The Spy in the Green Hat ** (1967, Robert Vaughn, David McCallum, Leo G Carroll, Letícia Román, Jack Palance, Janet Leigh) – Classic Movie Review 6,925

Robert Vaughn and David McCallum (as agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuyakin) play solely for laughs in the farcical plot about bad guys Louis Strago (Jack Palance) and Miss Diketon (Janet Leigh) plotting to move the Gulf Stream (!).

Director Joseph Sargent’s 1967 comedy thriller The Spy in the Green Hat finds the Sixties TV series spy men from U.N.C.L.E. intrepidly breaking new ground with a spoofy-toned send-up from start to finish. Written by Peter Allan Fields from a story by David Victor, it is the feature-length cinema film version of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’s third season two-part episode The Concrete Overcoat Affair, broadcast in the United States on 25 November and 2 December 1966 on NBC, with only minimal changes to the TV episodes.

Robert Vaughn and David McCallum (as agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuyakin) play solely for laughs in the farcical plot about bad guys Louis Strago (Jack Palance) and Miss Diketon (Janet Leigh) plotting to move the Gulf Stream (!), giving veteran gangsters from the bootleg era a chance to come out of retirement to relive their golden days. There is method in the madness of T.H.R.U.S.H.’s plan to move the Gulf Stream. It wants to transform Greenland from a wasteland into a lush island for its new HQ.

The Spy in the Green Hat is rather silly and none too respectful of the better thriller movies of the Thirties it wants to spoof. But Vaughn and McCallum are stylish and fun, Palance and Leigh give engaging campy performances, and there is a marvellous cast of vintage character actors to enjoy too.

It also features Letícia Román as Pia Monteri, Eduardo Ciannelli as Arturo ‘Fingers’ Stilletto, Allen Jenkins as Enzo ‘Pretty’ Stilletto, Jack La Rue as Federico ‘Feet’ Stilletto, Joan Blondell as Mrs Stilletto, Ludwig Donath as Dr Heinrich von Kronen, Penny Santon as Grandma Monteri, Frank Puglia as Padre and Vincent Beck as Benjamin Luger.

It is the fifth cinema feature to use a re-edited version of one or more episodes from the TV series. U.N.C.L.E., of course, stands for United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. The Spy in the Green Hat is Mr Thaler of T.H.R.U.S.H., played by Will Kuluva, who played Mr Allison the head of U.N.C.L.E. in the unaired pilot for the series, but his character was replaced by Leo G Carroll as Alexander Waverly, who co-stars here.

It also features Letícia Román as Pia Monteri, Eduardo Ciannelli as Arturo ‘Fingers’ Stilletto, Allen Jenkins as Enzo ‘Pretty’ Stilletto, Jack La Rue as Federico ‘Feet’ Stilletto, Joan Blondell as Mrs Stilletto, Ludwig Donath as Nazi scientist Dr Heinrich von Kronen, Penny Santon as Grandma Monteri, Frank Puglia as Padre and Vincent Beck as Benjamin Luger.

It is followed by The Karate Killers.

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).

It was released on DVD in the Warner Archive Collection on 2 November 2011.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6,925

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