Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Caryl It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Leofwine_draca 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.

jimdoyle111 '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)'

bob the moo Hunted nazi scientist Dr Kronen (Ludwig Donath) is recruited by THRUSH agent Louis Strago (Jack Pallance) to put a mastermind scheme into place. They plan to use heavy water to divert the Gulf stream causing Greenland to become a tropical paradise under THRUSH control while other areas fall into colder climates. UNCLE agents Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) and Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum) are dispatched to stop the plot.This is the best of all the UNCLE 'films'. It simply has the best plot, the best comedy, the best performances and the most professional feel to it. The plot is silly as all spy movie plots are, but this does have a slight believability to it, and any nonsense is cancelled out by the other great elements. The story is strong because it mixes spoof with action and a gentle sense of fun and comedy. The main story is good, but it is mixed in with a subplot where Solo is forced to marry an Italian girl after he is "indiscreet" and is pursued by her aged uncles, once prohibition gang leaders. This adds to the plot and actually mixes with the main plot as both mobsters and THRUSH hunt Solo for different reasons!The whole film does have a very movie feel to it where the others mainly did feel like they were only 2 episodes of the TV show stuck together (which in fairness they were). But this uses a lot of locations and even when studio-bound has a higher production value than usual. However the performances are what makes this the best UNCLE.Vaughn and McCallum fall comfortably into their well worn role, Vaughn gets the girls and most of the comedy, while McCallum gets the action. However here they are as good as they got, both come across as totally comfortable and are obviously enjoying themselves. Also where early movies sidelined McCallum as a sort of "Robin" to Vaughn's Batman, by this stage they have developed into partners and have almost equal status. Leticia Roman is feisty as the Italian girl who Solo dishonours and her mobster Uncles are the funniest thing in the film. Unfortunately they're all very much Italian stereotypes and Roman does get a bit irritating with all her "mama mia" and "si"ing.The best 2 performances come from the bad guys, both big name actors. Jack Pallance is great as Strago and plays him as a frustrated middle-manager in a small bank chain. He is all frustration as he tries to stay calm and play everything within the rules of business. I can't describe it very well but he's very good throughout. The standout role is Janet Leigh as Miss Diketon, Strago's secretary. Diketon is not quite as suggestive as some Bond girl names but it still a bit risqué. Leigh plays the role with an incredible amount of sexuality. She takes a sexual thrill in killing and pain, using a knife strapped high up her thigh. It is quite amazing that her S&M killer got through the 1960 censors, she really is very sexy and erotic as she shivers with sexual excitement. In fact the whole film has a vein of sexuality running through it that is greater than previous outings.Leigh's S&M fanatic is only one blatant thing in it. The film also contains a short sweaty cat fight between Leigh and Roman which is a quite thinly veiled bit of teasing lesbianism. The most amazing bit is where Roman is undressing in her bedroom in Sicily and we watch from the traditional bad view. However not once, but twice doe we see a side view of breast and a very clear nipple. In previous UNCLE movies they've used the back shot as a teasing bit of sexuality but here I couldn't believe that the censors had let 2 separate nipple shots go uncut. I'm not saying that these made the film any better but it's just funny to see how much really heavy sexuality is in this film compared to the other UNCLE movies (not to mention other TV/films of the same period). If you watch this film to get a glance of nipple then you're very sad - you should watch it for the whole film instead.Overall the best of the UNCLE series for so many reasons, but made all the better by sterling performances by Pallance and Leigh.

Monkey Bastard 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.