David McCallum Movies
David McCallum's parents were both members of the London Philharmonic; his mother was a cellist and his father was first violinist. The young Scots-born McCallum himself planned to pursue a musical career after serving with the Royal West African Frontier Force, but decided instead upon acting. Following his studies at the RADA, McCallum entered films in 1957, where he was usually cast as a troublemaking street punk or callow junior officer. His first American film (albeit lensed principally in England) was Freud (1962), in which he played a profoundly mother-obsessed mental patient.McCallum became the rage of the teeny-bopper set when he was cast as cool-headed Russian secret agent Ilya Kuryakin on TV's The Man From UNCLE (1964-68). At one point, McCallum was receiving far more fan mail than the series' ostensible star, Robert Vaughn; he took advantage of his celebrity to launch a brief singing career, duetting with Nancy Sinatra on the 1966 UNCLE episode "The Take Me to Your Leader Affair." He also wrote the music and lyrics and sang the title song of his 1967 movie vehicle Three Bites of the Apple. Following UNCLE, McCallum had a handful of solid dramatic film roles before returning to the small screen in the short-lived 1975 series The Invisible Man. A man of sundry outside interests, McCallum's range of expertise includes computers and small-arms weaponry. Once wed to actress Jill Ireland, David McCallum has since 1967 been married to Katherine Carpenter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
Sol Madrid isn't a western, as might be gathered, but a drug-ring melodrama. David McCallum shows up early in the film as a spaced-out junkie. But Man From UNCLE fans need not worry: McCallum is actually an undercover agent, looking for the source of heroin being trafficked by the Mafia. The top man in the Mexican-based narcotics operation is the man you'd least likely expect -- especially when one remembers the sort of roles the guilty party had previously played in his long career. Based on Robert Wilder's novel Fruit of the Poppy, this went out to British moviehouses under the title The Heroin Gang. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David McCallum, Stella Stevens, (more)
- 1967
The Man from UNCLE comes to the big screen in this spy thriller comprised of episodes from the popular television series. The story centers around the attempts of evil THRUSH operatives who endeavor to abduct a professor who has developed a formula for turning salt water into gold. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1967
In this lightweight comedy, David McCallum stars as Stanley Thrumm, a retiring British tour guide who strikes it rich one night in a casino on the Riviera. He's not sure that he wants to take the cash back to England, because he'll have to pay taxes on it, so he decides to put it in a Swiss bank account. But Carla Moretti (Sylva Koscina), an apparently helpful woman whom he has met, has designs on the loot, and she enlists her ex-husband in an effort to get it. Thrumm takes his winnings on a roundabout trek to Switzerland while Carla and her husband pursue, and the result is a long car chase with many comic diversions and a lot of Alpine scenery. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David McCallum, Sylva Koscina, (more)
- 1966
In this episode from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. series, the two good guy spies must stop a criminal mastermind from altering the course of the Gulf Stream. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1966
Some extra footage was added to segments of two episodes from the television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964-68) to create this feature film-length espionage adventure that was released theatrically in some countries to cash in on the James Bond craze. Ordered by their secret organization U.N.C.L.E. to stop the sinister group THRUSH from obtaining a top-secret nuclear weapon, spies Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) and Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum) travel to Switzerland. Once there, Solo is lured into a trap by a comely enemy agent, Serena (Senta Berger). Kidnapped by THRUSH, Solo is replaced with an exact double who infiltrates U.N.C.L.E. Kuryakin eventually becomes suspicious due to his friend's odd behavior and takes steps to learn the truth, while Solo attempts to escape from captivity and stop THRUSH's plot to get its hands on the weapon. The episodes represented in the film are "The Double Affair," which first aired November 17, 1964, and "The Four Steps Affair," which originally aired February 22, 1965. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Vaughn, Senta Berger, (more)
- 1966
One of Our Spies is Missing was cobbled together from a two-part episode of the American TV series Man From UNCLE, then shipped overseas as a feature film. Robert Vaughn and David McCallum head the cast as Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin, U.N.C.L.E's top agents. The original two-parter, "The Bridge of Lions Affair" (telecast February 4 and 11, 1966), concerns a biochemist who develops a rejuvenation process. The chemist disappears, so it's up to Solo and Kuryakin to recover or destroy the process before it falls into the hands of the enemy spy organization THRUSH. Padding out the proceedings in One of Our Spies is Missing is a newly-filmed subplot concerning the niece (Yvonne Craig) of U.N.C.L.E. head honcho Alexander Waverly (Leo G. Carroll). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
