The style and the class also reflected that during its first seasons, "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." (the letters stood for "United Network Command for Law and Enforcement," which was "thanked" at the end of each installment "without whom (those installments) would not have been possible") had not degenerated into self-parody and were still being written to take themselves seriously. F. Robert Vaughn's Napoleon Solo was a former U. S. Army G-2 officer from the Korean War era, for crying out loud! And David McCallum's Illya Nicolaevich (NOT "Nickovetch;" that's NOT how Russian patronymic middle names are written) Kuryakin was the son and, I believe, only child of two former anti-Soviet Mensheviki ("Minorityites") who had fled with their infant son to Scotland (McCallum's actual birthplace) to escape Stalinism in the Russias, and he was reared there.
rob I so agree, as a kid I thought he was the esscence of cool. then came james west in the wild wild west, two of my favorite childhood men I wanted to grow up to be it's a shame there is no one like that on television anymore. feel bad, kids are being cheated.
The Man From U . N . C . L . E . The Acronym For United Network Command for Law and Enforcement . The Original Title For The Show Was Ian Fleming's Solo . The Girl From U . N . C . L . E . The Original Title Was The Girl From A . U . N . T . I . E . The Acronym For Associated Unified Nations Taskforce for International Enforcement .
Robert Vaughn who appeared as Napoleon Solo died on November 11 2016 after a battle with acute leukemia. He was 83.Man from U.N.C.L.E was a popular TV series in the 60s.May he rest in peace.
@@joelholmes1260 That's because agent Napolean Solo has hella much more intell literally, than this present corrupted, worldly stupid & morally shit stained reality show buffoon, that's literally destroying this nations gov't to shreds imo. And btw, do you remember the mid 60's political events show called "Firing Line" hosted by conservative leaning William F Buckley???. Well then if not watch the YT interview with him & Robert Vaughn & notice how smoothly Vaughn had intellectually swept the dusty floor with Buckley as the somewhat pompous & highly dismayed & stunned broom. Uc Robert Vaughn trully had good INTELLIGENCE to debate with him on then global current events matter's on that memorable night telecast imo.
The episode you folks REALLY want to see is "The Project Strigas Affair". This episode marks the epic first pairing of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy on TV before Star Trek. It also features a pre-Hogan's Heroes Werner Klemperer! An episode of treasures!😁
Wasn't there an episode of THE OUTER LIMITS entitled COLD HANDS-WARM HEART that also featured them, with Shatner as an astronaut, and Nimoy as a scientist for the space agency that supervised the interdtellar
Sherman I've seen Nimoy in a 50s movie (may have been titled KID GALAHAD) and portraying a notorious gunslinger in an ancient syndicated western series called 26 MEN. Like Vaughn, Nimoy's roles sometimes included handguns. You can see how accutely the gun reports affect Vaughn. I think the constant exposure to the handgun reports took its toll on Nimoy's hearing, as well!
@@liman42 An Asimov classic. The production company did a great job with these episodes, giving the new company for the revival series a very high standard to meet, or beat
I'm trying to recall why there were budget constraints, which trickled down to costs for incidental music. Jerry Goldsmith was out, and Lalo.Shiffrin came on board.
The original was always my favorite. More mysterious than the other jazzed up versions. We had a record of themes and TV music from this show, Star Trek, JB movies (the cover photo was of Sean Connery in Goldfinger behind the bullet riddled windshield of the DB5). I've been looking for it all over but can't seem to find it or anyone that remembers that record. It had Nichelle Nicole's "Beyond Antares" on it. Loved that record.
As a teenager in the 60's this show was a must see every week... the British introduced James Bond and the audiences went wild... we Americans introduced Robert Vaughn and he took off.. every kid in school was talking about the show the next day... and don't forget "Get Smart" with Don Adams which was a comedy... also I think TV stinks today compared to what we had.. basically 3 main networks that had new shows every season..
David McCallum was just as popular, if not more popular. Everyone loved Illya Kuryakin, and having a Russian character that was so popular and a hero on American TV at the height of the Cold War was something quite groundbreaking for American television at that time.
@@PerthTowne Vaughn was "The Star," but blonde, Beatle-cut Illya,was the real breakout character (such as the secondary TV series characters like "Spock" and "Fonzie" after him).
I won't differentiate between Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, as both characters made a great pairing here for this weekly acting scene. I'm not the afficianato on the changes every season, as I gave up TV entirely when I discovered astronomy as a 13 or 14-year-old buying my first telescope in 1967. Who would have known that I'd become a background extra actor in TV and movies for the past 20 years, but I still do not watch television today nor even go to movie theaters for many years. What I also really liked about the Man from U.N.CL.E. program was the intro music and I noticed they play about four different versions here - it's the second version starting a two minutes on the time bar that was my favorite; the flute as the lead instrument and the bongo drums just sounded so much more sophisticated. The opening sequence to this program and some others in that era, say, The Avengers from England, and the James Bond films opening music, and a few other of these special secret agent investigative programs, say Mission Impossible, is where we probably first discovered Jazz music as kids, as we were otherwise only listening to the Beatles music then. ruclips.net/video/3_NytrnoI_Q/видео.html
@@MarkSeibold The first MFU theme has always been my favorite. I've been into jazz since I heard the Modern Jazz Quartet on some show my mother had on while she was making dinner. I was like 6 years old. I remember it vividly being riveted to the tube while they played. (On Merv Griffin, maybe?) Been a jazz fan ever since. The big brass in a minor key always gets me going. Mysterioso!
