There’s a lot to watch. There’s so much new stuff (and I am way behind in Poker Face) and there’s so many classics to catch up on too.

Spurred on by Titan Books’ excellent biography Sergio Leone and the Revolution of the Western by the author called Amazing Ameziane (see WFA# 377 for my review), I started the year off watching The Good, The Bad and Ugly. I’m planning on watching the other two pictures in this trilogy before the spring.

I’m not sure if I am on a western kick, but I also recently enjoyed Bandoleros! It’s a 1968 western about two brothers. Jimmy Stewart plays the older, supposedly more responsible, one. Dean Martin plays the outlaw brother in search of a fine woman and simple domesticity. (It was surprising when the two brothers talked about how nice it would be, one day, to become grandparents.) Racquel Welch plays the beautiful woman. That wasn’t too much of a stretch for her.

The other night, I stumbled upon another old classic. It was an episode of I Spy. This show is offered at no additional cost after you’ve paid your annual ransom to Amazon Prime. The ‘60s series stars Robert Culp and Bill Cosby as undercover, world-traveling spies and it is outstanding. Clever plots, cheeky dialog, and lots of on-location filming.

But with Cosby’s participation, now that we all know what a reprehensible human being he was, it’s easy to write this one off. But I’d encourage you not to. I don’t think his estate earns any more money from it any longer and there were so many other talented people contributing to the whole enterprise.
Two of those talented people were producers/writers David Friedkin and Morton Fine. The two fellas were also the geniuses behind one of my all-time favorite radio shows, Broadway Is My Beat. (I talked about it in my old ComicMix column here.) And Friedkin directed the episode that I watched. It was a suspenseful love story called “Tatia”.

In this adventure, the two spies are in Japan for an international tennis tournament. Kelly Robinson (Culp) is a globetrotting tennis pro and his trainer is Alexander Scott. But both are secretly spies doing all sorts of spy-sy and espionage-y things.

In this episode, a magazine has sent a gorgeous photographer, Tatia, played by Laura Devon, to document a “Day in the Life of a Tennis Star” for an upcoming article. Kelly, along with everyone who ever watched this episode, falls head-of-over heels in love with the photographer. Sounds like a pretty good international trip to me.

The only catch? She might also be a spy who has killed three other agents. Back in the day, I had a couple of dates like that and I can tell you: that is NOT so good.

I have always maintained that part of the charm of the early James Bond films is that they are like glamorous travelogues. I can just imagine my folks, watching an 007 thriller back in 1963, saying “Wow- we should go to Budapest someday too.” Or wherever Bond went in the latest movie.

I Spy is kind of like that too. In this episode, the two spies are in Japan. And this show famously went on location to film each episode. Viewers are treated to a handful of local, establishing shots. One highlight is an extended scene where Kelly and Tatia hop in a convertible for a date on the Island of Serenity – Nikko Japan’s Togoshu Shrine. You can go on the date with them -here’s that clip.

I just wished it showed a ‘60s’Japanese tennis tournament. That would’a been something to see.

Without giving anything away, the ending is both clever and brilliant. I don’t think even the most jaded pop culture fans will see exactly what’s coming. And kudos to Friedkin, Fine and all involved – there’s a subtle off-camera resolution to part of the plot that makes it all the more effective.