The Karate Killers (1967)

The only problem some reviewers seem to have is that this Uncle movie came from the dreaded season 3. But, if they put aside their bias, they would see it's actually a pretty entertaining, star-studded affair. Two guest stars (Telly Savalas and Curt Jurgens) would later go on to be featured villains in James Bond films. The femme fatale, Kim Darby would star with John Wayne in True Grit and the Pink Panther's Herbert Lom is perfect as the main protagonist. And with a special appearance by none other than Joan Crawford, what else is there to say? I don't see the episodes this movie was culled from as overly campy. Everyone seems to treat the plot seriously enough and there are plenty of moments of sex and violence (death of Crawford, for example) that would never make it into a Adam West Batman episode. The problem is, these days everyone wants spies to be like Jason Bourne or for the action to be as melodramatic and serious as an episode of 24. This is what is ruining the Bond franchise, imo; nobody has an appreciation for tongue-in-cheek espionage anymore.If you are willing to suspend reality and revisit the good old days of escapism, you will thoroughly enjoy this movie. It's an engaging fun affair that has our heroes trotting around the globe chasing after Hitchcockian MacGuffin ("the formula"), what else could one ask for?

This is another in a series of two-part "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." TV episodes edited into theatrical movies. It originally aired, in the spring, as "The Five Daughters Affair" – two weekly episodes of NBC's popular TV series. The movie version was released for the summer (traditionally, a television re-run season). By now, the multi-part episodes and feature film versions were completed concurrently. This was the first "U.N.C.L.E." movie without some form of the word "Spy" in the title; the episodic word "Affair" was also absent, as usual. The movie version seems mildly sexier. The most obvious difference, however, is the moving up of the "Every Mothers' Son" top ten hit "Come on Down to My Boat" to also play during the title/credit sequence. "Every Mother's Son" (the soon-to-be psychedelic pop group) and "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." were both, not coincidently, produced by MGM...In this story, secret agents Robert Vaughn (as Napoleon Solo) and David McCallum (as Illya Kuryakin) are off to find a secret formula which turns seawater into gold. When you consider the relative worth of seawater and gold, it's no surprise the dastardly organization "T.H.R.U.S.H" is also interested in obtaining the formula...Our heroic pair travels around the world, seeking four sexy step-daughters. They end up karate-chopping in Japan. Vaughn and McCallum often appear to be sleepwalking – or running through their roles. Probably, they're just super-cool. The best sequence from director Barry Shear and the crew occurs near the end, when our heroes escape from a cell. The fifth daughter, cute Kim Darby (as Sandy True), is the main guest star and the main villain is steely-eyed Herbert Lom (as Randolph). The well-proportioned Jill Ireland makes her last "U.N.C.L.E." appearance on her TV star husband's show; not coincidently, she and Mr. McCallum were freshly divorced. Amid the crowd of guest stars is a cameo by Joan Crawford. The parade of stars and general pace resemble the "Batman" movie, based on the "Batman" TV series, which was now clearly influencing "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.".**** The Karate Killers (8/3/67) Barry Shear ~ Robert Vaughn, David McCallum, Kim Darby, Herbert Lom

The Karate Killers (1967) ** 1/2 (out of 4) A secret formula is stolen and broke off into four different parts so Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) and Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum) must travel around the world and try to catch the evil man trying to get it. THE KARATE KILLERS is a feature-length version of a two-episode entry in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. series. I should probably admit right from the start that I had never seen an episode of this show so I really can't say how well this movie is or how good the two episodes are and how they compare to other episodes in the series. For the most part I found myself having a pretty good time. I will admit that I found a lot of this to be rather campy and I'm not sure if this is just how it's aged or perhaps the series was always meant to be campy. Either way, there were a lot of fun moments scattered throughout the picture with some of the highlights including the opening sequence and another very good one where McCallum finds himself heading towards an ice breaker, which will certainly kill him. There are several sequences here that manage to capture that cliffhanger feeling that people saw in serials back in the day. Another thing that kept this film moving were the countless celebrity appearances including Joan Crawford, Herbert Lom, Leo G. Carroll, Telly Savalas and Kim Darby. Seeing all these stars pop up in small roles was nice. The two leads were also extremely good and fun. THE KARATE KILLERS, I don't think, was meant to be taken too serious so as long as you turn your brain off there's some fun to be had.

Harmless nonsense consisting of MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. TV episodes released theatrically. Robert Vaughn and David McCallum are the spies trying to stop THRUSH loony Herbert Lom from getting too much of a secret formula that extracts gold from sea water. They're helped by daffy Kim Darby and encounter a slew of stars in cameos along the way: Telly Savalas; Curd Jürgens; Terry-Thomas; Jill Ireland. Diane McBain is pretty funny as a destitute Italian contessa. The movie takes place all over the world (London, Rome, New York) without ever seeming to leave the MGM studios. Joan Crawford plays a scientist's widow and Leo G. Carroll is U.N.C.L.E. boss Mr. Waverley. Every Mother's Son play their hit "Come on Down to my Boat."