87 replies to this topic

[americanbond]

Kevin Costner's character in No Way Out.

[Joyce Carrington]

I quite liked Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible (not M:I-2).

[Methos]

Glad to see ya here Dr. Tynan and thanks for the welcome Xenobia!!

Ya know, I can't believe I did'nt mention Robert McCall, 'The Equalizer'!!! 'The Equalizer' has long been one of my favorite shows. I've even recorded every single episode onto tape...can't wait to get a DVD burner to properly archive them!! Robert McCall always struck me as a vision of what James Bond might be like in semi-retirement. The literary Bond's greatest foe was always boredom and I could'nt easily envision Bond settling into a sedate life, upon retiring from the service. Seeing Robert McCall, as 'The Equalizer' always reminded me of that possibility. The show was often brilliantly written, beautifully scored and well acted. It delved into some gray areas of The Cold War. McCall was a man who was constantly trying to escape the snares of his former profession, but always found that his profession had condemned him to a life of service. He dressed sharply, carried himself with grace and elan, armed himself with a Walther PPK and drove that gorgeous black Jaguar XJ6!!! Not to mention that he was always accompanied by a host of colorful characters, many of whom were affiliated with the intelligence community. 'The Equalizer', without a doubt has got to be my favorite fantasy based television espionage thriller. Now, reality based television espionage thriller?? BBC's 'MI-5', no question. But that's another post all together....

[jwheels]

Jack Bauer from '24'. Though not really a spy, he goes on undercover missions. And I like how he is willing to do anything to complete his mission and protect his country, like Bond.

[iain]

For fans of spy fiction, a good tip would be Daniel Silva. His character is an art restorer who becomes a Mossad agent, or is it the other way around? Anyway they are well worth a read. The first is 'The English Assasin'.

As far as film is concerned, 'Spy Game' with Robert Redford and Brad Pitt was pretty good, but I can't remember the names of the characters.

[Methos]

Iain, that would be Nathan Muir and Tom Bishop, as played by Robert Redford and Brad Pitt respectively. As I stated earlier in this thread, 'Spy Games' is among my all time favorite espionage films!! It's certainly the best spy thriller I've seen in recent years. I've seen the film more times than I can count...DVD technology is a brilliant thing indeed!!!

[HAMMONDBEAT]

Artemus Gordon (Wild Wild West), Roland Hand (Mission: Impossible), Vinnie Terranova (Wiseguy) are great TV spies. Undercover operations, and with exception of Wiseguy (who had the whole longterm sacrifice of his real identity going for him), the use of the man with a thousand faces theme was very effective most of the time, and was instrumental in keeping things from seeming routine. You could always count on a certain methodology to James West each week, but Artemus was the wild card. Sometimes his total abscence was just as effective as his surprise appearance!

The thing about James Bond is that he's more of a detective in the first part of the story, that turns to sabateur (either with intent or via circumstance). But I think that perception has more to do with audience familiarty than anything else. The thing to keep in mind in the real spy world, is that you do have "celebrity" spies that are known and monitored by the other side(s). Sometimes they are allowed to operate to keep the peace, other time they get taken out if they step over a certain line. The 007 films don't always respect that line, but I think in many cases the "game", and it is a game much of the time, is not all that unrealistic. Problem is that by the end of the films he's stepped over that line too far, and then we are expected to reset the score when the next adventure begins. That does seem unrealistic, at least when the news of it is uncontainable.

[Agent 76]

Must say that I liked The Saint (1997) movie with Val Kilmer , I thought it was pretty good , a very well done spy thriller movie with a bit of romance.
But BOND rocks the house!

Edited by Agent76, 30 January 2004 - 10:43 PM.

[brendan007]

Can't believe no-one has bought up Sydney Bristow. Alias is fast becoming my faviorite show, I cant wait for season three to come on.

[Agent 76]

Mission Impossible is cool too , has some good things. of course it's not a perfect spy type movie but entertaining...!

Edited by Agent76, 03 February 2004 - 11:11 PM.

[MBA Gyrojet]

Edited due to my not reading the thread thoroughly.Apologies.
Also,i d like to associate myself with the above comments regarding "Alias".Possibly the best plotted television series in history.Not a wild claim to those fortunate enough to have seen it.
Callan(who indirectly spawned the Equalizer,and also starred the great Edward Woodward) is also right up there with the greats.

Edited by MBA Gyrojet, 09 February 2004 - 07:46 PM.

