"The Man from U.N.C.L.E." was a popular American television series from the 1960s. Like a number of series and film franchises from this period, it was inspired by the success of the James Bond films which made anything with an espionage theme very popular. The acronym U.N.C.L.E. stood for "United Network Command for Law and Enforcement", an international law enforcement agency. (The "N" was originally supposed to stand for "Nations", but the real-life UN objected to their name being used in this way). The series should really have been called "The Men from U.N.C.L.E." because it features two U.N.C.L.E. agents, the American Napoleon Solo and the Russian Ilya Kuryakin. At the height of the Cold War there was an obvious appeal to a series which showed the Americans and Russians working together to preserve world peace.
This was the third feature film to be based upon the "Man from U.N.C.L.E." franchise. Like its two predecessors it is based upon a story which was originally broadcast on television and most of the footage consists of re-edited material from one or more episodes of the series. The only additional material used here is the subplot featuring Yvonne Craig as Solo's love interest Maude, a character who never appeared on television. Maude, a sort of Monypenny figure, turns out to be the niece of Solo and Kuryakin's British boss Waverly.
As in many of the Bond films, the main villain is a ruthless tycoon with ambitions of world domination. This tycoon, largely because his name is Alexander, sees himself as a modern-day Alexander the Great and has similar ambitions to conquer the world. He starts stealing a top-secret chemical weapon from an American military base and intends to bankroll a military coup against the President of an unnamed Asian country. He is also obsessed with the Ten Commandments, believing that as a superior being he has a licence to break them which is denied to lesser mortals. The task of foiling Alexander's evil schemes falls, of course, to Solo and Kuryakin. In doing so they have the assistance of Alexander's his estranged wife Tracey who is trying to track him down so that she can serve him with divorce papers.
A comparison between "One Spy Too Many"- the precise relevance of this title is never made clear- and the Bond movies illustrates some of the differences between the cinema and television in the 1960s. In 1966 the Production code was on its last legs- it was to be abolished the following year- and film-makers were quick to take advantage of a climate of growing permissiveness as regards both sex and violence. Television producers, who needed to pursue the family audience and to keep their advertisers and sponsors happy, did not have the same licence. Although Robert Vaughn's Solo, another suave, debonair charmer, had certain things in common with Sean Connery's Bond, he was decidedly less promiscuous. Here his romance with Maude, although flirtatious, always remains within the bounds of decency, and there is no indication that they have been to bed together. Bond, who regularly bedded several girls per film, would never have missed such an opportunity. About the only thing that might have upset TV producers is a shot of the lovely Maude in a bikini.
The film is also less violent than the Bond franchise. Solo and Kuryakin might occasionally brandish their pistols, but they rarely if ever use them to lethal effect. The death toll is markedly lower than in most Bond films, and most of the killings we see are carried out by the bad guys. It is notable that Alexander himself dies at the hands not of an U.N.C.L.E. agent but of one of his own renegade henchmen.
Not only is "One Spy Too Many" less sexy and less violent than the Standard Average Bond, it is also less exciting. There are few action sequences apart from a not very well-done car chase and little tension is generated, even when one or other of our heroes has been captured by the bad guys. Rip Torn as Alexander cannot compare with the great Bond villains such as Gerd Frobe's Goldfinger, Donald Pleasence's Blofeld or Michael Lonsdale's Drax. If I had to compare it with a Bond film, it would be with one of the lesser entries in that franchise such as "A View to a Kill" or "Licence to Kill". Television and the cinema are two different media, and you cannot make a successful feature film simply by re-editing a television programme, even a successful one. 5/10
This was the third feature film to be based upon the "Man from U.N.C.L.E." franchise. Like its two predecessors it is based upon a story which was originally broadcast on television and most of the footage consists of re-edited material from one or more episodes of the series. The only additional material used here is the subplot featuring Yvonne Craig as Solo's love interest Maude, a character who never appeared on television. Maude, a sort of Monypenny figure, turns out to be the niece of Solo and Kuryakin's British boss Waverly.
As in many of the Bond films, the main villain is a ruthless tycoon with ambitions of world domination. This tycoon, largely because his name is Alexander, sees himself as a modern-day Alexander the Great and has similar ambitions to conquer the world. He starts stealing a top-secret chemical weapon from an American military base and intends to bankroll a military coup against the President of an unnamed Asian country. He is also obsessed with the Ten Commandments, believing that as a superior being he has a licence to break them which is denied to lesser mortals. The task of foiling Alexander's evil schemes falls, of course, to Solo and Kuryakin. In doing so they have the assistance of Alexander's his estranged wife Tracey who is trying to track him down so that she can serve him with divorce papers.
A comparison between "One Spy Too Many"- the precise relevance of this title is never made clear- and the Bond movies illustrates some of the differences between the cinema and television in the 1960s. In 1966 the Production code was on its last legs- it was to be abolished the following year- and film-makers were quick to take advantage of a climate of growing permissiveness as regards both sex and violence. Television producers, who needed to pursue the family audience and to keep their advertisers and sponsors happy, did not have the same licence. Although Robert Vaughn's Solo, another suave, debonair charmer, had certain things in common with Sean Connery's Bond, he was decidedly less promiscuous. Here his romance with Maude, although flirtatious, always remains within the bounds of decency, and there is no indication that they have been to bed together. Bond, who regularly bedded several girls per film, would never have missed such an opportunity. About the only thing that might have upset TV producers is a shot of the lovely Maude in a bikini.
The film is also less violent than the Bond franchise. Solo and Kuryakin might occasionally brandish their pistols, but they rarely if ever use them to lethal effect. The death toll is markedly lower than in most Bond films, and most of the killings we see are carried out by the bad guys. It is notable that Alexander himself dies at the hands not of an U.N.C.L.E. agent but of one of his own renegade henchmen.
Not only is "One Spy Too Many" less sexy and less violent than the Standard Average Bond, it is also less exciting. There are few action sequences apart from a not very well-done car chase and little tension is generated, even when one or other of our heroes has been captured by the bad guys. Rip Torn as Alexander cannot compare with the great Bond villains such as Gerd Frobe's Goldfinger, Donald Pleasence's Blofeld or Michael Lonsdale's Drax. If I had to compare it with a Bond film, it would be with one of the lesser entries in that franchise such as "A View to a Kill" or "Licence to Kill". Television and the cinema are two different media, and you cannot make a successful feature film simply by re-editing a television programme, even a successful one. 5/10