The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: original series & films

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  • edited November 2015 Posts: 4,622
    Thanks @AlexanderWaverly. Great breakdown of the reworked scene.
    Great instincts on the part of the Season 1 producers to identify that iconic scene from the Pilot, and continue to use it.
    As @commanderRoss said it ties in with an all out assault on Uncle HQ by a Thrush assault team.
    Riveting stuff. If we get an Uncle follow-up, hopefully Thrush will be reintroduced.
    When I saw the SP scene for the first time, the Uncle scene immediately popped into my head.
  • I absolutely recognized the scene in SP & thought it a tribute to UNCLE. Nice of Mendes to include that -- but I don't want to see Bond hanging off the wing of an airplane in Bond 25! (Or would that be a tribute to a tribute? Have MI fans decided the airplane stunt was a tribute to OP? It's a short step from "Tribute" to "incestuous relationship" I guess....)
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    Bond fired a gun in spectre, I think this is an homage to carry on cowboy
    in which Jim Dale also fired a gun. :D Blofeld's helicopter is an obvious
    reference to Airwolf, along with the train sequence which is unarguably
    an homage to Von Ryans Express. :))
  • CommanderRossCommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea
    Posts: 8,029
    Bond fired a gun in spectre, I think this is an homage to carry on cowboy
    in which Jim Dale also fired a gun. :D Blofeld's helicopter is an obvious
    reference to Airwolf, along with the train sequence which is unarguably
    an homage to Von Ryans Express. :))
    Airwolf rocks!
  • Posts: 1,723
    Daniel Kleinman did state in an interview that the shattered glass shot in the titles of SKYFALL was an homage to UNCLE. It's not that much of stretch that Mendes remembered this shot from UNCLE as well.
  • delfloria wrote: »
    Daniel Kleinman did state in an interview that the shattered glass shot in the titles of SKYFALL was an homage to UNCLE. It's not that much of stretch that Mendes remembered this shot from UNCLE as well.

    This interview:

    http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/skyfall/

    What are some of your favorite title sequences in general, whether film or television?

    As a child I loved the opening to The Man From Uncle. The way Napoleon Solo stands behind the bulletproof glass being shot at perhaps subliminally influenced my mirror scene in Skyfall. Get Smart was a good one. Man with the Golden Arm was a great visual. Oddly, I’ve never really taken a great deal of notice of title sequences. I didn’t set out to do them and I don’t do any other than Bond, which I do for fun. I’m really an advertising director and therefore shoot a lot of disparate types of things. I suppose I don’t think of myself as a title sequence director.
  • Posts: 3,333
    It's just as well that Guy Richie dropped the ball on his Uncle movie and forgot to include all the things that made the original TV show stand out and great, otherwise we might have seen the shattered glass trick duplicated before SP. But seriously, I still can't fathom why Richie's version uses the original Uncle logo when the whole movie is a precursor to the organization's existence and we see nothing of Uncle at all in the entire length of the movie, save for the closing credits?
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,334
    I just finished watching it. It's okay. Just your average run of the mill buddy spy movie. I liked the production design, but other than that nothing groundbreaking. It kinda reminded me of Spy. One moment had me laugh out loud, but it was okay.
  • Posts: 4,622
    I thought Uncle was a well done film, and enjoyable for fans, but being an origins film it couldn't capture the trappings of what made the TV show and its cinema spinoffs so great.
    Hopefully they can squeeze out a sequel, and go full Uncle versus Thrush. They could keep budget under control if they put emphasis on script, story style and great music and then maybe make some money.
    Wonder if movie will break even with video market. Theatre audiences seemed to recover after first week and decent word of mouth.

    Saw blu-ray in HMV today. Did not like price. Will order on-line instead.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,696
    timmer wrote: »
    Hopefully they can squeeze out a sequel, and go full Uncle versus Thrush. .
    We are well trained at this point....
    ^:)^
  • Posts: 3,333
    I agree with you @Murdock. It's average at best, and if the studio had removed any mention of the Uncle brand names it might have been a nice little stand-alone buddy spy movie to while away the hours and not raise any expectations on those that were familiar with the original show. As it is, it's a far cry from what I was expecting when I first heard they were reving this once cult classic 60's show, and for that reason I can't even begin to like it.