The first season theme was by far the best. Those that came after just tried to jazz-up the original and added nothing. The first season was also the best because it was in B&W, and this added something -- a kind of starkness, I don't know what. I really love that shot of the infilitrator shooting at Solo behind a bullet-proof glass. For its day the show was really bleeding edge stuff -- especially for a kid like myself. I really wanted to hear the theme repeated somewhere in the movie -- maybe buried in the credits, but it's just not there. I also wanted to see some representation of the U.N.C.L.E. logo, and that's nowhere to be seen. It's not until the very last scene of the movie that you are given to realize that everything you've witnessed beforehand is just a precursor to the invention of the United Network Command for Law Enforcement.
Executive Decision -- I disagree with you. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was best in its first season and in b&W -- the same for The Wild, Wild West. The theme music for U.N.C.L.E. was unarguably better at its first outing. Most shows at the time didn't know what the hell they were producing and were probably shocked that they lasted more than one season. Color was a gimmick to sell color television sets, and it did nothing to enhance the quality of most television programs that hardly imagined they might become an actual series.
Executive Decision -- The technology for color may have dated back quite a few years but most people still had b&w TV sets and were rather slow to make the transition to buy a new set. This is where I see the "gimmick." It's like the unfortunate marriage between software and hardware in computers. If you want better quality/resolution/speed to keep up with evolving software, at some point you break down and buy a new PC. You may have been happy with your old PC but ultimately you want to experience the best performance and output as possible. One side forces you to go out and buy new hardware. Sometimes it's not even a choice. Microsoft has more than once said it will stop supporting previous OS systems, and this means that the programs running on this system will become dated, or even unusable. We see the same thing happening with wide-screen TVs. The resolution keeps improving, so if you want the best picture and sound, you have to consider whether what you have is sufficient. But, this is all really an entirely different argument because this particular video is just about the various themes from U.N.C.L.E. that changed season to season. If you listen to them one after the other, I think each new iteration was worse than the original.
Executive Decision -- You remember a lot more from the series than myself. I'd have to buy the whole DVD set to become re-acquainted with all the particulars. I was an avid follower and felt crestfallen when the series was cancelled. But, maybe it's just as well. I sometimes wonder if some of these old shows would be considered classics if they went on for ten-twelve seasons. It's not impossible. You look at shows like "Bonanza" or "Gunsmoke," and they just went on and on. But, what if "Star Trek" went on for ten seasons? Yet, even today you can find a series like "Lost" that collects a following, and people keep tuning in no matter how convoluted the plot may become. I think the great thing about shows like U.N.C.L.E. was that they were standalone episodes. They didn't have a soap opera feeling to them. Even programs like "The Fugitive" which had an overhanging theme, each story hung on its own and didn't require anyone to follow a plot line that went on season after season. I've read where the industry wants to create a new "Star Trek" series. That's great, but they should follow the example of some of these earlier shows and make each episode -- just an episode. Mix up the cast, take the stories outside the box of The Enterprise. Then you might have something.
Executive Decision They dont want to be associated with it. Its rubbish as its mortifyingly boring. It has no connection with the Man from uncle as we know it You can watch it on putlocker .is
First theme absolutely the best. Martial drumbeat rolling with those jazzy horns. A sense of clarity and resolve like, hey the Thrush b. s. stops here, and the Men From UNCLE have our backs. Sadly, such defenders are MIA in America 2021.
I agree that the original theme was the best. The second was pretty cool, too; jazzed it up a little. Didn't care so much for the third & fourth; went a bit overboard. Yes, we could use such a force with agents from both sides, who can set aside their differences, and unite for the good of all mankind. A bit late, but RIP, Mr.Solo.
I got the chance to meet Robert Vaughn while he was shooting a movie at my moms work, he was a very nice man and lived in my home state of Connecticut. I told him that this along with mission impossible and James Bond made me want to be a secret agent
Just loved those modded P-38 silenced automatics that they used to carry. Now those rare toy vrs of the uncle & thrush auto pistols & rifles are priceless on EBay, & i had a man from uncle modified pistol kit as a kid back in the day too, that I wished I had as a collector's piece now.
@@MeanGeneSanDiego How much did they cost ya nowadays.? Uc back in the 60's my dad paid under 10 dollars ea for me & my brother I'm certain. He had the thrush rifle & that man from uncle pistol model i had was all black with no safety orange on the barrel & with a short flash suppressor on the P-38 That included a functional target pistol scope, a silenced barrel extension, a extendable handle stock with included, the yellow man from uncle badge just like on TV. And from what i remember is that depending on the toy co that made them, some looked more realistic than the other. Btw mine fired low output powered blanks, thats prohibited nowadays in gun toys depending on the state your living in.
YOU can go online and find and buy your dream ordnance. There are at least two companies that sell re9licas of the WALTHER (not the Mauser) as well as the holster, badge etc. Years ago, I interviewed one of the armorers for MGM, and he explained the origin of the carbine design, their issues with the Mauser (which got scrapped) the logic behind the selection of the Walther. The production company also had a bit of a snit with ATF, since they violated federal laws, in modifying the pistol barrels.
The middle theme where they are in color is THEE Man from UNCLE theme. Loved the show. Was a kid in Halloween costume contest and I was a pitiful Indian with no chance of winning. I kept asking my Dad what time it was. I wanted to be home by 10:00 because Napoleon Solo was strapped to a cement slab with a razor sharp pendulum swinging back and forth ready to cut him in have. And Iliya Kuriaken was trapped and about to be drowned. Britain may have had James Bond, but we certainly had the very cool Men from Uncle. The music is the second best spy theme (the middle version) after The James Bond theme, followed by the Mission Impossible theme. The movie version should have included the theme music. The best theme music is still The Peter Gunn Theme. But he's a detective. Robert Vaughn was a great actor. As was David McCallum. He was great on NCIS,
Thanks for making it easy to compare these themes. All were good but the first season was by far the best. They never re-ran the b\w episodes so it only appeared as the theme to To Trap A Spy. The longer film themes were also great.
