60's Bond-inspired spy-craze- best of

I'm trying to put a list together of the best of 60's Bond-inspired spy films and TV.
I wonder if there is anything else from the genre, that others would recommend.

This first post can serve as a master-list to which I will add any other treasures that are unearthed.

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Complete Man From Uncle TV series: Seasons 1-4 (1964-1968) 105 episodes plus original colour-pilot (Solo),with Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo, David McCallum as Illya Kuryakin and Leo G. Carroll as Alexander Waverly

Complete Man From Uncle 8 theatrical film set (note all films are slightly expanded versions of two-part television episodes)
To Trap a Spy (1964), Patricia Crowley, Fritz Weaver, Lucianna Paluzzi
The Spy With My Face (1965), Senta Berger, Michael Evans, Sharon Farrell, Jennifer Billingsley
One Spy Too Many (1966), Dorothy Provine, Rip Torn, Yvonne Craig
One of Our Spies is Missing (1966), Maurice Evans, Vera Miles, Ann Elder, Monica Keating, Yvonne Craig
The Spy in the Green Hat (1967), Jack Palance, Janet Leigh, Leticia Roman
The Karate Killers (1967), Herbert Lom, Telly Savalas, Curd Jurgens, Terry Thomas, Joan Crawford, Kim Darby, Dianne McBain, Jill Ireland, Danielle De Metz
The Helicopter Spies (1968), Carol Lynley, Bradford Dillman, Lola Albright
How To Steal the World (1968), Barry Sullivan, Eleanor Parker, Leslie Nielsen,

The Girl From Uncle: Complete Series (one season) 1966-67, 29 episodes. With StefaniePowers as April Dancer, Noel Harrison as Mark Slate and Leo G. Carroll as Alexander Waverly.

Complete Derek Flint film series with James Coburn as Flint

Our Man Flint (1966), Gila Golan, Lee J. Cobb
In Like Flint ( 1967), Jean Hale, Lee J. Cobb

Complete Matt Helm film series, with Dean Martin as Helm

The Silencers (1966) Stella Stevens, Daliah Lavi, Victor Buono
Murderer's Row (1966) Ann Margret, Camilla Sparv, Karl Malden
The Ambushers (1967) Senta Berger, Janice Rule
The Wrecking Crew (1969) Elke Sommer, Sharon Tate, Nancy Kwan, Nigel Green

The Avengers TV series (1961-1969) Series 1-6 (137 available episodes plus 1 partial) with Patrick MacNee as John Steed, Diana Rigg as Emma Peel, Honor Blackman as Cathy Gale, Linda Thorson as Tara King, Ian Hendry as Dr. David Keel (Ist series with Steed, 1961)

Bulldog Drummond film series, starring Richard Johnson

Deadlier Than the Male (1967), Elke Sommer, Sylva Koscina, Nigel Green, Suzanna Leigh, Virginia North, Laurence Naismith
Some Girls Do (1969), Daliah Lavi, Beba Loncar, James Villiers, Vanessa Howard,Sydne Rome, Virginia North

Modesty Blaise (1966) Monica Vitti as Modesty, Terrence Stamp, Dirk Bogarde

The Venetian Affair (1967) Robert Vaughn, Elke Sommer,Felicia Farr, Luciana Paluzzi, Boris Karloff, Roger C. Carmel

Fathom (1967) Raquel Welch as Fathom Harvill, Tony Franciosa

Come Spy With Me (1967) Andrea Dromm, Troy Donahue

Get Smart TV series, 5 seasons (1965-1970), 138 episodes, Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, Barbara Feldon as Agent 99 and Edward Platt as Chief
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I'm thinking maybe this Raquel Welch spy flick.

Fathom (1967)



Also Come Spy with Me (1967)



Come Spy with Me is a 1967 American spy film produced by Arnold Kaiser, directed by Marshall Stone, and released by 20th Century Fox. Starring Troy Donahue and Andrea Dromm, the film features Dromm ("I'm an AGENT, not a spy!"), solving a murder case, rescuing a kidnap victim (Valerie Allen, Donahue's wife at the time of filming), breaking up a mastermind's (Albert Dekker underwater bomb assassination plot of several world leaders, and dancing the new dance called "the Shark" on the Caribbean island of Jamaica. Smokey Robinson & the Miraclesperformed the film's titular theme song, written by lead singer Robinson.

Don't forget the best one of all, timmer:

That looks like a Get Smart, Mad Magazine caricature.

==

Then there is also this well known genre-film of the era.

Modesty Blaise (1966) with Monica Vitti, Terrence Stamp and Dirk Bogarde.

