How to Steal the World ** (1968, Robert Vaughn, David McCallum, Barry Sullivan, Eleanor Parker, Leslie Nielsen, Leo G Carroll, Tony Bill, Albert Paulsen, Hugh Marlowe, Dan O’Herlihy) – Classic Movie Review 6,926

The Men from U.N.C.L.E. Robert Vaughn and David McCallum are back in 1968 in another engagingly wacky Sixties action adventure, reprising their roles as agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin for the last time in the original U.N.C.L.E. film series. 

The Men from U.N.C.L.E. Robert Vaughn and David McCallum are back in 1968 in another engagingly wacky Sixties thriller action adventure film, reprising their roles as secret agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin for the last time in the eight movies in the original U.N.C.L.E. film series.

How to Steal the World also stars Barry Sullivan as Robert Kingsley, Eleanor Parker as Margitta Kingsley, Leslie Nielsen as General Maximilian Harmon, Leo G Carroll as U.N.C.L.E. spy boss Alexander Waverly, Tony Bill as Steven Garrow, Peter Mark Richman as Mr Webb, Albert Paulsen as Dr Kurt Erikson, Inger Stratton as Anna Erikson, Hugh Marlowe as Grant, and Dan O’Herlihy as Professor David Garrow.

In the preposterous plot, Solo and Kuryakin investigate when fellow spy Robert Kingsley (Barry Sullivan) disappears, along with Dr Kurt Erikson (Albert Paulsen), and five of the world’s top scientists are abducted.

How to Steal the World was originally shown as the final two episodes of the TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., as The Seven Wonders of the World Affair on NBC on 8 and 15 January 1968.

The feature version is the only U.N.C.L.E. film not to include Jerry Goldsmith’s theme music. The film was directed by Sutton Roley, distributed by MGM, written by Norman Hudis, shot by Robert B Hauser, and scored by Richard Shores.

Hudis is the writer of the first six Carry On movies:  Carry On Sergeant, Carry On Nurse, Carry On Constable, Carry On Teacher, Carry On Regardless and Carry On Cruising. He was invited to Hollywood after the success of Carry On Nurse in America.

There were eight movies in the original U.N.C.L.E. series – To Trap a Spy, The Spy with My Face, One Spy Too Many, One of Our Spies Is Missing, The Spy in the Green Hat, The Karate Killers, The Helicopter Spies, and How to Steal the World, followed by Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015).

How to Steal the World was released on DVD in the Warner Archive Collection on 2 November 2011.

Robert Vaughn died on 11 November 2016, aged 83.

David McCallum died of natural causes at the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City on 25 September 2023, aged 90.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6,926

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