[Brian Flagg]

I agree with those who listed Jim West, Derek Flint, The U.N.C.L.E. agents and the IMF team from the tv show. I like the real Matt Helm (as much as I love Dean Martin, I just don't see him as Helm--even in a spoof) and Mack Bolan from the Executioner book series. As an impressionable 13-14 year old in 1985, all of those mentioned meant a lot to me as a kid.


I would also like to mention 2002's Undercover Brother, which was a "Blaxploitation" homage featuring Eddie Griffin as the title character. GREAT score by Jazz fusion stalwart Stanley Clarke, as I find myself humming UB's theme wherever I go. Denise Richards is in the film, too.

Oh, and Austin Powers is just okay. The movies could have been fantastic tributes to Bond and the spoofs, but Myers instead panders to the mindless masses and gives us repulsive (and unfunny) characters like Fat B*****d. Powers had so much promise, and they blew it.

[rogermoore007]

Simon Templar, Mr. Hunt, Jack Ryan

[Agent 76]

he's not really a spy but...Inspector Jacques Closeau!

[rogermoore007]

Does your dog bite?

[DLibrasnow]

That's not my dog

[DLibrasnow]

Can't believe no-one has bought up Sydney Bristow. Alias is fast becoming my faviorite show, I cant wait for season three to come on.

ALIAS is my favorite TV show off all time although I thought the explanation for the two-year gap was a little ho-hum.

Still, Jennifer Garner is purely incredible!

[Agent 76]

Knight Rider & McGyver -> that were for sure some of the best tv shows ever!

[Qwerty]

Can't believe no-one has bought up Sydney Bristow. Alias is fast becoming my faviorite show, I cant wait for season three to come on.

ALIAS is my favorite TV show off all time although I thought the explanation for the two-year gap was a little ho-hum.

Still, Jennifer Garner is purely incredible!

Alias has indeed gotten interesting in the past few episodes, I frequently catch myself watching them with my eyes glued to the screen.

[Johnboy007]

Roger Moore's Simon Templar from The Saint tv series. Just too cool.

[OO4]

I'd have to go with Diana Riggs as Emma Peel. I just got the mega set of DVD and I'm having a wonderful time remembering the joy of watching the show as a teenager. She was smart, witty, stunningly beautiful and the actress went on to play 007's one true love.

[quiller]

harry palmer. flint. jac bauer. jason bourne. and nobody mentioned quiller! tut tut!

[DLibrasnow]

What about Callan? That was a great spy show....also have to mention Fathom.

[AgentHMO]

I'd be almost remiss if I didn't say Agent 86, aka Maxwell Smart:

"Ah, the old [insert clever gadget that Q never dreamed of] trick!"
"Sorry about that, Chief!"
"This room is surrounded by an armoured battalion! Would you believe a few cops? Would you believe....???"

Mel Brooks is a genius.

Derek Flint's another favorite; I chanced into seeing In Like Flint on AMC once, and I broke into laughter more than once.

MacGyver....don't get me started on him! He's a hero among some old high school classmates; give him a Super Ball, a paper clip, and some Fruity Pebbles and he'd have a bomb made in no time flat!

[quiller]

I just saw the Peacemaker last night with Kidman and Clooney about the theft of nuclear arms. Excellent movie with a believable bad guy, who you can understand actually. Colonel Devoe, the character of Clooney would make a good guy to make a sequel with, as long as that they keep the same realism and speed in the movie.

I also wondered if there had ever been a filming of Gregory McDonalds character inspector Xavier Flynn, who's actually agent triple X but works for the Boston PD. He's actually more fun then Fletch the other character with whom McDonald did some stuff.

I re watched that 2. pretty good movie n a sequell would be nice. also did u think that it seemed to for shadow 24?

[MillesGloriosus]

Derek Flint(arguably the precursor to the 1970s Bond) and (would you believe?) Maxwell Smart, 86 times funnier than Austin Powers IMHO. And since I mentioned Max, I would be remiss not to mention the delectable 99 .

I'm glad someone out there appreciates James Coburn as Derek Flint.

Some other Bond imitators of note:



Irwin Fletcher - Chevy Chase was at his best when he played "Fletch," even if the second movie was bad.

John Shaft - He's a badd mother... SHUT YOUR MOUTH.

M.L. Pogue - Dana Carvey did a decent job in "Clean Slate" playing the Santa Monica detective. Also, Valeria Golino, an underrated Italian beauty, is in it.

Xander Cage - Yes, I know I'm gonna get criticized about liking XXX.

[DLibrasnow]

Add the Avengers to my list too.

[Qwerty]

The Avengers and The Saint characters.

I may be trying out Secret Agent.