"The Avengers" Look - (Stop Me If You've Heard This One) But There Were These Two Fellers... (1968)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

James Hill

Writer:

Dennis Spooner (teleplay)

TV Series:

"The Avengers" (1961)

Original Air Date:

8 May 1968 (Season 7, Episode 11)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Gagged And Bound | Retirement Home | Torso Cut In Half | Vaudevillian | Agent

Cast

Patrick Macnee	...	John Steed
Linda Thorson	...	Tara King
Jimmy Jewel	...	Merry Maxie Martin
Julian Chagrin	...	Jennings
Bernard Cribbins	...	Bradley Mahler
John Cleese	...	Marcus Rugman
William Kendall	...	Lord Bessington
John Woodvine	...	Seagrave
Garry Marsh	...	Brigadier Wiltshire
Gaby Vargas	...	Miss Charles
Bill Shine	...	The Honorable Thomas Cleghorn
Richard Young	...	Sir Jeremy Broadfoot
Robert James	...	Merlin
Talfryn Thomas	...	Fiery Frederick
Jay Denyer	...	Tenor (as Jay Denver)

Movie Connections:

Referenced in QI: A Quite Interesting Game (2005) (VG)

Send In The Clowns!

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

A fabulous episode from the pen of Dennis Spooner, creator of 'The Champions' and 'Randall & Hopkirk ( Deceased )'.

Company directors are being ruthlessly eliminated by a pair of clowns, 'Merry Maxie Martin' ( Jimmy Jewel ) and 'Jennings' ( Julian Chagrin ). Each time they murder someone they exit the scene with a merry little dance. Then Maxie leaves a red nose behind, giving Steed and Tara a major clue.

Tara goes to see Marcus Rugman ( John Cleese ), who keeps a record of copyrighted clown make-up, stored in a room of specially-painted eggs. He identifies the nose as belonging to Martin, but then the clowns show up and kill him.

Martin, a one-time music-hall entertainer, is a resident at 'Vauda Villa' - a retirement home for showbiz entertainers. A Punch & Judy man is guiding the actions of the residents, forcing them to commit murder in revenge for all the theatres the corporation has closed. But the mastermind has another, more sinister reason behind his actions - the same corporation is behind 'Project Cupid' - the name of the secret underground base which the British Government will occupy in the event of nuclear war...

As previously mentioned, this story features John Cleese, some months ahead of 'Monty Python's Flying Circus'. He does not get a big role, certainly nothing comparable with 'Frost Report' co-star Ronnie Barker's contribution to 'The Hidden Tiger', but he represents the future of comedy in a story that virtually celebrates its past. The casting of Jimmy Jewel - one half of the double-act Jewel and Warriss - was indeed inspired, and Julian Chagrin's sad-face makes 'Jennings' seem incredibly sinister. Bernard Cribbins has a nice cameo as a gag writer, forever scribbling down jokes, reading them back to himself, and then throwing them away.

When Tracey Emin went on the B.B.C.'s 'Room 101', she chose clowns as one of the things she most wanted to rid the world of, and a clip of this episode was used to illustrate their potential creepiness.

Wonderful Welsh actor Talfryn Thomas ( 'Pte. Cheeseman' in 'Dad's Army' ) is 'Fiery Frederick'. His leering and grimacing as he plans to burn Tara in half is disturbing to behold.

The climax is a fight between Steed, Tara, Martin and Jennings, with the clowns changing costumes at lightning speed to confuse their opponents. You have got to see it to believe it!