Vashirdfel
Simply A Masterpiece
Afouotos
Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
SanEat
A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."
Joeshill-0609
First,i have some choice words about this "unique" CBS TV movie from 1983-Nice,,But No Dice!! "THE MAN FROM UNCLE" was a landmark NBC-TV series from 1964 to 1968,as well as being Metro Goldwyn Mayer's answer to the 007 craze of the 60s-and successful enough for MGM to theatrically release most of the two parters as motion pictures. but what was never explained was how Viacom Productions got the rights to do this reunion movie,with out MGM's participation! director Ray Austin did a so-so job-but in all fairness,they still could've used any of the original directors who worked on the TV series,and why they didn't do that,is a very big mystery,with money usually being the main reason! the reunion movie was somewhat nice,seeing Robert Vaughn and David McCallum back as UNCLE's finest-but it would've been better,had MGM participated in this reunion! ironically,Michael Sloan,who later went on to create "THE EQUALIZER" TV series at Universal in 1985,also did the first reunion film of "THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN" and "THE BIONIC WOMAN" in 1987,using an almost exact same story,that was used in "RETURN OF THE MAN FROM UNCLE"-and over the years,i've been meaning to point that out,until now! point being,is that remakes and reunions fall seriously short of being the items they once were,when the originals had their run! pity,that Sloan couldn't get Stephanie Powers to return as "April Dancer" for this reunion,,but then, this movie just wasn't up to speed! about the only satisfying justice that was done,was in a 1986 episode of NBC's "THE A TEAM" series,when Vaughn and McCallum reunited,but was on opposite sides of the law-and the episode,"The Never Say Uncle Affair",was actually WAY better then the 1983 TV movie,because it was clever,and stylish! otherwise,the reunion film,just did not have the flare and wit,of the 1964-68 series, and could've been way better! currently,Warner Bros. is planning to make an UNCLE movie,since they own the rights,as well as the MGM library,but i don't think that their efforts will be any better,which is why the originals will always be the Superiors!
grendelkhan
Aside from one of the theatrical cuts of a two-part episode of the original, this was my first real look at anything U.N.C.L.E. I was a spy fanatic and had great expectations, based somewhat on the comments that a favorite Marvel comic, "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." owed its existence to U.N.C.L.E. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. It looked like every other TV show of the period and the leads weren't young anymore. The fantastic gadgets were rather mundane and the super-guns almost non-existent.Some years later, I saw this again, with a more forgiving eye. There is a sense of fun to be had and it does follow the formula of the show, of which I had seen portions on video. McCallum and Vaughn are great and Anthony Zerbe makes for a great villain (as he usually played on TV show of the era). Although it doesn't look studio-bound like the TV series, you can't mistake the southern California and Nevada settings. Also, the camp (though a large part of later seasons) doesn't always work and is employed a bit too much in the end. Plus, Keenan Wynn seems wasted. On the whole, though, it's at least fun and entertaining. We do get some action throughout, as well as the intrigue and there is an attempt at character development.The best summation is that the film is a bit of a disappointment for a real, top-quality U.N.C.L.E. movie, but a nice re-union for the TV series. The budget is comparable to a TV episode and it suffers from standard TV editing. The are strange decisions made, like the creation of a new U.N.C.L.E. Special gun, but it is barely seen in the film. The originals were as much stars of the show as the actors. U.N.C.L.E. and THRUSH are shown to be somewhat laughable, than real professionals. Still, it is nice seeing everyone back and they carry things off with charm and style. Patrick MacNee and George Lazenby make nice tongue-in-cheek references to other iconic spy properties. The Hoover Dam setting works well for the climax and adds a bit of scope.Before this was made, there had been a script floating around for an U.N.C.L.E. feature film. One wonders what could have been done with a major budget and top levelly resources. Who knows? The premise still has enough originality to spawn a modern feature, though one hopes that enough of the fantasy elements would be maintained to keep it from being "Bourne from U.N.C.L.E."
jnoll-2
This movie was clearly made for Television and the copy I got looked like it was a "bootleg" from China or something. The focus was terrible and the color saturation was gone totally. The company who released this particular DVD was New Star Video. Avoid getting a copy of this from this company, The quality is TERRIBLE.As for the plot, it was weak and very unlikely. There is a scene at the end where there are 20-25 THRUSH agent lying dead in close proximity to each other and the remainder of the UNCLE contingent just jog on by with none of them even hurt. The believability of this film is low and although Robert Vaughn and David McCullum and Patrick McNee carry the film, it is still very weak and there are too many "I'm Sure, like their gonna do that!!" moments to it. Perhaps I am seeing it through "adult" eyes after seeing the original series as a small kid (8-10). Kids will like this but adults will see through it totally and may not enjoy it as much as a pre-teen or teenager would. Worth a shot if there is nothing else to watch.5 out of 10...
Jim Hannaford (sp27343)
This is one re-union movie that had to be made. Fortunately it was made by a rabid fan of the original--a man named Michael Sloan who went on to produce "The Equalizer". Sloan and director Ray Austin (who directed many later episodes of "The Avengers") made sure they kept much of the tongue in cheek humour of the series, and made the movie a high quality venture, but up-dated it to then modern times (1983). A touching item was the stars made a point to notice they were getting to old for this kind of physical action, and that Illya points out "progress" is not necessarily a better thing. The supporting cast was first rate with Anthony Zerbe (what happened to him?), Geoffrey Lewis, Keenan Wynn, and especially Pat MacNee (former Avenger John Steed) as the new head of UNCLE...Its a shame a planned new series was not picked up by CBS.
