THE EMERGENCE OF Ian Fleming's JAMES BOND as an eminently successful series of movies put the film genre of the Secret Agent on he front burners of all of the Hollywood movie & Television production companies. Within a few years, we witnessed a procession of Spy Epics such as THAT MAN IN IATANBUL (with Horst Bucholz), OUR MAN LIKE FLINT & IN LIKE FLINT (with James Coburn) and Mel Brooks & Buck Henry's TV spoof, GET MART (with Don Adams & Barbara Feldon).
BUT SOMEWHERE ALONG the way, the notion of producing a sort of hybrid series; being a cross breed between the red-hot Spy Story, with the perennially popular Western. The series would have to have a Lead who had the physical make-up to do the action and Martial Arts Combat scenes in a very convincing manner; while still being able to deliver some very clever serio-comic dialog-much in the same manner (though not to the same degree) as Adam West's BATMAN would do, about a quarter of a year later.
IN CHOOSING THE Lead in Robert Conrad's "James West", the production team couldn't have done a better job. Mr. Conrad's physique packs on plenty of muscle on a basically average sized frame & height; adding plenty of speed, agility and athletic ability to boot. Screen & TV veteran Conrad was undoubtedly at time viewed as one of those many "James Dean Types".*
AS A SORT OF intellectual counter balance, they presented us with an experienced actor; who could portray the cerebral member of the team in a sort of eccentric, yet complimentary manner to the Action Hero's physical prowess. (This is not to say that the brains & brawn elements are or should be mutually exclusive to either Team Member!)
CASTING THE ROLE of "Artemus Gordon" with Ross Martin gave th stories a certain range that may not have been reached with actors. He had a versatility range that was truly long and wide. Drama, Tragedy, Comedy or Farce were all well within his range and he often displayed many of these in a single episode.**
IN MUCH THE same manner as we would view an adaptation of a Jules Verne SCi Fi epic, the production opted for what can only be described as "Retro Futuristic" in its looks and its on screen representation of technology yet to come. It's at once a before and after view of what would have been then considered to be "fantastic." In essence, we're looking 'forward' from the late 1860's during the Administration of Ulyses S. Grant. Get what we mean?
THERE WAS A CONSCIOUS effort to use 'futuristic' (for the times) technology and inventions/weapons. Also, Agents West and Gordon had many useful 'weapons' in their belts, shoes, coats, hats, underwear, etc,; much like Bond/007 and Batman's Utility Belt.
THE SERIES WAS laden with many Guest Stars (in much the same way as the ABC 20th Century-Fox BATMAN Series did); and both the series and the appearing stars benefited from riding the crest of popularity that it rode during its 4 seasons on the tube.
ONE OTHER FACTOR THAT should be mentioned is that of the outstanding dialog that was written for Mr. Robert Conrad and Mr. Ross Martin. It contributed to the fun sand success in no small way!
NOTE: * Like everything else in Hollywood, success breeds copycat entries. Other members of this "type" include Nick Adams.
NOTE ** As testament to Mr. Martin's versatility, just screen EXPERIMENT IN TERROR to see him as a most creepy and scary villain. His talent for varied dialects was put to good use on a short lived adaptation of the Quality Comocs' feature, BLACKHAWK; in which Martin did the voices of 7 different characters of 6 different ethnicities!
BUT SOMEWHERE ALONG the way, the notion of producing a sort of hybrid series; being a cross breed between the red-hot Spy Story, with the perennially popular Western. The series would have to have a Lead who had the physical make-up to do the action and Martial Arts Combat scenes in a very convincing manner; while still being able to deliver some very clever serio-comic dialog-much in the same manner (though not to the same degree) as Adam West's BATMAN would do, about a quarter of a year later.
IN CHOOSING THE Lead in Robert Conrad's "James West", the production team couldn't have done a better job. Mr. Conrad's physique packs on plenty of muscle on a basically average sized frame & height; adding plenty of speed, agility and athletic ability to boot. Screen & TV veteran Conrad was undoubtedly at time viewed as one of those many "James Dean Types".*
AS A SORT OF intellectual counter balance, they presented us with an experienced actor; who could portray the cerebral member of the team in a sort of eccentric, yet complimentary manner to the Action Hero's physical prowess. (This is not to say that the brains & brawn elements are or should be mutually exclusive to either Team Member!)
CASTING THE ROLE of "Artemus Gordon" with Ross Martin gave th stories a certain range that may not have been reached with actors. He had a versatility range that was truly long and wide. Drama, Tragedy, Comedy or Farce were all well within his range and he often displayed many of these in a single episode.**
IN MUCH THE same manner as we would view an adaptation of a Jules Verne SCi Fi epic, the production opted for what can only be described as "Retro Futuristic" in its looks and its on screen representation of technology yet to come. It's at once a before and after view of what would have been then considered to be "fantastic." In essence, we're looking 'forward' from the late 1860's during the Administration of Ulyses S. Grant. Get what we mean?
THERE WAS A CONSCIOUS effort to use 'futuristic' (for the times) technology and inventions/weapons. Also, Agents West and Gordon had many useful 'weapons' in their belts, shoes, coats, hats, underwear, etc,; much like Bond/007 and Batman's Utility Belt.
THE SERIES WAS laden with many Guest Stars (in much the same way as the ABC 20th Century-Fox BATMAN Series did); and both the series and the appearing stars benefited from riding the crest of popularity that it rode during its 4 seasons on the tube.
ONE OTHER FACTOR THAT should be mentioned is that of the outstanding dialog that was written for Mr. Robert Conrad and Mr. Ross Martin. It contributed to the fun sand success in no small way!
NOTE: * Like everything else in Hollywood, success breeds copycat entries. Other members of this "type" include Nick Adams.
NOTE ** As testament to Mr. Martin's versatility, just screen EXPERIMENT IN TERROR to see him as a most creepy and scary villain. His talent for varied dialects was put to good use on a short lived adaptation of the Quality Comocs' feature, BLACKHAWK; in which Martin did the voices of 7 different characters of 6 different ethnicities!