Sometimes black and white photography is surprising in what it can achieve. The U.N.C.L.E. headquarters set was really cheap, but the B&W filming in that opening sequence makes it look 'edgy' and high tech.
As a trumpet, french horn, and baritone horn player the I love the Goldsmith version best. The trumpet trill is so difficult to do. My lips were never strong enough to do it. The theme is symphonic cool!😉
Ahh, you posted the opening to the all-time-best "U.N.C.L.E." episode ever: "The Alexander The Greater Affair," with Rip Torn as the "guest villain." I recall M-G-M spliced together parts I & II, coupled it a feature-length spy film to make a "Double Feature." Most of the guest villains, Rip Torn, Lloyd Bochner and the great Fritz Weaver all played the identical suave-but-deadly antagonist. Does anyone remember "The Girl From U.N.C.L.E."? :)
Join your fellow UNCLE fans over at the "The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - Inner Circle" Facebook group for fun and discussions about all things U.N.C.L.E. facebook.com/groups/369560823208688/
At 3:27, the controls are from the Time Tunnel. Obviously 20th Century Fox sold them to MGM after Time Tunnel's cancellation. You can even see some of these controls on Lost in Space.
In 1965 my parents considered me too young to go to movies like "Thunderball" and "Goldfinger". But they allowed me to watch this. You whipper-snappers have no idea how cool this was. I even had the toy UNCLE gun and could run around my Alexandria, VA neighborhood with it without SWAT getting called.
Lonnie Cavenee We liked to pretend that an ordinary pen was a communicator. The fun was in our imaginations. I wonder if anyone in the world joined up with a spy organization because of this show. :)
I’m 64 years old and a big UNCLE fan from day one when I was a kid. I personally prefer the first, original theme as it’s the first I ever saw & heard so it clicks with me. (The same applies re Dr Who - because I was around for the pilot in 1963, Hartnell, for me, will always be the ‘real Dr Who, even though I’ve loved many (not all 😂) of the others.) I also preferred the first season of UNCLE when it was a ‘serious’ spy adventure before it went on to try to emulate the camp humour of the kind found in the BATMAN series of the time. BATMAN was and is great fun to watch, but TMFU should’ve stayed a ‘serious’ spy adventure in my humble view. I know from watching Robert Vaughn interviews that he felt the same.
This is so cool! Thank you for posting it! I love all four opening themes. Many things changed the music changed, their clothes changed in that Napoleon started wearing different colored suits!!! But one thing stayed the same. The really cool Man From UNCLE Logo stayed the same. Thank God at least some things are still "sacred"!
The first theme was, of course, the best. Then came the second, with the bossa nova beat that was popular at the time. The other two aren't even worth mentioning.
The second is clearly the best and the one most associated with the show.. That's why the revisited it for the most part in the 4th season when they were trying to get the series back on track.
I think the second theme is when it becomes the recognisable tune that we all know. And is my favourite although the first one is the most exciting! And doesn't Rip Torn look young?
Closest you can get is an episode of "The 'A' Team (season 5, episode 6) entitled "The Say U.N.C.L.E. Affair. It featured both Robert Vaughn (in a recurring role as General Hunt Stockwell) and David McCallum (as the bad guy of the week). General Stockwell even answered the phone on his plane with "Open Channel D". The episode was obviously done largely as paying homage to U.N.C.L.E.
Ya just gotta love UNCLE's security protocols. You have two enemy agents set off the security alarm & the agent/guard sitting behind the desk hops up out of his chair with no weapon & attempts to tackle these guys all by himself.What could go wrong?
The best of these by far is the first. The flute in the second somewhat compensates for the loss of the 5/4 from the first, but the other two have nothing to recommend them at all. (The only EPISODES worth watching are first-season episodes, but these tend to be quite well written. It's a shame the show had to deteriorate so rapidly.)
+Herbert Wells What's interesting is watching the progression in the opening styles, which is reflective of how fast culture changed in the 60s in a very few years. By the last season, when the anti-war movement was starting to hit its stride, traditional Cold-War spying was becoming very uncool.
I always thought that the first season opening would have been way cooler if after the enemy fired at the bullet-proof glass protecting Napoleon Solo, Agent Solo would just fire back with a weapon of such force and velocity it would break through the glass, neutralizing his enemy. The subsequent scene where he runs from behind a wall always seemed hokey to me.
Some of the Coolest theme music on TV back then during the 60's. As a kid I use to make sure I was In front of the TV Friday night to Watch Napoleon and Illya take down Thrush! Those were my favorite years of television.
Robert Vaughn aka Napoleon Solo was a brilliant actor. Just lost him recently, and he was the LAST surviving actor from the main cast of the original Magnificent Seven, (1960) who ironically dies in the movie, but out lasted Steve McQueen, Yul Brenner, James Coburn, Brad Dexter, Charles Bronson, and Horst Buchholz in real life. Even the Mexican bandito leader, Eli Wallach is gone.
Dig the clunky WWII military shoulder holsters on the personnel who run out into the corridor! No high-cost custom holsters for those guy's U.N.C.L.E. P-38s!