    It's like remaking the first Mission Impossible movie just about Phelps and Barney Collier's hostilities towards eachother whilst they fight neo-nazis as a laughable plotline, throwing in a bit of a Cinnamon Carter love rivalry to spice things up, and closing the film on an IMF throwaway line and forgetting everything else about the original show (no theme music, no taped-recordings, no nothing)... and hey presto - a new franchise is reborn. Though I'm sure some here might have liked that concept and actually bought the DVD steelbook edition. :-?
  • edited November 2015 Posts: 2,115
    bondsum wrote: »

    It's like remaking the first Mission Impossible movie just about Phelps and Barney Collier's hostilities towards eachother whilst they fight neo-nazis as a laughable plotline, throwing in a bit of a Cinnamon Carter love rivalry to spice things up, and closing the film on an IMF throwaway line and forgetting everything else about the original show (no theme music, no taped-recordings, no nothing)... and hey presto - a new franchise is reborn. Though I'm sure some here might have liked that concept and actually bought the DVD steelbook edition. :-?

    Actually, in some ways, that would have been better than what we got in 1996. At least, Phelps wouldn't have been turned into a traitor, and we'd have two more series characters in the movie. :-)

    I'm kidding, but only to a degree.
  • Posts: 1,723
    bondsum wrote: »
    I agree with you @Murdock. It's average at best, and if the studio had removed any mention of the Uncle brand names it might have been a nice little stand-alone buddy spy movie to while away the hours and not raise any expectations on those that were familiar with the original show. As it is, it's a far cry from what I was expecting when I first heard they were reving this once cult classic 60's show, and for that reason I can't even begin to like it.

    It's like remaking the first Mission Impossible movie just about Phelps and Barney Collier's hostilities towards eachother whilst they fight neo-nazis as a laughable plotline, throwing in a bit of a Cinnamon Carter love rivalry to spice things up, and closing the film on an IMF throwaway line and forgetting everything else about the original show (no theme music, no taped-recordings, no nothing)... and hey presto - a new franchise is reborn. Though I'm sure some here might have liked that concept and actually bought the DVD steelbook edition. :-?

    But in defense of UNCLE they were upfront in the press about not copying anything directly from the series and making it completely their own take on the characters of Solo and Illya. They wanted to capture the tone of the series without duplicating anything from it. As filmmakers they wanted to make their own version of it. That said, I still think they did a lot better than any of the other remakes that did copy direct elements their respective TV series. The Green Hornet, The Lone Ranger, Wild Wild West, The Avengers, The A Team, The first MI (which had Phelps turned into a traitor and zero reference to rest of Phelp's IMF team. The following films still have not captured the tone of the original series which was extremely grounded in reality against the preposterousness of the plots. The music is familiar but not much else). And even though UNCLE did not directly copy anything from the series there are dozens of scenes and elements which parallel the original series such as Solo eating the sandwich in the truck while Illya is fighting for his life, Illya playing chess and threatening to take Gaby over his knee, approaching the safe and Illya saying "it's all yours", Illya's comment as Rudi burns " He fixed the glitch" and more all capture the "Tone" remarkably well.

    You also overlooked the fact that Solo and Illya are politically opposed to each other while Jim and Barney both work for the same government. It makes sense that there would be friction between Solo and Illya while it would not make sense for the members of the IMF to be at odds with each other. Of course there is the fact that Rollin had a thing for Cinnamon......... so maybe a love rivalry would have work in there somewhere after all.
  • delfloria wrote: »
    . Of course there is the fact that Rollin had a thing for Cinnamon......... so maybe a love rivalry would have work in there somewhere after all.

