The Spy in the Green Hat (1967)

This isn't so much a feature film but rather two episodes of the popular TV series THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. strung together to make a feature-length production. The result is just the same as watching the television series but only longer. The production is light and breezy, emphasising comedy over drama and with plenty of action in the style of the James Bond films and their ilk from the period. Any fan of the series will find the template familiar: secret agents Robert Vaughn and David McCallum are sent to stop a ruthless madman, who operates off the coast of Italy, from destroying the atmosphere of the earth with the aid of an evil scientist. Of course what it all boils down to in the end are explosions, grenades, lots of fist-fights and gun-battles with armed guards, plus tons of romance and everyone overacting as best they can.Vaughn and McCallum have by now settled comfortably into their respective roles, with McCallum as a dedicated action man and Vaughn as the Lothario, whose escapades with a pretty Italian girl lead to much of the Italian mafia coming after him! The supporting cast is very good with lots of comedic performances from the old timers, even Elisha Cook appears. Villain Jack Palance chews the scenery as only he can and is great fun as the baddie, whilst Janet Leigh has a great role as a female killer who gets a kinky thrill every time she kills or tortures a guy! The film is strong with sexual suggestion and pretty racy in parts, and in addition the plentiful action sequences are both fun and engaging (even if the stuntmen are a little obvious at times). I really enjoyed the finale which includes a fight in a flooding room. A bright and breezy spoof of the popular "spy" clichés of the decade, this is an unassuming and fun affair that passes an afternoon nicely in a lighthearted way.

'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' had started out as James Bond in your living room with weekly adventures showing how Napoleon and Illya saved the world each week and thwarted THRUSH with the aid of some innocent party. It worked well for the first season then it started getting humorous which worked initially, but it took the edge of the show, and then it completely lost it attempting to be a spoof. (If producers had looked at the James Bond series they would have noticed that they were about to release 'You Only Live Twice' and at no point had the Bond films sank into the camp humour we got from MGM / Arena.) 'The Spy In The Green Hat' was the fifth feature made from the TV show and although it wasn't the worst of the series, it was far from the best. Alongside Robert Vaughn and David McCallum were Jack Palance, Janet Leigh and old timers Joan Blondell and Allen Jenkins. The story is nonsense about THRUSH controlling the weather and there are scenes of Italian stereotypes waving their arms a lot, making pasta and swearing revenge. It doesn't work on any level.Here's what I wrote about it in my book "What We Watched In The 1960s (In The Cinema)". Interviewed in the 1980s, David McCallum felt that part of the decline of 'The Man From UNCLE' was to start spending the budget on guest stars rather than on good story lines and location filming, and "The Spy In The Green Hat", which was made up of the two-part episode 'The Concrete Overcoat Affair", had Jack Palance and Janet Leigh, and had a story about a scientist diverting the Gulf Stream, but it also had a story thread where Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) is pursued by a bunch of elderly Italian gangsters who feel he has dishonoured one of their girls. It was daft, unfunny and tedious and had fans wondering if it could get worse. The one interesting piece of casting was Will Kuluva as a THRUSH man. He had played the original head of UNCLE in "To Trap A Spy" but was replaced by Leo G Carroll after a misunderstanding at MGM. (Sponsors had said fire 'Kuryakin' and the producer thought they meant Kuluva.) "When The Boys Meet The Girls" with it was MGM's fourth and last attempt to make Connie Francis a movie star in a tepid remake of the 1943 film "Girl Crazy". She was joined by Harve Presnell, Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs, and Hermans Hermits, who sang 'Listen People'.Adapted with permission from the author from 'What We Watched In The 1960s (In The Cinema)'.Jim Doyle is the author of 'What We Watched In The 1960s (In The Cinema)', 'What We Watched In The 1970s (In The Cinema)" and 'What We Watched In The 1980s (In The Cinema And On Video)'

Anything to get the word "spy" into the title! Actually I think this was the only "U.N.C.L.E." "movie" I'd not seen so it was a welcome watch for me. A fine colourful romp it was too, taking in the two main locations for 20th Century criminal activity in the western world, Sicily and Chicago and a fun plot involving an ex-Nazi inventor, a group of veteran Mafiosi and best of all, Hollywood stars Jack Palance and Janet Leigh who really enter into the spirit of things as top T.H.R.U.S.H. operatives. Solo and Kuryakin are as debonair and efficient (respectively) as ever, while Mr Waverley as ever is a soft-centred grouch. Starting off in sunny Sicily, the dynamic duo get separated when attempting to intercept the Nazi professor, Solo, typically ending up in a pretty Sicilian girl's bedroom and Kuryakin chained up and on the end of shock treatment administered by Leigh in a Rosa Klebb type role. The action shifts to the States taking in a shoot-out at a Chicago night-club, before the usual beat-the-clock climax at bad guy Palance's weapons depot. As ever, it's lightweight, knockabout stuff, although there are hints of some more risqué direction than usual not only in some unusual camera-shots from above and below, but in the campy, kinky depiction of Leigh's knife-toting Miss Diketon (what's in a name?) and Palance's campy, excitable boss Strago, while some scenes, like Solo's peeping-Tom initial meet-up with Letitia Roman in her bedroom, Leigh seemingly getting aroused when either massaging Palance or administering death by flying daggers and most outré of all, a table-top fight between the two women seem more out there than previously, perhaps riffing of recent, racy spoofs like "Our Man Flint" and Dean Martin's Matt Helm misadventures.With some good jokes thrown in too if at other times a bit too much Italian stereotyping, this was a highly entertaining caper and probably the best of the five movies adapted from the original TV series.

I'm a huge fan of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.", both the classic TV-show and the movies. None of the U.N.C.L.E. movies are bad, but there's a couple of them which could have been a lot better. For example the last movie "How to Steal the World (1968)" which was basically just a couple of TV-episodes thrown together. It was terribly unfunny and the Robert Vaughn and David McCallum just seem embarrassed to be there. Then there's "Karate Killers, The (1967)" which was one of the funniest but with a very weak plot, it seemed as though they came up with a plot in five minutes which was merely content with laughable scenes and quirky situations."Spy in the Green Hat, The (1966)" on the other hand, is both exciting AND funny. Especially the scene where Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) hides from THRUSH agents under a young woman's (the incredibly cute Letícia Román) bed and is caught by the woman's grandmother (Penny Santon), who is forcing Solo to marry the young woman. He successfully escapes, but is hunted by a legion of stereotyped Italian gangsters. Now that's comedy.All the actors, including among others Janet Leigh and Jack Palance, give wonderful perfomances. Particularly Palance who probably is the only actor in the movie business who can overact in a good way.The 60's in a nutshell, don't miss it for the world.