Updating my previous comment, I now know the four season-opening episode titles, which are as follows: Season 1: The Vulcan Affair Season 2: Alexander the Greater Affair (the first two-parter) Season 3: The Her Master's Voice Affair Season 4: The Summit Five Affair
2nd season's theme is my favourite. 3rd season sounds like they just added a bunch of stuff and made it all too congested, but fixed it for 4th season. I way prefer the main melody with the subdued flute (2nd season). Much more mysterious.
The Original Title For The Girl From U . N . C . L . E . Was The Girl From A . U . N . T . I . E . The Acronym For Associated Unified Nations Taskforce for International Enforcement .
I watched all these great shows in the 60's. Today TV sucks big time. Why not have an oldies station with Rogers cable? I just play the old stuff on my smart TV when TV night sucks today.
How ironic that William Marshall guest starred in this episode called "The Vulcan Affair " only to guest star a few years later as Dr. Richard Daystrom creater of the M5 Multitronic computer on "Star Trek". I think the production team had fun with that. I was young lad at the time and this was my favorite show and without a doubt Jerry Goldsmith's first year version was the best theme song. I was so captivated with Television then, I ended in the same industry producing shows for 35 years. Where has the time gone. To quote Dr. Daystrom " M5, You are Great, I am Great " they were all great actors in the 60's
I was a big fan of The Man From Uncle back in the 1960's. I had a big crush on David McCullum in 1966 when I was 12 years old. You know he still looks good after all these years. I had watched NCIS a couple of times when I had read that he was going to be on the show. I also read on the internet that a new Man From Uncle movie is coming out in 2015. I can't wait to see it.
I am so glad to have grown up in the 1960's. Such great shows.
Next Year will the 60th Anniversary of the Iconic Series. Happy Birthday 🥳🎉🎉🎉🎉
I like the second Man from U.N.C.L.E. opening theme music with the electric guitar, flute and bongo drums. It's so "1960's-ish!"
Yes. My favorite also. It has such a cool feel to it. Less is more.
I don't think you can beat the original theme tune, such style and class
The style and the class also reflected that during its first seasons, "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." (the letters stood for "United Network Command for Law and Enforcement," which was "thanked" at the end of each installment "without whom (those installments) would not have been possible") had not degenerated into self-parody and were still being written to take themselves seriously.
F. Robert Vaughn's Napoleon Solo was a former U. S. Army G-2 officer from the Korean War era, for crying out loud!
And David McCallum's Illya Nicolaevich (NOT "Nickovetch;" that's NOT how Russian patronymic middle names are written) Kuryakin was the son and, I believe, only child of two former anti-Soviet Mensheviki ("Minorityites") who had fled with their infant son to Scotland (McCallum's actual birthplace) to escape Stalinism in the Russias, and he was reared there.
Pure Goldsmith.
I love the first season theme best---love them horns! R.I.P., Robert Vaughn, Fritz Weaver, William Marshall and Leo G. Carroll.
Theme music by Jerry Goldsmith.
And now David McCallum gone in October 2023.
Robert Vaughn was a class act, my earliest childhood hero.
We won't see his likes again. RIP
Robert Vaughn will ALWAYS and FOREVER be known as The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
God Bless You Mr. Vaughn, R.I.P. Mr. Solo
rob I so agree, as a kid I thought he was the esscence of cool. then came james west in the wild wild west, two of my favorite childhood men I wanted to grow up to be it's a shame there is no one like that on television anymore. feel bad, kids are being cheated.
@@josephagnello4795 Robert was suave as Napoleon , but David McCallum was the classy, cute man. Still is.
No way Illya was cool without trying to be. He is a Brit thats why.... Lol
🇬🇧🇺🇸
@@steffanhoffmann8937 He is a Brit but first and foremost he is a Scot.
I get goosebumps listening to the first season theme, perfectly segged to from the first scene. Classic.
The Man From U . N . C . L . E . The Acronym For United Network Command for Law and Enforcement . The Original Title For The Show Was Ian Fleming's Solo .
The Girl From U . N . C . L . E . The Original Title Was The Girl From A . U . N . T . I . E . The Acronym For Associated Unified Nations Taskforce for International Enforcement .
Robert Vaughn who appeared as Napoleon Solo died on November 11 2016 after a battle with acute leukemia. He was 83.Man from U.N.C.L.E was a popular TV series in the 60s.May he rest in peace.
Robert Vaughn (always an activist!) couldn't tolerate [the prospect of] life under Trump!
Think about that for a moment... he died on 11/11 and his badge number, chosen by himself, was...????
@@joelholmes1260
That's because agent Napolean Solo has hella much more intell literally, than this present corrupted, worldly stupid & morally shit stained reality show buffoon, that's literally destroying this nations gov't to shreds imo. And btw, do you remember the mid 60's political events show called "Firing Line" hosted by conservative leaning William F Buckley???. Well then if not watch the YT interview with him & Robert Vaughn & notice how smoothly Vaughn had intellectually swept the dusty floor with Buckley as the somewhat pompous & highly dismayed & stunned broom. Uc Robert Vaughn trully had good INTELLIGENCE to debate with him on then global current events matter's on that memorable night telecast imo.
@@joelholmes1260 Big deal. No big concern for David I suppose.
@@x-1584 No wonder I prefer David. He's much kinder and more private. He's lasted longer on a tv series ("NCIS") than Robert did.
Robert Vaughn. One of the original Magnificent Seven. The character that he played in that movie was so honest, so vulnerable.
Something You Said the best..I was around ten, when this program was on..I could hardly wait..!