    And then Phelps had a thing for Cinnamon in the second and third seasons.
  • edited November 2015 Posts: 4,622
    @delfloria New Uncle film really did capture the tone of the original. It had its own vibe but was also very Uncle.
    The guy burning scene was vintage Uncle. Very well done.
    If we get Part 2 I'd look to hype.it up a bit more.
    Quickly get the characters into full Uncle operational mode. Tailor shop, HQ, triangle badges, girls everywhere, Thrush as world threat.
    Go all in!
  • Posts: 1,723
    An overview of the character dossiers from the end of the film. https://archiveofourown.org/works/4616925
  • CommanderRossCommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea
    Posts: 8,029
    haha 'currently learning Russian', Gabrielle Teller indeed has the hots for Illya.....
  • Posts: 1,723
    U.N.C.L.E. makes Time magazine's ten best films of 2015 list. http://time.com/4134913/top-10-best-movies/
  • Posts: 5,767
    delfloria wrote: »
    U.N.C.L.E. makes Time magazine's ten best films of 2015 list. http://time.com/4134913/top-10-best-movies/
    That list starts out interestingly, and then it gets weirder and weirder...
    ...and not just because Mad Max and Sicario are´t featured.

  • Posts: 7,653
    delfloria wrote: »
    U.N.C.L.E. makes Time magazine's ten best films of 2015 list. http://time.com/4134913/top-10-best-movies/

    That is an odd list, perhaps as I have not heard of more than 50% of the movies.

  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    I haven t heard of most. Interestingly, Fantastic Four is declared worst film of the year. That is a bit exaggerated. It wasn t gold, but surely there are hundreds of worse films.
  • Posts: 7,653
    I haven t heard of most. Interestingly, Fantastic Four is declared worst film of the year. That is a bit exaggerated. It wasn t gold, but surely there are hundreds of worse films.

    There always are, but it is custom to name a familiar movie not some c-movie nobody in his right mind would watch.

  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,696
    I haven't seen it yet. It's at Redbox where I work, but I haven't rented it. Really, I just have no desire to. All I'd be thinking the whole time was that it'd be so much better with Goldsmith's theme. 8-|
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    SaintMark wrote: »
    I haven t heard of most. Interestingly, Fantastic Four is declared worst film of the year. That is a bit exaggerated. It wasn t gold, but surely there are hundreds of worse films.

    There always are, but it is custom to name a familiar movie not some c-movie nobody in his right mind would watch.

    So how did all those other films end up there?
  • Posts: 7,653
    SaintMark wrote: »
    I haven t heard of most. Interestingly, Fantastic Four is declared worst film of the year. That is a bit exaggerated. It wasn t gold, but surely there are hundreds of worse films.

    There always are, but it is custom to name a familiar movie not some c-movie nobody in his right mind would watch.

    So how did all those other films end up there?

    Being pretentious knows no limits. ;)

  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    SaintMark wrote: »
    SaintMark wrote: »
    I haven t heard of most. Interestingly, Fantastic Four is declared worst film of the year. That is a bit exaggerated. It wasn t gold, but surely there are hundreds of worse films.

    There always are, but it is custom to name a familiar movie not some c-movie nobody in his right mind would watch.

    So how did all those other films end up there?

    Being pretentious knows no limits. ;)

    True. I should know.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,696
    The ability to sit quietly watching a movie that makes you wish you were watching a movie you were really enjoying is the mark of true sophistication.
  • Posts: 1,723
    Warner Bros. released this to promote the UK Blu-Ray release.
  • Posts: 1,723
    Well some film execs. think U.N.C.L.E. was a success. Enough for a sequel?????? http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/guy-ritchie-frame-bond-director-6962038
  • delfloria wrote: »
    Well some film execs. think U.N.C.L.E. was a success. Enough for a sequel?????? http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/guy-ritchie-frame-bond-director-6962038

    Color me skeptical based on the phrasing in the story. (Story suggests Guy Ritchie is in the running to direct Bond 25).
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