Future Goodbye Columbus director Larry Peerce was still only a few years out of the University of North Carolina when he directed The Big T.N.T. Show. This sequel to 1964's The T.A.M.I. Show is, like its predecessor, little more than a concert film, but a well photographed one (originally on videotape, it was transferred to 35-millimeter film). A wide variety of pop artists show up to do their thing, including Roger Miller, Joan Baez, Ike and Tina Turner, Ray Charles, Bo Diddley, the Ronettes and The Lovin' Spoonful. And here's a real 1960s hot flash: Man From UNCLE star David McCallum shows up to warble a ballad and accompany himself on the guitar. Some of the most entertaining moments are unintentional: the slightly inaccurate lip-synching, the unplugged electric guitars, etc. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roger Miller, Joan Baez, (more)
- 1966
This feature-length espionage thriller is an expanded version of an episode of the TV series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. entitled "The Alexander the Great Affair." Mr. Alexander (Rip Torn) is a power-hungry multi-millionaire who wants to take over the world from his compound in Greece, with Alexander the Great serving as his role model. Alexander starts his bid for world domination in a small but strategically crucial Asian nation, where he plans to assassinate the President and render his chain of command helpless with a chemical weapon that destroys a person's will to win. International agents Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) and Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum) are sent out to stop him, while Alexander's wife Tracey (Dorothy Provine) has her own ideas of how to deal with him. The original airing of "The Alexander The Great Affair" led off the second (and most popular) season of the TV series; the theatrical release of One Spy Too Many proved somewhat less successful. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Vaughn, David McCallum, (more)
- 1965
This film is essentially the original pilot for the popular 1960s television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. It was expanded to 92 minutes and shot in color for theatrical release. Robert Vaughn plays the master spy and adept action hero Napoleon Solo. He works for a shadowy supra-governmental enforcement agency called U.N.C.L.E. His partner is the suave Russian secret agent Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum). In this pilot, a sinister organization called W.A.S.P. assassinates the president of an African republic and his assistants. Solo is enlisted to stop W.A.S.P.'s plans to take over the country and turn it into a dictatorship. The plot and action proceed at lightning speed against the backdrop of a brewing Cold War superpower confrontation. Through a series of mishaps, a housewife, Elaine May Donaldson (Pat Crowley) is dragged into the fight and helps Solo thwart the coup attempt. Also released as a film in 1966 was another expanded episode from the TV series, The Spy with My Face. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Vaughn, Luciana Paluzzi, (more)
Filmmaker George Stevens chose Monument Valley, Utah for his exterior sequences in The Greatest Story Ever Told, this ($20 million) adaptation of Fulton Oursler's best-selling book. The "Greatest Story" is, of course, the life of Jesus Christ, played herein by Max Von Sydow. The large supporting cast includes Dorothy McGuire as Mary, Claude Rains as Herod the Great, Jose Ferrer as Herod Antipas, Charlton Heston as John the Baptist, Donald Pleasence as Satan (identified only as "The Dark Hermit"), David McCallum as Judas Iscariot, Sidney Poitier as Simon of Cyrene, Telly Savalas as Pontius Pilate and Martin Landau as Caiaphas. Even Robert Blake as Simon the Zealot, Jamie Farr as Thaddaeus, and motorcyle-flick veteran Richard Bakalyan as Dismas, the repentant thief, are well-suited to their roles. Originally roadshown at 260 minutes, Greatest Story Ever Told was later available in a 195-minute version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Max von Sydow, Dorothy McGuire, (more)
- 1965
In its efforts to emulate the campy hyperbole of the Batman series during its third season on NBC, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. overplayed its hand disastrously, losing many of its longtime fans who had preferred the series when it was a relatively straightforward espionage series with a subtle inner lining of satire. Small wonder, then, that The Man From U.N.C.L.E. returns to its basics for its fourth season, eschewing the ridiculous and outrageous elements that had been inflicted upon its previous season, and focusing more on serious, hard-hitting storylines, with thoroughly credible villains and believable gadgetry. Better still, secret agents Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) and Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum) have for the most part abandoned their clever bon mots, and in some cases are questioning and even challenging the "dirty" assignments