The episode you folks REALLY want to see is "The Project Strigas Affair". This episode marks the epic first pairing of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy on TV before Star Trek. It also features a pre-Hogan's Heroes Werner Klemperer! An episode of treasures!😁
Wasn't there an episode of THE OUTER LIMITS entitled COLD HANDS-WARM HEART that also featured them, with Shatner as an astronaut, and Nimoy as a scientist for the space agency that supervised the interdtellar
. .....interstellar voyage to Venus
@@nealbradleigh5069
Nimoy was in a few Outer Limits episodes. I, Robot was a really good one. He played the reporter.
Sherman I've seen Nimoy in a 50s movie (may have been titled KID GALAHAD) and portraying a notorious gunslinger in an ancient syndicated western series called 26 MEN.
Like Vaughn, Nimoy's roles sometimes included handguns. You can see how accutely the gun reports affect Vaughn. I think the constant exposure to the handgun reports took its toll on Nimoy's hearing, as well!
@@liman42 An Asimov classic. The production company did a great job with these episodes, giving the new company for the revival series a very high standard to meet, or beat
Season two with the bongos and flute was just about perfect.
The second season MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. theme was always my favorite of the 4.
I'm trying to recall why there were budget constraints, which trickled down to costs for incidental music.
Jerry Goldsmith was out, and Lalo.Shiffrin came on board.
The original was always my favorite. More mysterious than the other jazzed up versions.
We had a record of themes and TV music from this show, Star Trek, JB movies (the cover photo was of Sean Connery in Goldfinger behind the bullet riddled windshield of the DB5). I've been looking for it all over but can't seem to find it or anyone that remembers that record. It had Nichelle Nicole's "Beyond Antares" on it. Loved that record.
Yes. The bongos edge it.
I realize Im pretty randomly asking but does anyone know a good website to stream newly released movies online ?
@Ares Coleman flixportal :D
As a teenager in the 60's this show was a must see every week... the British introduced James Bond and the audiences went wild... we Americans introduced Robert Vaughn and he took off.. every kid in school was talking about the show the next day... and don't forget "Get Smart" with Don Adams which was a comedy... also I think TV stinks today compared to what we had.. basically 3 main networks that had new shows every season..
David McCallum was just as popular, if not more popular. Everyone loved Illya Kuryakin, and having a Russian character that was so popular and a hero on American TV at the height of the Cold War was something quite groundbreaking for American television at that time.
@@PerthTowne Vaughn was "The Star," but blonde, Beatle-cut Illya,was the real breakout character (such as the secondary TV series characters like "Spock" and "Fonzie" after him).
@@lads.7715 Absolutely!
I won't differentiate between Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, as both characters made a great pairing here for this weekly acting scene.
I'm not the afficianato on the changes every season, as I gave up TV entirely when I discovered astronomy as a 13 or 14-year-old buying my first telescope in 1967.
Who would have known that I'd become a background extra actor in TV and movies for the past 20 years, but I still do not watch television today nor even go to movie theaters for many years.
What I also really liked about the Man from U.N.CL.E. program was the intro music and I noticed they play about four different versions here - it's the second version starting a two minutes on the time bar that was my favorite; the flute as the lead instrument and the bongo drums just sounded so much more sophisticated.
The opening sequence to this program and some others in that era, say, The Avengers from England, and the James Bond films opening music, and a few other of these special secret agent investigative programs, say Mission Impossible, is where we probably first discovered Jazz music as kids, as we were otherwise only listening to the Beatles music then.
ruclips.net/video/3_NytrnoI_Q/видео.html
@@MarkSeibold
The first MFU theme has always been my favorite. I've been into jazz since I heard the Modern Jazz Quartet on some show my mother had on while she was making dinner. I was like 6 years old. I remember it vividly being riveted to the tube while they played. (On Merv Griffin, maybe?) Been a jazz fan ever since. The big brass in a minor key always gets me going. Mysterioso!
What is amazing is that the arrangement of the theme changed each season. Absolutely unthinkable now.
The best film serial .forever .yes sir.😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
Rest in peace, David McCallum (1933-2023).
The first season theme was by far the best. Those that came after just tried to jazz-up the original and added nothing. The first season was also the best because it was in B&W, and this added something -- a kind of starkness, I don't know what. I really love that shot of the infilitrator shooting at Solo behind a bullet-proof glass. For its day the show was really bleeding edge stuff -- especially for a kid like myself. I really wanted to hear the theme repeated somewhere in the movie -- maybe buried in the credits, but it's just not there. I also wanted to see some representation of the U.N.C.L.E. logo, and that's nowhere to be seen. It's not until the very last scene of the movie that you are given to realize that everything you've witnessed beforehand is just a precursor to the invention of the United Network Command for Law Enforcement.
Executive Decision -- I disagree with you. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was best in its first season and in b&W -- the same for The Wild, Wild West. The theme music for U.N.C.L.E. was unarguably better at its first outing. Most shows at the time didn't know what the hell they were producing and were probably shocked that they lasted more than one season. Color was a gimmick to sell color television sets, and it did nothing to enhance the quality of most television programs that hardly imagined they might become an actual series.
Executive Decision -- The technology for color may have dated back quite a few years but most people still had b&w TV sets and were rather slow to make the transition to buy a new set. This is where I see the "gimmick." It's like the unfortunate marriage between software and hardware in computers. If you want better quality/resolution/speed to keep up with evolving software, at some point you break down and buy a new PC. You may have been happy with your old PC but ultimately you want to experience the best performance and output as possible. One side forces you to go out and buy new hardware. Sometimes it's not even a choice. Microsoft has more than once said it will stop supporting previous OS systems, and this means that the programs running on this system will become dated, or even unusable.
