The Helicopter Spies

1967's "The Helicopter Spies" marked the 7th of 8 feature compilations derived from the popular teleseries THE MAN FROM U. N. C. L. E., actually the show's most expensive two parter from the final season, "The Prince of Darkness Affair." Very much in the light hearted, globetrotting tradition of a typical James Bond effort, and boasting an impressive cast as well, villains like Bradford Dillman and John Dehner, comely femme fatales played by Carol Lynley, Lola Albright, and Julie London, and multiple roles as brothers for H. M. Wynant, reunited with John Carradine after SUGARFOOT ("Devil to Pay") and THE TWILIGHT ZONE ("The Howling Man"). A thermal prism that can fry any pinpointed target leads Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin from Africa to Greece to Teheran to Los Angeles, Bradford Dillman's Luther Sebastian acquiring the unit for eventual orbit around the earth to dictate terms for his organization, all blonde members of the Third-Way religious cult. Lola Albright is their high priestess Azalea, the most fervent believer that Carradine's Third-Way Priest will finally speak his first words in 20 years to assure their dominance across the globe. It's a sad waste of Carradine in a completely silent role, comically ready to speak at certain intervals only to lapse back into his coma, much to Dillman's disappointment. Dehner's exit at the midway point is another letdown, but Vaughn's blonde disguise lasts long enough for his hair dye to hold out. The last two episodes broadcast in January 1968 would form the basis for the final series feature, "How to Steal the World."

I completely agree that this is the best of the U.N.C.L.E. movies. I especially like the sequence when Napoleon Solo descends a rope ladder dangling from a helicopter onto a moving train to disconnect the freight car holding a rocket. It's actually two segments--Robert Vaughn hanging from a mock-up at the MGM studios and a stuntman (whose face is never seen) doing the actual stunts on a moving train in the Sierras. The sequence is so well photographed and edited that it's nigh-well impossible to tell that it was actually filmed in two different locations with two different actors. But my question is: how do U.N.C.L.E. fans rank the U.N.C.L.E. films? From best to worst?

Some episodes of this show have dated badly but this two-parter is still pacy and highly entertaining. U.N.C.L.E. is pitted against, not one, but two megalomaniac supervillains intent on world domination. When the first one perishes, the other takes over (sort of like a relay race). Bradford Dillman is great fun as the pompous baddy, the ultimate failure of his plans greeted with a hopeless shrug by his ageing guru (John Carradine). The climax is typical race-against-time stuff but is staged and scored with great energy. Recommended!

I'm in the middle of taping then watching the made-for-Europe splicings of 2 "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." episodes, topped and tailed with movie-type titles, which are regularly shown as a series on UK TV on some channel or other. Sadly it's the only way to see anything from the original series over here, so I guess I'll just be thankful for small mercies, as I grew up in my 60's household avidly watching Napoloeon & Illya taking on that particular week's would-be world-dominating master-villains, as well as utilising some high-tech gadgetry, canoodling with a bevy of mini-skirted lovelies and travelling to some far-flung destinations.

All of this happens, as per usual, in "The Helicopter Spies" - such lazy titling, always trying to get the word "spy" in there!. In fact here, we get two mini-Blofeld's chasing a thermal prism which activates a deadly heat ray when placed in orbit, more like a red-stripe ray if truth be told. It's a little difficult to apply cinematic criticism to what is basically two joined-up television programmes, but this one flows along entertainingly as a full-blown feature, although I doubt you'd pay money to watch it at your local picture-house.

The action here is more Robert Vaughn centred than on David McCallum (either works for me), who along the way is required to dye his hair whiter than Truman Capote, fend off the attentions of a bazillion women and escape (with Ilya's assistance) from a fiendish sand-trap, before foiling Mr Big 2 (Bradford Dillman's Sebastian character) and his plan to launch a rocket into space from a public building, in a plot development, it seems to me adapted and modified for later use in the succeeding James Bond movie "Diamonds are Forever", only that had oodles more budget to razzle-dazzle your eye. There are also entertaining stunts involving trains, 'copters, cars, you name it before our heroes eventually save the world in time, with a smattering of deadpan humour to season the action.

To their credit Messrs Vaughn and McCallum (with the redoubtable Leo G Carroll on hand as their greyer than grey boss Mr Waverley) play it as straight as they can and avoid campness wherever possible. I always liked Robert Vaughn's sub-Mitchum style of acting and he was undoubtedly one of the coolest operators in mid-60's TV land.

I have, I think three more of these features to watch and after this will look forward to the next with a little anticipation, always tinged with nostalgia for those long-gone days lying in front of our old black & white TV in the mid 1960's, waiting for that great Jerry Goldsmith theme tune to announce the arrival of my TV uncles.

Though the final season of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." dispensed with the embarrassing campiness of the previous one, it went too far in the opposite direction and was far too humourless and cold to watch. But there was an exception, and it was the two-parter "The Prince of Darkness Affair" from which "The Helicopter Spies" was taken. Not too heavy on sense, but funny without being silly, fast-moving, and always entertaining (which was to be expected, since it was written by the show's best scribe Dean Hargrove). And you have to laugh at the movie's last lines - although note that they spend very little time in helicopters...