Blog of Much Holding

I collect movie posters, and I have seen some extremely silly ones in my time, but there is one poster that is the silliest, most ridiculous one ever created to promote a major motion picture – the poster for the James Bond film You Only Live Twice.

Here it is:

So, let’s step through this image, shall we? First off, you have Bond being fired upon by… lets see… eight Bell helicopters. No, wait, it’s only seven, because one is exploding behind Bond (warranty must have expired). Bond is in his yellow mini-copter, prominently featured in the film… and man, what a great device Q invented – you don’t even need to hold the controls to fly it! You can pilot the vehicle through sheer machismo!

Bond, apparently, is not too worried about the attack helicopters, because not only is he POSING FOR THE ARTIST who was painting this poster (an artist who must have been standing on a REALLY high scaffold) but he’s so cool he’s wearing his tuxedo! No flight suit for him, no sir!

Oh, and who is Bond firing those machine guns and missiles at? The guy painting the poster? Or more enemy ‘copters that are “off camera?”

In the movie, Bond is looking for SPECTRE’s secret base using this mini-copter (nicknamed “Little Nellie” – slightly embarrassed that I know that). In the poster, he apparently is not looking TOO hard… because the hollowed-out volcano base is RIGHT BEHIND HIM. “Hey JB! PSSST Stop posing and turn around!”

This was the movie that Sean Connery very famously said would be his last one, because A) he was tired of playing the part and B) the films had become too ridiculous for him (he went on to do two more). I can’t help but think that a factor in his decision to quit was because he saw this poster at the local cinema – a poster that hangs proudly in my home.

Anybody who knows me well knows I LOVE LOVE LOVE Patrick McGoohan’s classic series The Prisoner. It was (and is) incredibly influential to me and I would not have developed my independent streak and distrust for authority if it was not for that show and McGooohan’s vision. Well, AMC is developing a six hour miniseries, a new vision of The Prisoner, they will be airing later on this year starring James Cavizel as Number Six and Ian Mckellan as Number 2… and I always thought this was a reboot… until now.

Watch this video:

It’s a new cast member, John Whiteley, “the ghost of Prisoner past” as he says in the video… and besides the patch on his jacket… he’s dressed like McGoohan’s Number 6.

In the new mini-series, he plays Number 93… at least, that’s what the caption says.

I think they may be lying.

I think he’s actually playing… Mcgoohan’s character from the original show. I have no evidence, but he looks a lot like McGoohan did in Braveheart, we don’t see him in character (so he may take on a different accent, to be closer to Patrick’s) and it wouldn’t be past the makers of this or any show to save a huge plot point for the show itself, instead of dropping it casually in a promotional web video.

Whether it is the “original” Number 6 or not, I’m just thrilled at the idea that this may be a follow-up and not a remake to the original classic.

Now just don’t screw it up, guys.

What should I believe?

It’s an odd question, but it’s one we have all had at one point or another. We may have not even expressed this question consciously – we may have absorbed what other people told us, and adapted their belief system, making it our own. We get it from our parents, our friends, or… Some of us… well…

Some of us get a large part of what we believe in – what is right, wrong, or neither – we get it from a piece of entertainment. An album. A movie. A TV show.

Obviously, this is not the way most people do it, and sometimes it can be a VERY BAD THING (see: Charles Manson) – but nature abhors a vacuum. The need is there, to have SOMETHING to believe in.

I believed in Patrick McGoohan.

Not as a person, really – I believed more in what he messaged to me and many many others through his performance in and writing of the classic TV show The Prisoner.

• That the rights of the individual to BE an individual is the most important right any of us have.
• That knowledge, without context and wisdom, is useless trivia.
• That we are not numbers.
• That we are beholden to no one save ourselves.
• That our life is our own, to do with as we see fit.
• That the government, the mob, cults of any kind – they are NOT on your side.
• That we make our own prisons.
• That you can’t escape yourself.

And so on.

I would have loved to have been near McGoohan in 1968 to see his reaction to how the finale of The Prisoner was received by the public – when they expected some type of James Bond Villain reveal as to who #1 was. The leader of the Village, the warden, the Big Bad.

In the end… it was #6 himself, behind the mask… The monkey mask of “I”…

The viewers were outraged. The press wrote scathing critiques.

He probably laughed his head off.

Patrick McGoohan died today at the age of 80 after a prolonged illness. I am incredibly remorseful, as I never had the chance to meet him in person and tell him the impact of and my enjoyment of his work. And of course  he did much much more than The Prisoner (I loved his appearances in Columbo, his work in a little-known movie called The Hard Way, and his Academy Award-nominated role as Longshanks in Braveheart).

But The Prisoner is the work that impacted me, that had a huge role in making me who I am today… and the reason my first born son has the middle name Patrick.

Rest in peace, sir. And thanks.

AMC, who is working on a new miniseries based on The Prisoner (one of my favorite shows), has just posted all 17 original episodes of the 1960s surreal spy series online. The site, with lots of extra content, is here.

Here’s episode one:

U.N.C.L.E. a day is my obsessive-compulsive approach at working through The Complete Man for U.N.C.L.E., now available on DVD. One episode, one review a day (usually – occasional hiatuses may occur due to travel).

A vacation in stock-footage and back-lot “Rome” for our intrepid Men from U.N.C.L.E. Illya and Napoleon becomes another adventure… this time being pulled into a money-laundering scheme being perpetrated by secret police in the country of Terbuf. Yes, Terbuf. Hey I didn’t write this, I just report what I see…

This is what I would consider the first “real” U.N.C.L.E. episode, as Illya and Solo both work throughout the episode separately and together to solve the “affair.” I’m amused that they make a running gag of Illya saying “you’ll need my help” to Solo. Yes, he will – for three more seasons.

This episode also gives David McCallum the chance to eat up some scenery when he is disguised as a gypsy in a bar (not a meal of Shtaner-proportions, but a goodly helping).

And look at the featured guest star: It’s Madlyn Rhue, who three years later was in Star Trek’s “Space Seed” as Khan’s future “beloved wife” Marla McGivers. And… who is playing that lead henchman for the bad guy, Lt. Fest? He looks familiar…

OF COURSE! It’s Michael Forest – who later played the god Apollo in Star Trek’s “Who Mourns for Adonis”… (Yes, I know, I’m Trek-obsessed – sorry, I’m in a 12-step program trying to get over it).

Not a bad episode… a good way to pass some time, but not one of the best. The highlight: Clara and Napoleon are about to be shot by a firing squad, and the following exchange occurs:

CLARA Napoleon, I’m sorry.
SOLO You’re not half as sorry as I am…

Fantastic.

Oh, and we find out Illya’s middle name! It’s “Nikovich” in case you are interested. And, while we are on the topic, Jonas Grumby was the name of the Skipper on Gilligan’s Island…

First, I was jazzed at the fact that the new James Bond movie Quantum of Solace was coming out November 14th.

Then I heard that a trailer for the new Star Trek movie was going to be shown/attached before the movie. For me, that would be MORE than enough to get me totally excited.

Now, that excitement has been multiplied, by a factor of seven. Seven Doctors, that is. The news broke that there will be a special on the BBC for the Children in Need charity that will feature ALL SEVEN ACTORS still living who previously played the Doctor. The brodcast date? November 14th.

SQUEEE!!!!!!