We see the same thing happening with wide-screen TVs. The resolution keeps improving, so if you want the best picture and sound, you have to consider whether what you have is sufficient.
But, this is all really an entirely different argument because this particular video is just about the various themes from U.N.C.L.E. that changed season to season. If you listen to them one after the other, I think each new iteration was worse than the original.
Executive Decision -- You remember a lot more from the series than myself. I'd have to buy the whole DVD set to become re-acquainted with all the particulars. I was an avid follower and felt crestfallen when the series was cancelled. But, maybe it's just as well. I sometimes wonder if some of these old shows would be considered classics if they went on for ten-twelve seasons. It's not impossible. You look at shows like "Bonanza" or "Gunsmoke," and they just went on and on. But, what if "Star Trek" went on for ten seasons? Yet, even today you can find a series like "Lost" that collects a following, and people keep tuning in no matter how convoluted the plot may become. I think the great thing about shows like U.N.C.L.E. was that they were standalone episodes. They didn't have a soap opera feeling to them. Even programs like "The Fugitive" which had an overhanging theme, each story hung on its own and didn't require anyone to follow a plot line that went on season after season. I've read where the industry wants to create a new "Star Trek" series. That's great, but they should follow the example of some of these earlier shows and make each episode -- just an episode. Mix up the cast, take the stories outside the box of The Enterprise. Then you might have something.
Guy Rickie fucked up the film Is was no more Man from uncle than mork from ork. Man from Uncle was cool hip slick which the movie wasnt it sucked
Executive Decision
They dont want to be associated with it. Its rubbish as its mortifyingly boring. It has no connection with the Man from uncle as we know it You can watch it on putlocker .is
I feel that first and second season are almost a tie in the fact that they are different yet both are highly effective.
First theme absolutely the best. Martial drumbeat rolling with those jazzy horns. A sense of clarity and resolve like, hey the Thrush b. s. stops here, and the Men From UNCLE have our backs. Sadly, such defenders are MIA in America 2021.
I agree that the original theme was the best. The second was pretty cool, too; jazzed it up a little. Didn't care so much for the third & fourth; went a bit overboard.
Yes, we could use such a force with agents from both sides, who can set aside their differences, and unite for the good of all mankind.
A bit late, but RIP, Mr.Solo.
I got the chance to meet Robert Vaughn while he was shooting a movie at my moms work, he was a very nice man and lived in my home state of Connecticut. I told him that this along with mission impossible and James Bond made me want to be a secret agent
Just loved those modded P-38 silenced automatics that they used to carry. Now those rare toy vrs of the uncle & thrush auto pistols & rifles are priceless on EBay, & i had a man from uncle modified pistol kit as a kid back in the day too, that I wished I had as a collector's piece now.
My best friend and I gave each other those Kits for Xmas!
@@MeanGeneSanDiego
How much did they cost ya nowadays.? Uc back in the 60's my dad paid under 10 dollars ea for me & my brother I'm certain. He had the thrush rifle & that man from uncle pistol model i had was all black with no safety orange on the barrel & with a short flash suppressor on the P-38 That included a functional target pistol scope, a silenced barrel extension, a extendable handle stock with included, the yellow man from uncle badge just like on TV. And from what i remember is that depending on the toy co that made them, some looked more realistic than the other. Btw mine fired low output powered blanks, thats prohibited nowadays in gun toys depending on the state your living in.
@@x-1584 Bought them back then! Probably under 5 bucks, I imagine.
YOU can go online and find and buy your dream ordnance. There are at least two companies that sell re9licas of the WALTHER (not the Mauser) as well as the holster, badge etc.
Years ago, I interviewed one of the armorers for MGM, and he explained the origin of the carbine design, their issues with the Mauser (which got scrapped) the logic behind the selection of the Walther.
The production company also had a bit of a snit with ATF, since they violated federal laws, in modifying the pistol barrels.
I had the Man From uncle gun back in 1966. Would be worth a fortune today.
That was so fun, thanks! I like loved this show as a little boy.
They don't make shows like this anymore
REST IN PEACE ROBERT VAUGHN , I loved this show and him. Sad news!
Same here, The Man From Uncle was an iconic series indeed!
The middle theme where they are in color is THEE Man from UNCLE theme. Loved the show. Was a kid in Halloween costume contest and I was a pitiful Indian with no chance of winning. I kept asking my Dad what time it was. I wanted to be home by 10:00 because Napoleon Solo was strapped to a cement slab with a razor sharp pendulum swinging back and forth ready to cut him in have. And Iliya Kuriaken was trapped and about to be drowned. Britain may have had James Bond, but we certainly had the very cool Men from Uncle. The music is the second best spy theme (the middle version) after The James Bond theme, followed by the Mission Impossible theme. The movie version should have included the theme music. The best theme music is still The Peter Gunn Theme. But he's a detective. Robert Vaughn was a great actor. As was David McCallum. He was great on NCIS,
I favor then 1st & 2nd season themes the best.!.great show thought, I loved watching as a kid.!.
Thanks for making it easy to compare these themes. All were good but the first season was by far the best. They never re-ran the b\w episodes so it only appeared as the theme to To Trap A Spy. The longer film themes were also great.
Sometimes black and white photography is surprising in what it can achieve. The U.N.C.L.E. headquarters set was really cheap, but the B&W filming in that opening sequence makes it look 'edgy' and high tech.
As a kid watching in England, he always seemed the epitome of America.
Composed by the late great Jerry Goldsmith, perhaps the best soundtrack composer ever.
