"The Six Million Dollar Man: Wine, Women and War" is the second pilot movie for the upcoming series. This is because the first made for TV movie turned out to be a hit and ABC decided to try another film to see if fans still were interested. Well, opinions must have been a bit mixed, as ABC made yet one more movie before ultimately green lighting the series.
The film begins with Steve (Lee Majors) on a secret mission in Egypt. However, it turns out to be a bust due to bad intelligence information and Steve barely gets out alive. A lady who helped him isn't so lucky. As a result, Steve is bummed and not exactly in the mood for another mission. However, an old Air Force buddy (Earl Holliman) offers to left him use his luxury vacation villa in the Bahamas and Steve disappears from the OSI compound to enjoy some much needed R&R. Little does he know that all this has been arranged and he's actually going on his next mission!
This second pilot has a few changes. In addition to Austin now being an Air Force colonel, the man playing Rudy Wells is a different actor AND the scumbag playing Austin's boss is not only a different actor but a different character entirely. I miss the original boss, as Darren McGavin was truly amoral and a jerk--Oscar Goldman (Richard Anderson) was much more genial. Apart from these changes and a funky intro song, the movie is pretty much what folks would soon see in the TV series...which is very good, though I liked the first pilot better partly because of McGavin's character and partly because it was less an action film and more about science and how the man was created. Still worth seeing.
By the way, the villain in this one is much like a Bond Villain and even has a secret lair in the Bahamas...much like Largo from "Thunderball"...and ALSO a guy with stolen nuclear bombs.
