The Concrete Overcoat Affair: Part I

This two parter is led by its guest stars. Jack Palance is a delight as a THRUSH official. Janet Leigh ("Psycho") starts out sounding like the stereotypically harried secretary, but she has surprises up her sleeve.

Though it's a good story, it's really too slim to stretch to two episodes. Apparently, a former National Socialist, so nutty even Der Fuhrer wouldn't listen to him, wants to cool down the Gulf Stream to freeze Europe. It's funny how, in the 1960s and 1970s, TV shows and movies so often reflected the then "settled science" of global cooling and the rapidly-accelerating Ice Age.

Silly fun.

In my quest to binge-watch every episode of "The Man From U. N. C. L. E.," I came across this gem, which I rank one of the better ones in the 105-episode series. It comes in two parts. It's got ex-Nazi scientists, climate change, atomic bombs, gangsters with Tommy guns, sultry Italian babes (Letícia Román), remote island compounds, bad stereotypes, high body count, and strange plot twits. What makes this episode so brilliant is the rotisserie of bad guys, lead by Jack Palance, whom I was half-expecting his old stereotype of leering eyes and grizzled demeanor, but instead Palance rants obsessively as he paces manically around the set, constantly dabbling at his spittle with his handkerchief. That performance alone should have won him an award. Janet Leigh plays his enthusiastic secretary who has a scary sadistic bend, which unfortunately couldn't be fully developed for 1960s television. Then there's a whole group of Thirties film stars like Eduardo Ciannelli, Allen Jenkins, and Jack La Rue, and a brief cameo from Joan Blondell, who make this episode a must watch. Everyone is having a good time. If you don't take it too seriously, you too will be well entertained.