recommended

Really Surprised!

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Actually, after reading all the glowing reviews here, I was reluctant to weigh in, because, speaking generally, other users don't like it when you knock their favourite shows off the pedestals they put them on. But this is a database, and it is intended for different perspectives. So here we go. For the time, this was ground-breaking and fascinating. Much like MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, its contemporary, also unique. If you were a kid in the 60s (guilty) you could not get enough of these shows. In fact, even today (2013) I have friend who will phone me and the first words out of his mouth are "Open Channel D." But the real test of these shows I think is whether they stand the test of time? UNCLE was part of the spy culture of the era and trust me, there were spies everywhere. I mean in the bookstore, in the drugstore, on TV and in the movies. (No computers then, no streaming media). With hindsight, however, we now know (from numerous biographies) that Fleming was just a frustrated frat boy at heart, sitting on the beach, typing with one finger, and banging out fantasies with characters like Pussy Galore. If you were a serious writer, like John LeCarre, or even semi-serious like Donald Hamilton (Matt Helm) you had trouble finding a filmic audience in the 60s because the viewer demand was for stylized action and superficial situations. (Matt Helm movies, so-called, reviewed elsewhere on IMDb, with a lot of subsequent angry feedback from groovy 60s kids in serious denial). This series was clever. At first glance Vaughn seemed an excellent counterpoint to David McCallum, the latter being the very definition of "foreign hunk" for the period, and guaranteed a high female turnout from week to week. And part of the "gimmick," according to TV GUIDE of the era, was that there was to be at least one "innocent civilian" involved in each episode, to try to ground the series and avoid the mad Bond-esqe fantasies. Still, in the opinion of this reviewer, the series quickly fell into the same traps experienced by shows like WILD WILD WEST and BATMAN. Similar plots. Similar villains. Predictable plot arcs, including the obligatory "Rescue/Resolution" with only 7 minutes left on the clock per episode. No one's fault. Not blaming anyone. But viewers in the 60s wanted their action shows like they wanted their coffee -- sweet, double sugar. If someone had tried to do a Bourne film with Matt Damon (in theory) back then, they would have been arrested for excessive violence. And notice that this show was really the only point in Vaughan's career where he tried to be likable. He ultimately ended up playing bad guys, and McCallum ended up hosting multiple reality shows. The truth is that you wanted serious spy action in this period, there were lots of books, but your TV/film choices were limited. I have on IMDb done a very positive review of the Danger Man (Secret Agent) series out of Britain, followed by the Callan series, also from the UK. If the question on the floor is, which product holds up best over the decades?, and could be enjoyed even today, I give to nod to the latter titles. THE MAN FROM UNCLE is, I think, very dated and very specific to the period.

Who has this now? Anybody know? Is it still Tarantino? Or JJ Abrams? Or maybe Joss Whedon? I'm worried that like most big screen remakes of TV shows, it'd be painful if it wasn't one of them. However... I saw a script for this recently, it was totally fierce, twisty plot, cool action sequences. It updated the characters while also respecting the source. It didn't make it a joke or wipe out what went before but re-imagined the concept in a contemporary setting with a real sense of history. I'm a huge fan of the show and really felt this captured what I liked about the original and built something new out of it. Anybody interested, contact me, I can show you an excerpt.

I was a young boy when this came on in the 60's. I was hooked, and my Mom let me stay up late on the nights that it was on. I even had Man from U.N.C.L.E pajama's with a glow in the dark badge !!! I remember having the lunch box, and maybe even trading cards...Some studio should produce a remake movie, baby boomers would certainly turn out for it...Maybe Own Wilson, Ben Affleck,Ewan McGegor, any of those actors would be a good fit. We need more shows on television today like those in the 1960's.Too many Doctor/CSI types of shows on TV today... What happened to the Cabnnon's, Mannix,McCloud, and Starsky & Hutch types of shows?

My dad used to watch this show during the first two seasons of the show,and I immediately became hooked! The Man From U.N.C.L.E was one of the best spy shows ever to come out of a period which the cold war,civil rights,and the height of the Vietnam War was a great escape for young minds back then. Since the show was a huge hit on the NBC network when it premiered on September 22,1964,it was something that no one thought of at that time: a character who was in the same ranks as James Bond 007 himself! The gadgets on that show were awesome(pens that acted as a radio to phone back at headquarters;an automobile with a built in machine gun and seat ejector)and the headquarters of the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement which were secretly hidden in a tenement complex in New York..something to beholded!!! Robert Vaughn was a true gentlemen and a suave secret agent who was in the same category as Sean Connery,but he made the role very interesting as Napoleon Solo,and his Russian counterpart Illya,played by David McCallum,the coolest ever with a 60's shag blonde look(who looked like a rock star instead of an secret agent)!! The show's first two seasons were very dramatic and their was a great chemistry between the actors themselves which kept the action intense and very hipped!!! The sad part is that when the show's color episodes came it wasn't dramatic or very appealing anymore,but incredibly silly by the end of series' final run in 1968 (the 29 black and white episodes from 1964-1965 were the best ever and some of the best gadgets too). Jerry Goldsmith's theme score for the series was the best ever for a TV series,and still is to this day. U.N.C.L.E was so,so good it spawned two feature films,and dozens of toys,comic books,mystery novels,and posters,and can you believe that David McCallum have a hit record out based on the show back in 1965(which he teamed up with Nancy Sinatra on a hit song,which hit the top of the charts too-very rare to find that album nowadays),plus a very short-lived Saturday Morning cartoon show? The repeats are rarely seen on TV nowadays,but they can be seen on TNT every once in a while if possible. A total of 105 episodes were produced with 29 episodes of Season 1 were in black and white. 76 episodes of Seasons 2 thru 4 were in color until the series finale on January 15,1968.