handed them by their taciturn superior Alexander Waverly (Leo G. Carroll). Less flippant and more cynical than ever before, Solo and Illya have completely forsaken the "comic-book" elements that had weakened their characters during the past season. And in another marked improvement -- albeit a superficial one -- the traditionally drab New York headquarters of U.N.C.L.E. have been given a complete face-lift, with the walls now "decorated" with state-of-the-art computer equipment (much of its recently purchased from NASA by the series' producers). One of the few artistic carryovers from seasons past is the "recycling" of certain multipart episodes as ready-made theatrical feature films. Examples during season four include the two-part "The Prince of Darkness Affair," which would be seen in theaters as The Helicopter Spies, and the series' two-part finale "The Seven Wonders of the World Affair," soon to be released theatrically as How to Steal the World. Despite the aforementioned improvements and upgrades in its content, the fourth season of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was scuttled by two unforeseen developments. The first was the TV industry's overall toning down of violence, meaning that shows of the U.N.C.L.E. ilk would be denied the huge advertising revenues necessary for long-term survival. The other was NBC's decision to move the series from Friday evenings to Mondays, a move made on the assumption that U.N.C.L.E.'s CBS competition, Gunsmoke, was on its last legs. Unfortunately for NBC, Gunsmoke unexpectedly enjoyed a resurgence of popularity -- and this, coupled with already flagging ratings and a lack of sponsor support, doomed The Man From U.N.C.L.E. to an ignominious mid-season cancellation on January 15, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Vaughn, David McCallum, (more)
- 1965
Switching from black-and-white to color for its second season, the popular espionage series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. also lightens up its attitude a bit. Whereas the season-one episodes tended to be played straight, the season-two installments are less serious and more frivolous in nature, replete with overacting villains espousing overbaked conquer-the-world schemes, outlandish Bond-like gadgetry and doomsday weapons, eccentric and sometimes downright addlepated leading ladies, and a plethora of decidedly offbeat casting choices. Where else but The Man From U.N.C.L.E. would such comic actors as Charlie Ruggles and John McGiver be tapped to play homicidal criminals? And where else would Broadway musical-comedy headliner and perennial game-show contestant Phyllis Newman appear in the role of an Arabian princess? The season begins with the series' first two-part episode, "The Alexander the Greater Affair," in which U.N.C.L.E. agents Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) and Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum) cross swords with a loony industrialist (Rip Torn) bent on breaking all Ten Commandments as part of a master scheme to rule the world! Expanded with a bit of additional footage, this two-parter would later be released as the theatrical movie One Spy Too Many -- just as another multipart episode, "The Bridge of Lions Affair," would be retooled into the ready-made "feature film" One of Our Spies Is Missing. Perhaps the most noteworthy second-season entry is "The Moonglow Affair," featuring Mary Ann Mobley as novice U.N.C.L.E. agent April Dancer and Norman Fell as her veteran partner, Mark Slade. This episode would serve as the pilot for the spin-off series The Girl From U.N.C..L.E., in which Stefanie Powers played April and Noel Harrison was seen as Mark. As a footnote, two of this season's Man From U.N.C.L.E. installments proved to be springboards for movie stardom. On the strength of her performance in "The Foxes and Hounds Affair," guest star Julie Sommers was cast as the leading lady in the 1966 feature film The Pad and How to Use It. And as result of her work in "The Discotheque Affair," Judi West was hired by Billy Wilder to appear opposite Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in another 1966 release, The Fortune Cookie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Vaughn, David McCallum, (more)
- 1965
Although it started out as a relatively serious espionage series with satirical undertones, by the time its third season rolled around The Man From U.N.C.L.E. had gone over the bend and was indulging in pure, unadulterated "camp," with outlandish storylines (one involving a deadly "hiccup" gas, another featuring exploding ice-cream bars!), shamelessly overacting villains, and cloyingly "cute" dialogue. Credit -- or blame -- for this metamorphosis can be attributed to the enormous popularity of the ABC series Batman, which in "honor" of its comic-book origins trafficked almost exclusively in exaggeration and hyperbole. However, what worked on Batman did not always work on The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and viewers began to grow tired of the series during its third season. (The show's new spin-off, The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., proved to be even more out of control than its parent show -- and as result, it wore out its welcome almost immediately!) To their credit, series