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Post by Calidore on Sept 25, 2023 18:59:36 GMT -5
I've never seen any of The Man From U.N.C.L.E., but I liked Sapphire and Steel a whole lot.
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Post by Farrar on Sept 25, 2023 19:48:45 GMT -5
Loved him in various movies, including The Great Escape, The Greatest Story Ever Told (as Judas), the 1970s Frankenstein TV movie, and my favorite Titanic movie, A Night to Remember from 1958. RIP Ilya  |
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 25, 2023 20:49:36 GMT -5
My first memory is seeing him in the short-lived Invisible Man tv series, though I'm not sure if I saw the Great escape before or after. I definitely didn't see the Man From UCLE until college and after; but he was great in either the serious stories or the goofier season. he was a massive heartthrob to teenage girl fans of the series (and some adult women), though he was married to Jill Ireland, at the time (and they got to be attracted to each other in "The Quadripartite Affair."
McCallum got to do a bit of a call back to the role, in an episode of The Master, as an ex-government agent who becomes a mercenary, working for a terrorist group, who grabs hostages at a wedding (a senator's daughter). George Lazenby is also in it as a very James Bond government agent, who knew McCallum.
He also got to play a pretty convincing international assassin in an episode of the police show, Strike Force (with Robert Stack leading a team of major crime detectives).
Sapphire & Steel is on my list, but I haven't seen it yet.
One of the few times he got to be the lead in a movie was the Oakmont Productions war movie, Mosquito Squadron, where he leads a Mosquito bomber squadron, who have to carry out a mission to nock out V-2 launching sites. The film used footage from the earlier 633 Squadron, from which much of its plot was taken. That film featured a bombing raid in Norway, but with a similar precision necessity, to destroy a heavy water plant. Oakmont specialized in these little action-war films, with an American lead or a lead who had a high Hollywood profile (like McCallum) and a mostly British supporting cast. Usually exciting action sequences, hampered by bad romantic subplots or other psychological element.
I enjoyed his work a bit more in the Return of the Man From UNCLE. he hadn't lost a step and had grown a bit, while Robert Vaughn had maybe spent too much time doing schlocky stuff and wasn't on top of his game (plus the script was a bit weak, in parts).
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Post by Prince Hal on Sept 25, 2023 23:14:00 GMT -5
R. I. P. to David McCallum, best known to us nerds as Illya Kuryakin, the Russian half of the 60s spy duo in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. McCallum was also in one of my favorite films of the 60s, The Great Escape as Ashley-Pitt "Dispersal." My mother loved The Man From U.N.C.L.E.  We all loved U.N.C.L.E., at least in its first season, and McCallum was much of the attraction as Illya. We all knew him first from "The Great Escape," of course, the viewing of which was a rite of passage back on the day. His final scene is unforgettable and became an iconic moment to those of us of a certain age. A class act and a fine actor. PS: The frequently used entry into the UNCLE HQ was Del Floria's tailor shop (Star Trek fans, take note), which may have been the inspiration for the barbershop used as the cover for the entrance to SHIELD HQ. (UNCLE premiered a year before the Agent of SHIELD series in Strange Tales.) |
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Sept 26, 2023 8:11:55 GMT -5
I watched Man from UNCLE at my grandmother's house on cable in the 80's. David McCallum was excellent in that show, and I liked the show overall. Then my wife started watching NCIS and I happened to stop and watch part of a episode and was like "that's Illya!" and my wife looks at me like "who?" Funny moment. So I started watching it with her after that. Stephanie Thompson guest stars certainly helped in watching the show too.
My folks had the 45 of "The Last Farewell" with "Paradise" on the B side. I still have the 45 at home, though I don't have turntable to play it on anymore. I listened to that 45 a lot. The music was so soothing and calming as well as his singing. I can't say that I have ventured into listening to more of his music. But maybe I should.
A shame to see two great talents meet their mortality.
