Guess I should weigh in here, too.
I certainly agree with Mona that our Mr. Culp was looking mighty fine in that 1st COSBY reunion
"The Bald and the Beautiful" (and so did Dr. Huxtable, there). I think it was the first time we saw Bob sporting that great "Silver Fox" look. Loved the homage to "Scott Kelly"! - and it was certainly great seeing our guys "playing" together again ....
But, I have to say that I really liked the 2nd COSBY reunion more - the
"My Spy" episode. This is the one where "Lucas Hilton" falls asleep on the couch while watching an I SPY Marathon on TV and dreams he is Alexander Scott. Oh, it was a bit over-the-top campy at times, but you could
see it was all done with lots of love and admiration! And there were definitely hands involved here who
truly knew their I SPY .... you had the locked room, Scotty's always masterful escape plan, the poor murdered puppet on the little stage, the femme fatales (and one named Tatia, no less!) ... all those delicious touches served up just for the true I SPY fan (and I think we can count Messrs. Culp and Cosby at the top of that list). This "reunion" get-together was endearing, light-hearted, delightful, and totally charming - and it certainly brought a big smile to my face!
In balance to that,
"Hickey & Boggs" is a classic film noir - so well done! I thought both Culp and Cosby put in truly excellent performances - and Culp's directing was smooth and done with finesse. This movie can stand right up there with Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade - and hold its own. Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, these dark, worn, intense characters and their dark tale were not what the matinee movie goers in Topeka wanted to see, when they were expecting Scotty & Kelly up there together again.
I don't know how the movie was promoted at the time of its release ... and if the Culp & Cosby "reunion" aspect was the main draw in its advertising. But when viewing
"Hickey & Boggs" now, after all these years, the artistic quality of the movie stands out clearly - the dark, deep depths of men's souls is an intriguing subject when done right - and it was done right here - a very well made film, and yes, a very dark film, also.
And that brings us to
"I Spy Returns"... again, it's always great seeing our guys together again, but this one ranks at the bottom of the list - starting with that dreadful synthesized music. Many of us have read about the machinations going on behind-the-scenes with this production - regarding the script, the writer, the villain, the music - it's sort of amazing that it ever got made. Just the premise that Kelly Robinson would have become a high-ranking office dweller in the agency was ludicrous ... never! - or - that Scott and Kelly had not seen each other in over 25 years, just exchanging Christmas cards ... come now, never!! The whole movie smacked strongly of "pilot" to me with the kids eventually taking over the franchise - Salli Richardson was fine, but "Bennett," Kelly's son, came off far too bland.
But on the bright side, I read the script for this thing - and the finished project was so much better than what was originally written. (You can find it at places like scriptcity.com - it is titled "I SPY - The Comeback Kid" - that is, "if" you really want to invest your hard-earned dollars on this thing? ... ) Lots of re-writing or ad-libbing was liberally added, that brought the script up many notches before it hit the airwaves. The
"tied-up without any clothes in the locked room scene" - originally had this long dialogue session about how they each should have had the other's child - all set in "tennis" terms. It was dreadful! - The scene that was eventually shot was one of the best in movie - and played up the relationship of the two men and how they parted. Culp and Cosby were certainly involved in those changes! And there really were some very nice moments between our two guys, but sadly it wasn't enough to save this thing.
O.K. let's hear from some more of you ... we are trying to have a discussion here -
come on in !!!
As always,
Tatia
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