Modesty Blaise, a secret agent whose hair color, hair style, and mod clothing change at a snap of her fingers is being used by the British government as a decoy in an effort to thwart a diamond heist. She is being set up by the feds but is wise to the plot and calls in sidekick Willie Garvin and a few other friends to outsmart them. Meanwhile, at his island hideaway, Gabriel, the diamond thief has his own plans for Blaise and Garvin.

The film was released at the height of two cinematic trends: the popularity of James Bond had spawned a number of similarly themed films, and many of these films rather than being serious spy adventures were instead created as parodies of Bond and his genre. Director Joseph Loseyand the screenwriters chose to follow the latter approach, by making Modesty Blaise a campy, sometimes surrealistic comedy-adventure.

I'll take a punt with the first season of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

black and white, mostly espionage based stuff right down to the "Chairman" villain, Russian based bad guys...pretty much Mission Impossible in some ways. Bond inspired, doubt it but that's my take for now...



needn't bother with Seasons 2-4. More CR67 meets Trek Season 3

episodes typical:

Eleven Days to Zero
The Fear-Makers
Hot Line
The Magnus Beam
The Blizzard Makers
Hail to the Chief
The Last Battle (ish)
Doomsday
The Buccaneer (ish)
The Saboteur (Lee's brainwashed by The Enemy
The Exile
The Enemies
The Traitor (with George Sanders)

I'm think VTTBOTS might qualify as adventure with espionage elements, much like, Fantastic Voyage, the movie, in which the lead male is an "agent" but neither is strictly a spy focused show/movie. But both do reflect the 60's spy vibe. Maybe I'll create another list for similarly inspired entries or something.

And another list for post 60's continuations of spy-stuff rooted in the 60's, such as the Avengers film, the Uncle re-union film. There was also a Modesty Blaise update in 2004. New Avengers TV show in the 70's. The post 60's Get Smart entries etc.

Mission Impossible, I Spy, Danger Man, and Wild Wild West all qualify for the 60's list too, I would think.

Here's another 60's spy gem. The Venetian Affair (1967, the ultimate spy-film year) starring the Man From Uncle himself in a Man From Uncle like title, and with Bond-star and both Man From Uncle and Girl From Uncle guest star Luciana Paluzzi.

This looks like a must-watch. It was released last October on dvd as part of Warner Brothers archival on-demand series.

Here's a good review from an Amazon reviewer: Even though the film was released at the height of Uncle's popularity, its not quite Uncle (but what is?)

"I'm a long time Robert Vaughn fan, and indeed a fan of spy films - everything from the Bond adventures, to the silly Italian spoofs and all in between. The Venetian Affair is mostly a serious, detective-like story, deliberately downbeat a la John Le Carre's work. This is most certainly not a Man From UNCLE film, so don't be confused by the similar sounding title. There are no gadgets, no outlandish scenes, and so on. It's all very much grounded in the real world, albeit one heavily stylized due to the demands of drama. Vaughn is superb, as are the supporting cast, and I think the writing and direction is also wonderful. I read the Helen MacInnes novel and was surprised at what a departure the filmmakers took from the source material. It looks quite beautiful - fantastic use of widescreen, very evocative of the era and the moody genre - and the music is also excellent thanks to another fine score by Lalo Schifrin. I'm not claiming the film is perfect - it does have its flaws - but I do stand by my opinion that it's an intelligent, artful (and unfortunately, rare) Hollywood-made "existential" spy film from the 60s. A decade later, post Watergate, this kind of depiction of political intrigue, intelligence services and the like were quite common. But for the mid 60s, at the height of Bond-mania, Derek Flint and Matt Helm - not to mention Vaughn's own UNCLE series - The Venetian Affair is a anomaly. I love it."

Never heard of it. Far out cast!

Pity it's from the Archive Collection. That means Netflix won't carry it. My local rental place doesn't have it either, and they have nearly everything.

And it's got a score by Lalo Schifrin.

I will say that the trailer doesn't make it look worth much:

Hilights from the British Secret Agent Charles Vine, 1960's Bond inspired films.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Never heard of it. Far out cast!

Pity it's from the Archive Collection. That means Netflix won't carry it. My local rental place doesn't have it either, and they have nearly everything.

And it's got a score by Lalo Schifrin.

I will say that the trailer doesn't make it look worth much:

Like the guy says in the amazon review, its a kinda down-to-earth spy yarn, but its got an allstar babe-cast, that's for sure, with Sommer and Paluzzi.

I just stumbled across the Charles Vine films. I didn't know those films even existed. I thought Charles Vine was just an Mi6 message-board member's name. He borrowed it from the films obviously. Whadda ya know? Good one Charles! Had me fooled, all this time.