stars Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, respectively cast as U.N.C.L.E. agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin, do their best to keep a straight face throughout the ridiculous proceedings; the same can be said for Leo G. Carroll, still a tower of strength in the role of U.N.C.L.E. chieftain Alexander Waverly. And, on a few rare occasions, the series' new absurdist tone paid off, notably in the two-part "The Concrete Overcoat Affair," which at the very least offered a veritable rogue's gallery of veteran gangster-movie actors, including Jack Palance, Joan Blondell, Allen Jenkins, and Jack LaRue. Incidentally, "The Concrete Overcoat Affair" was one of two multipart season-three episodes that would ultimately be released theatrically as "feature films" (its title in this capacity was The Spy in the Green Hat). The other "recycled" effort was the two-part "The Five Daughters Affair," which boasted the guest-star talents of Joan Crawford, Terry-Thomas, Kim Darby, Telly Savalas, Curt Jurgens, and Jill Ireland, and which would hit the theater screens under the title The Karate Killers. And while we're on the subject of guest stars, The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'s third season features the "dramatic" TV debuts of Nancy Sinatra and Sonny & Cher, as well as acting appearances by future syndicated newspaper astrologer Joyce Jillson and soon-to-be Hollywood studio executive Lynn Loring. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Vaughn, David McCallum, (more)
- 1965
Ivan Tors Productions, the firm responsible for such aquatic TV delights as Sea Hunt and Flipper, was the prime mover behind MGM's Around the World Under the Sea. The official stars include Lloyd Bridges, Shirley Eaton, Brian Kelly, David McCallum, Keenan Wynn, Marshall Thompson, and Gary Merrill. The real stars are underwater photographer Lamar Bowen, diving-sequence director Ricou Browning, and the folks in Tors' special effects department. The plot concerns a series of underwater volcanic eruptions. Sub commander Bridges (who else?) heads into the depths to find out the cause of the disturbances. Before the THE END sign presents itself, Bridges and his crew are nearly devoured by a sea monster and sucked into a vortex. Though the film's technology-both on-screen and behind the camera--is dated, Around the World Under the Sea is still credible, not to mention thoroughly enjoyable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lloyd Bridges, Shirley Eaton, (more)
- 1964
A pre-Man From UNCLE, pre-NCIs David McCallum is cast as Phillipe Bertain, an incredibly naïve young Frenchman who gives a "belle femme" named Ninette (Roxane Berard) a great deal of money so that she can afford to divorce her husband Armand (Jacques Bergerac). Instead, the duplicitous Ninette hands the cash to Armand, who immediately purchases a ski resort. The outraged Phillipe heads to the slopes to confront Armand, but before this can happen the scoundrel is killed in a plane crash. When the police determine that Armand was killed before the crash, Phillipe is arrested for the crime. Sacre bleu! Ou est Monsier Perry Mason (Raymond Burr), s'il vous plait? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
In Volume 32 of a collection culled from the 1963-1965 science fiction anthology television series, a pair of murderous women enlist the aid of a blind man and his eccentric young charge to help them manipulate the space-time continuum in order to raise the dead. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1964
The sixth volume in a collection culled from the 1963-1965 science fiction anthology television series chronicles the time travels of a mutant from the future who goes back to prevent the birth of the mad scientist who is responsible for creating a horrifying virus. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1964
In this episode of the well-wrought horror/sci-fi anthology, a hapless miner inadvertently gets involved in a scientific experiment and ends up evolving far beyond the rest of humankind. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1964
- Add The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: Season 01 to QueueAdd The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: Season 01 to top of Queue
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. launches its first season with "The Vulcan Affair," which uses broad but entertaining strokes to quickly establish the series' premise: Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn), top secret agent for the international counterespionage organization U.N.C.L.E., enlists the aid of an "average" citizen -- in this case a mousy housewife, played by Patricia Crowley -- to thwart the evil machinations of a colorful master villain (here played by Fritz Weaver) in the employ of the sinister crime agency THRUSH. Although telecast in black-and-white (as was the rest of season one), the opening episode was actually filmed in color -- and, combined with footage from another first-season episode, The Four Steps Affair, it would soon be expanded into the ersatz feature film To Trap a Spy for the domestic movie market. Similarly, another "expanded" Man From U.N.C.L.E. installment from this season, "The Double Affair," would receive theatrical play under the title The Spy With My