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Post by Prince Hal on Sept 27, 2023 11:36:59 GMT -5
Brooks Robinson, one of the all-time great people who played baseball at a level achieved by very few players died yesterday at 86.   An opponent it was impossible to dislike. Nobody booed this man. I watched him mostly via the old Game of the Week, the Mel Allen baseball highlights show and the 1969 and '70 World Series. His performance in the 1970 World Series was simply iconic. It was as if he shut down the Big Red Machine all by himself. It was like watching a god come down and show the mortals how it should be done. And he killed them at the plate, too. (Two homers and six ribbies in a five-game Series.) MVP awards for the WS often are undeserved and/or given for a couple of good at-bats, but in 1970, Robinson was indeed the MVP. Few performances like that in all the years of the Series. I loved his short-billed helmet, too. He cut down the bill and the earflap, too, b/c he thought they interfered with his ability to see the pitch. Non-baseball people don't always get what an important role these guys played in our lives when we were kids. I'm as cynical as can be nowadays about pro athletes, and am aware of how they were not always much different, but occasionally a guy comes along who is the real deal on and off the field, and Robinson was one of those few. Forget pro sports, there are few of those people in any profession. Baseball is poorer today, but the world is even poorer. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 27, 2023 13:36:41 GMT -5
Robinson was still playing during the short period that I was interested in baseball as a kid. But I still know him more by reputation and history. I don't recall anyone ever saying a bad thing about him. And you can make a strong argument he was the best third baseman of all time.
R.I.P.
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Post by Farrar on Sept 27, 2023 18:32:59 GMT -5
Non-baseball people don't always get what an important role these guys played in our lives when we were kids... Oh, so true! When I first started following baseball, all I heard and read about were the Orioles this, the Orioles that--there was Boog, Merv Rettenmund, Belanger, Paul Blair, Earl Weaver, Davey! (later manager of my beloved Mets), the four 20-game winners, Frank Robinson...and of course Brooks, so graceful at the hot corner. It's a cliché, but he made it look effortless. As Prince Hal said, a credit to the sport and to the world. RIP Mr. Robinson. |
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Post by Prince Hal on Sept 27, 2023 23:00:43 GMT -5
Non-baseball people don't always get what an important role these guys played in our lives when we were kids... --there was Boog, Merv Rettenmund, Belanger, Paul Blair, Earl Weaver, Davey! (later manager of my beloved Mets), the four 20-game winners, Frank Robinson...and of course Brooks, so graceful at the hot corner. And Hendricks and Etchebarren behind the plate.  |
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 28, 2023 10:51:24 GMT -5
RIP to actor Michael Gambon.  The media mostly focuses on Harry Potter; but, I prefer to think of him as the murdered master of the house at Gosford Park, the crime boss of Layer Cake, or the violent gangster in The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (very weird film, though). Tremendous actor. |
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Post by foxley on Sept 28, 2023 11:03:58 GMT -5
Gambon was excellent in Harry Potter, but to me he will always be Philip Marlow (no e) in The Singing Detective. One of his lesser known roles that I really liked was Kerrigan, a very scary gay London gangster in 2001's action/comedy/drama High Heels and Low Lifes.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Sept 29, 2023 8:17:50 GMT -5
I remember watching The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover from renting it from Blockbuster. Yeah that movie threw me for a damn loop watching it at 20 or so. Never thought I would watch a movie where a guy vomits over eating another man's flesh. Still I've watched it again several times since. Very engrossing movie.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Sept 29, 2023 14:16:14 GMT -5
Just seeing reports that Senator Dianne Feinstein of California has died at the age of 90. She served six terms as a senator from California (first elected in 1992), and before that had a notable tenure as San Francisco's mayor from the late 1970s through the late 1980s. She had quite a career, but her legacy is, I think, diminished by the fact that she remained in office long after she should have retired (which seems to be trend among US senators).  |
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Post by Cei-U! on Sept 29, 2023 14:35:12 GMT -5
Terry Kirkman, lead singer of soft rock faves The Association and the writer of their biggest hit "Cherish," died earlier this week at 83.
Cei-U!
I summoned Windy and along came Mary!
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 29, 2023 15:50:29 GMT -5
Just seeing reports that Senator Dianne Feinstein of California has died at the age of 90. She served six terms as a senator from California (first elected in 1992), and before that had a notable tenure as San Francisco's mayor from the late 1970s through the late 1980s. She had quite a career, but her legacy is, I think, diminished by the fact that she remained in office long after she should have retired (which seems to be trend among US senators). There is a horrible belief among elites (certainly among American elites) that they are individually indispensable and thus stick around way past their expiration date. We see it in the Senate and in the Supreme Court in particular. And it frequently comes back to bite everyone in the ass. |
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