As a trumpet, french horn, and baritone horn player the I love the Goldsmith version best. The trumpet trill is so difficult to do. My lips were never strong enough to do it. The theme is symphonic cool!😉
He can't hold a candle to Henry Mancini.
@@tonylauria8496 Mancini was great, but Goldsmith carved out some memorable music as a film and TV composer.
Ahh, you posted the opening to the all-time-best "U.N.C.L.E." episode ever: "The Alexander The Greater Affair," with Rip Torn as the "guest villain." I recall M-G-M spliced together parts I & II, coupled it a feature-length spy film to make a "Double Feature." Most of the guest villains, Rip Torn, Lloyd Bochner and the great Fritz Weaver all played the identical suave-but-deadly antagonist. Does anyone remember "The Girl From U.N.C.L.E."? :)
When I was a Kid use to think the Man from Uncle was the coolest show with the coolest music on Friday nights
Join your fellow UNCLE fans over at the "The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - Inner Circle" Facebook group for fun and discussions about all things U.N.C.L.E. facebook.com/groups/369560823208688/
At 3:27, the controls are from the Time Tunnel. Obviously 20th Century Fox sold them to MGM after Time Tunnel's cancellation. You can even see some of these controls on Lost in Space.
Good catch!
My fave is the scene with Napolean Solo looking smug behind the bullet-proof glass!
In 1965 my parents considered me too young to go to movies like "Thunderball" and "Goldfinger". But they allowed me to watch this. You whipper-snappers have no idea how cool this was. I even had the toy UNCLE gun and could run around my Alexandria, VA neighborhood with it without SWAT getting called.
John Reece I had the UNCLE badge, suitcase and pen
My parents didn't have two nickels to rub together so I had to make my own props. We did alright though.
I belonged to the club. I had the decoder ring etc.
Lonnie Cavenee We liked to pretend that an ordinary pen was a communicator. The fun was in our imaginations. I wonder if anyone in the world joined up with a spy organization because of this show. :)
I've read that a few fans did join the CIA.
WOW ! I never knew when Rip Torn was younger that he had a similar appearance to Daniel Day Lewis .
Sorry To Hear About Robert Vaughns Passing At The Age Of 83.God Rest His Soul.
Watching now 2023
Quite simply the coolest show ever.
Agreed!
And the best theme tune ever. Still get chills after all these years...
Was one of The Best Spy shows at the times. I was sorry to see it go.
The second season theme is my favorite. We only got to see it in living black and white.
４シーズン分の各OPタイトル集、ワクワクしますね。
再放送ではカットされていたので、本放送以来約５０年振りの視聴。
投稿ありがとう。
???
Why, yes! (I think...)
I’m 64 years old and a big UNCLE fan from day one when I was a kid. I personally prefer the first, original theme as it’s the first I ever saw & heard so it clicks with me. (The same applies re Dr Who - because I was around for the pilot in 1963, Hartnell, for me, will always be the ‘real Dr Who, even though I’ve loved many (not all 😂) of the others.)
I also preferred the first season of UNCLE when it was a ‘serious’ spy adventure before it went on to try to emulate the camp humour of the kind found in the BATMAN series of the time.
BATMAN was and is great fun to watch, but TMFU should’ve stayed a ‘serious’ spy adventure in my humble view. I know from watching Robert Vaughn interviews that he felt the same.
The best program..I was about 7 , could hardly wait for it to come on!!
The first season theme song is my favorite. I remember that when I was a little boy in the 1960's.
こんなテーマソングなら、虜になってしまう、って、子供の頃、毎週楽しみにしてました。
MANNNN what a true CLASSIC...it befuddles me why this wasn't syndicated right up until the present day!
It aired in reruns on Cable TV on CBN and later TNT before Turner South, GoodLife TV and Me-TV
Crazy!! Groovy!! Sophisticated jam!!!
This is so cool! Thank you for posting it! I love all four opening themes.
Many things changed the music changed, their clothes changed in that Napoleon started wearing different colored suits!!! But one thing stayed the same. The really cool Man From UNCLE Logo stayed the same. Thank God at least some things are still "sacred"!
The second one, with the bongos was my favorite.
The first theme was, of course, the best. Then came the second, with the bossa nova beat that was popular at the time. The other two aren't even worth mentioning.
The second is clearly the best and the one most associated with the show.. That's why the revisited it for the most part in the 4th season when they were trying to get the series back on track.
I agree with you.
Now I want to watch The Vulcan Affair! Thanks.
And to think neither the theme music nor the uber-cool iconography featured in the logo will appear in the movie..which I've a hunch is gonna suck!
+Raul Martinez naa the movie is actually very cool, but the iconography was missing, shame eh?
What move he he I don't think soo
I think the second theme is when it becomes the recognisable tune that we all know. And is my favourite although the first one is the most exciting! And doesn't Rip Torn look young?
How I wish NCIS had done an episode where David McCallum and Robert Vaughn had stared together.
Closest you can get is an episode of "The 'A' Team (season 5, episode 6) entitled "The Say U.N.C.L.E. Affair. It featured both Robert Vaughn (in a recurring role as General Hunt Stockwell) and David McCallum (as the bad guy of the week). General Stockwell even answered the phone on his plane with "Open Channel D". The episode was obviously done largely as paying homage to U.N.C.L.E.
@@philbarker4607 I will definitely have to look that one up. Thanks
Great idea. Too bad it didn’t happen.
@@suziecreamcheese211 I love your user name.💚 Reminds me of the old Frank Zappa song.
