"Get Smart" A Man Called Smart: Part 1 (1967)

User Rating:

8.4/10   

Director:

Earl Bellamy

Writers:

Leonard Stern (written by) and
Mel Brooks (creator)

TV Series:

"Get Smart" (1965)

Original Air Date:

8 April 1967 (Season 2, Episode 28)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Mystery

Plot:

KAOS threatens the USA to dry up its entire water supply. CONTROL is temporarily taken over by its original chief Admiral Hardgrade. |

Plot Keywords:

Agent | Secret Agent | Gadget | Shoe | Secret Plan

Cast

Don Adams	...	Maxwell Smart
Barbara Feldon	...	Agent 99
Edward Platt	...	Chief
Howard Caine	...	Bediyoskin / Dr. Smith
John Myhers	...	Otto Hurrah
Warde Donovan	...	Hotel Doctor (as Ward Donovan)
Barry O'Hara	...	Drunk
Marc London	...	Ashkenazi
Frank Jamus	...	Crilleader
Neil Elliot	...	Bellboy
Grant Sewell	...	KAOS Announcer (as Grant Sewall)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
William Schallert	...	Admiral Hargrade

Runtime:

Argentina:30 min

Certification:

Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Trivia:

This three-part episode was originally written as a script for a feature-length "Get Smart" movie for theatrical release, but Paramount decided against that in the wake of only fair box office returns for Munster, Go Home! (1966), Batman (1966), and McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force (1965).

Quotes:

Hotel Doctor: Is this the patient?
Chief: Yes he is.
Maxwell Smart: He's been shot.
Hotel Doctor: I'm a doctor, I'll make the diagnosis.

Get Smart: The Movie

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Apparently this three part episode was supposed to be the script for the "Get Smart" movie. But I guess with the "Batman", "McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force" and "Munsters Go Home" movies not doing as well as expected, I guess they must have dumped the movie plans and turned Leonard Stern's excellent script into three episodes. That is too bad, only because there are some excellent jokes in this three parter and it would have been a much better movie than either "The Nude Bomb" or "Get Smart Again!".

The opening is a funny action sequence with Max chasing a KAOS agent on a rooftop using a "Inspector Gadjet" kind of briefcase that has ladders, parachutes and other useful devices in it. This time KAOS has stolen technology that can dry up large bodies of water. They threaten to dry up every body of water in the US unless they get a billion dollars. They get a break when an informer Bedeyoskin (Howard Caine) offers to give them information needed to stop KAOS for $25,000 (the government has put a new cap on bribe money). There is a brilliant sequence with Max in the hotel waiting for Bedeyoskin where he takes a number of phone calls under different assumed names. Unfortunately the informant is shot before he can give Max the information. To confuse KAOS, Max takes his place in the ambulance which turns out to be driven by two KAOS killers. The episode ends in a cliffhanger with Max flying out of an ambulance tied to a gurney rolling wildly out of control down a city street (actually a joke borrowed from the Jerry Lewis film "The Disorderly Orderly"). This first half is very funny and Howard Caine (Major Hochstetter on "Hogan's Heroes") does a good job playing both Bedeyoskin and his brother, Dr. Smith (Bedeyoskin changed his name when he went into show business).