Collision Course: The Sixth Man

Break out your bell-bottoms and turtlenecks....we're going back to the 70's. It actually wasn't as bad as we remember, was it? Things are not too bad here, as we're treated to the only two-part episode in the 24 episode run of this series. One that was clearly lavished with more production money than the typical episode - Lew Grade cut these two episodes together into one theatrical film that was shown on the continent in Europe.

While not quite as charming and debonair as Roger Moore's Saint, I still like Ian Olgilvy's portrayal. If you've watched the series, you can tell he's giving 110% to the role. My only criticism is that he's fairly slight of build, which makes the action sequences less credible.

You can read the plot summary above, but it's fairly standard for almost every episode - and even Charteris's books - the Saint comes to the aid of a damsel in distress. Here the damsel is the beautiful Gayle Hunnicutt, an interesting actress that was born in Texas, but moved to England with her then husband the actor David Hemmings in the late '60s, where she still resides today. There's lots of continent location footage and plenty of action, both on and under the water.

It's a passable episode and the extra production dollars (pounds) were well spent. I'd recommend a viewing - with a grade of "B"....

Trivia: The yacht used was actually named the "Brave Goose". It was originally owned by Sir Donald Gosling, a Royal Navy Vice Admiral who went on to make a fortune in car parks. I'll hazard a guess and say he was a friend of Sir Lew Grade and allowed his yacht to be borrowed for filming.