Ya just gotta love UNCLE's security protocols. You have two enemy agents set off the security alarm & the agent/guard sitting behind the desk hops up out of his chair with no weapon & attempts to tackle these guys all by himself.What could go wrong?
😆😆😆
The best of these by far is the first. The flute in the second somewhat compensates for the loss of the 5/4 from the first, but the other two have nothing to recommend them at all. (The only EPISODES worth watching are first-season episodes, but these tend to be quite well written. It's a shame the show had to deteriorate so rapidly.)
+Herbert Wells What's interesting is watching the progression in the opening styles, which is reflective of how fast culture changed in the 60s in a very few years. By the last season, when the anti-war movement was starting to hit its stride, traditional Cold-War spying was becoming very uncool.
Thanks for this. I always loved this show (and Girl), and the music.
The second theme is my favorite !
diasirea - ian fleming did have a very small role in the development of this show. and he did suggest the same "solo" for one of the characters.
David McCallum was great looking in the last season.
I always thought that the first season opening would have been way cooler if after the enemy fired at the bullet-proof glass protecting Napoleon Solo, Agent Solo would just fire back with a weapon of such force and velocity it would break through the glass, neutralizing his enemy. The subsequent scene where he runs from behind a wall always seemed hokey to me.
Some of the Coolest theme music on TV back then during the 60's. As a kid I use to make sure I was In front of the TV Friday night to Watch Napoleon and Illya take down Thrush! Those were my favorite years of television.
Agree.Season 3 opening was best,in my opinion
Loved this show! Different times!
Robert Vaughn aka Napoleon Solo was a brilliant actor. Just lost him recently, and he was the LAST surviving actor from the main cast of the original Magnificent Seven, (1960) who ironically dies in the movie, but out lasted Steve McQueen, Yul Brenner, James Coburn, Brad Dexter, Charles Bronson, and Horst Buchholz in real life. Even the Mexican bandito leader, Eli Wallach is gone.
One of the better show themes out there
Great TV Show. I wouldn't miss one.
Rest in peace Sir God love you we did.
Dig the clunky WWII military shoulder holsters on the personnel who run out into the corridor! No high-cost custom holsters for those guy's U.N.C.L.E. P-38s!
Lalo Schifrin FTW - second version is far and away the best - cool and fresh, full of soul
And let's not forget T.H.E. Cat, also by Lalo. That show had more music than dialogue. Where's the soundtrack?
RIP Dr Robert Vaughn
The Man from UNCLE, the original "men in black"!
Updating my previous comment, I now know the four season-opening episode titles, which are as follows:
Season 1: The Vulcan Affair
Season 2: Alexander the Greater Affair (the first two-parter)
Season 3: The Her Master's Voice Affair
Season 4: The Summit Five Affair
R.I.P. Mr. Solo
That's Agent Napoleon Solo!
Yes, the theme for the first is definitely the best.
I think season 2 has the most swingin' intro.
Love this show
I have no idea what they were thinking, going from such a great season 1 theme to the garbage reworkings of it in later seasons.
the days the days, the good days.
Loved this show !
I still do !!
My single fave episode and beginning.
2nd season's theme is my favourite. 3rd season sounds like they just added a bunch of stuff and made it all too congested, but fixed it for 4th season. I way prefer the main melody with the subdued flute (2nd season). Much more mysterious.
In 1966, Dave Grusin rerecorded a version from The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.
The Original Title For The Girl From
U . N . C . L . E . Was The Girl From
A . U . N . T . I . E . The Acronym For Associated Unified Nations Taskforce for International Enforcement .
they repeat everything on tv no matter were you live but things like that are gone forever So sad
The Seventies version (only used once - for the reunion TVM, The Fifteen-Years-After Affair) was pretty fair too. I have it up somewhere...
I watched all these great shows in the 60's. Today TV sucks big time. Why not have an oldies station with Rogers cable? I just play the old stuff on my smart TV when TV night sucks today.
How ironic that William Marshall guest starred in this episode called "The Vulcan Affair " only to guest star a few years later as Dr. Richard Daystrom creater of the M5 Multitronic computer on "Star Trek". I think the production team had fun with that. I was young lad at the time and this was my favorite show and without a doubt Jerry Goldsmith's first year version was the best theme song. I was so captivated with Television then, I ended in the same industry producing shows for 35 years. Where has the time gone. To quote Dr. Daystrom " M5, You are Great, I am Great " they were all great actors in the 60's
I identify most with the second 'cool' version. EVERYBODY wanted to be a 'secret agent', such was the power of TV!
I was a big fan of The Man From Uncle back in the 1960's. I had a big crush on
David McCullum in 1966 when I was 12 years old. You know he still looks good after all these years. I had watched NCIS a couple of times when I had read that he was going to be on the show. I also read on the internet that a new Man From Uncle movie is coming out in 2015. I can't wait to see it.
The U.N.C.L.E. film looks like it's gonna be a whole lot of fun! The 60's are still swinging! ;-D
Wasn't David actually a British actor playing a Russian on this series?
My new ringtone..... Still waiting for the call from Mr Waverly.....
the man from uncle, voyage to the bottom of the sea, and star trek the best sounding 60s tv themes
Nice upload mate. takes me back to when I was 5. Happy days.....
this a great edit! I still like the original the best especially the later opening...
Terrific post overalll...thanks for putting it together
I grew up with the man from, U.N.C.L.E. love this music.
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Cool then, cool now!
Class act !
2: 24 : at that time Mr, Torn had no idea that in the future he would play the leader in "Men in Black".
Or my favorite show with Rip Torn in it, The Larry Sanders Show. He was great!