Face. Originally, Robert Vaughn was to be the series' sole (or "Solo") star, with Leo G. Carroll providing support as his U.N.C.L.E. superior Alexander Waverly. However, the character of Russian-born U.N.C.L.E. agent Illya Kuryakin, played by David McCallum, scored such an excellent impression in his first fleeting appearances that the character expanded to full co-star status. Rumors still persist that Robert Vaughn was a bit miffed at sharing the spotlight, which may explain the kidding-on-the-square rivalry between Solo and Illya that dominates their scenes together. Although most of the other secondary characters are one-shots during the first season, Jill Ireland (then the wife of David McCallum) is seen as wide-eyed "civilian" Marion Raven and Anne Francis is cast as cold-blooded THRUSH agent Gervaise Ravel in two different episodes, "The Quadripartite Affair" and "The Giuoco Piano Affair." In the same vein, George Sanders appears in "The Gazebo in the Maze Affair" as criminal mastermind G. Emory Partridge, a role he would reprise in the following season's "The Yukon Affair." Other season-one guest performers include a brace of future spy show stars, Robert Culp (I Spy) and Barbara Feldon (Get Smart), as well as such pop-culture icons as Carroll O'Connor, Leslie Nielsen, Yvonne Craig, Eddie Albert, Kurt Russell, William Shatner, and Leonard Nimoy -- the latter two in the same episode! Although the initial season of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. has its chucklesome and satirical moments, many of the episodes tackled their subject matter with deadly seriousness -- even in such outlandish outings wherein THRUSH surgically creates an exact double of Napoleon Solo, and a mad scientist develops a process to bring Adolf Hitler back to life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Vaughn, David McCallum, (more)
The Great Escape is based on the true story of a group of Allied prisoners of war who managed to escape from an allegedly impenetrable Nazi prison camp during World War II. At the beginning of the film, the Nazis gather all their most devious and troublesome POWs and place them at a new prison camp, which was designed to be impervious to escapes. Immediately, the prisoners develop a scheme where they will leave the camp by building three separate escape tunnels. Richard Attenborough is the British soldier who masterminds the whole plan, and who commands his motley squad--featuring Charles Bronson as a Polish trench-digging expert, James Garner as an American with a talent for theft, Donald Pleasence as a masterful forger, and Steve McQueen as an American rebel--through the construction of the tunnels and, eventually, their escape. An epic adventure film, The Great Escape runs nearly three hours, featuring a rousing Elmer Bernstein score and exciting action sequences -- including a notorious motorcycle chase between McQueen and the Nazis -- the likes of which had never been seen before in Hollywood productions. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve McQueen, James Garner, (more)
- 1963
In this crime drama, a mugger accidently kills a man during a robbery and finds himself blackmailed into cracking a nightclub safe. The mugger escapes by double crossing the blackmailer by stealing the money and his girlfriend to boot. Unfortunately the police are in hot pursuit. They eventually capture him, but not before he kills an innocent tailor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1963
Engineer Alan Maxwell (Cliff Robertson) is using his commercial radio station's antenna to probe into deep space in experiments of his own, in the course of which he makes contact with a being (William O. Douglas, Jr.) from the great nebula in the constellation Andromeda. Through an accident, the alien is transported to Earth, where its radioactive emanations prove lethal to all who come in contact with it. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1963
The fourth volume in a collection culled from the 1963-1965 science fiction anthology television series recounts the story of a mousy scientist whose latest creation--a harness for cosmic energy controlled by his mind--wreaks havoc because of his repressed emotions. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1962
Filmed in Germany by American director John Huston, Freud is a sincerely felt but overly simplistic biopic of the pioneering psychotherapist. The brooding, introspective Montgomery Clift was a curious choice for the role of Sigmund Freud; at times he looks more off the beam than some of his patients (his comic-opera Viennese accent doesn't add to the credibility). The screenplay takes the shape of a detective mystery, attempting to link various crises in Freud's private and professional life with his theoretical conclusions, most often doing so within well-staged dream sequences. Less successful are the scenes with the poor unfortunates who come to Freud for help, notably an embarrassing sequence with a young man suffering from an Oedipus complex. Freud was at one point supposed to have been scripted by existentialist playwright Jean-Paul Sartre, who gave up after he realized that the subject would require a four- or five-hour film at the very least. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Montgomery Clift, Susannah York, (more)
