (compelling on several levels). Much Cold War influence in the expression.

 

[moribundman]

Yeah, I think the train has left the station. Some topics and styles do become dated. That doesn't mean that watching the classic can't be fun, but a modernized version usually loses something, whatever it may be. The Avengers remake from a few years ago illustrates this very well. Yet sometimes an old hat can be transformed into something relatively exciting. To my great surprise I did like the last Bond film, and to me Bond had been outdated since at least the early '80s. I liked all Bond movies up to Octopussy, but to me they were basically Cold War period pieces.

The Prisoner is still great fun to watch. I even got it on DVD.

 

[Gary Allan]

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To my great surprise I did like the last Bond film

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Casino Royal was about the best Bond I've seen in (literally) decades. I really thought all the Roger Moore Bonds were comedy more than anything else. Cartoons mostly.

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The Avengers remake from a few years ago illustrates this very well.

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As much as they really did try to duplicate the Steedeel chemistry ...it just didn't work.

..and with all due respect to the lovely Una T. Diana Rigg was a very hard act to follow. They played that sexual tension to the extreme in such a totally tasteful manner.

Perhaps (getting back on topic) MIB is our current offering of TMFU

 

[Benzadmiral]

Yes, when I saw the trailer for the original "Men in Black," with the two armed silhouettes stepping out from a doorway among the stars, I was positive the filmmakers were saluting U.N.C.L.E.

It could be done today. You'd need a super scriptwriter, one who understands not only danger/suspense/surprise but also humor. Somebody like William Goldman; if you combined the humor and buddy-picture flavor from "Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid" with his spy opus "Marathon Man," you'd have about the right flavor.

My suggestion: Make it a period piece, play it straight as if it were the mid-'60s . . . but include a kicker: The notion that U.N.C.L.E. is still operating today. The idea of a mythical law enforcement agency operating internationally, the one force that is mobile and dedicated enough to handle terrorism and other global threats, is more timely today than in 1964.

No matter how they go (and believe me, I'd rather not have a movie at all than get some mishmash with Ben Stiller as Solo and Adam Sandler as Illya), the script and the casting will be crucial.

 

[MrCritical]

I thought that "Casino Royale" was the Bond that Ian Fleming had in mind all along.