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I always had
a hard time believing in Roger Moore as
James Bond. There was nothing wrong with
his interpretation of the character, but
I grew up watching Sean Connery, and to
me he will always be Bond. But where the
Bond and Connery are inseparable as far
as I’m concerned, there is another
inseparable pairing that DOES include Roger
Moore. The pairing of Moore and Templar.
Simon Templar that is… “The
Saint.”
The character of “The Saint”
dates back to the 1920’s in the writings
of Leslie Charteris. Simon Templar was a
debonair ladies man, who stayed one step
ahead of the law as he dispensed his own
brand of justice on the bad guys. He ended
up being so popular that books were still
being written about him up through the 1980’s.
In the early days of radio, listeners thrilled
to the exploits of “The Saint”,
performed at the time by the great Vincent
Price. And, in the 1930s and 1940’s,
theatergoers would see George Sanders step
into the role.
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But it wasn’t until 1962, that a suave
young actor by the name of Roger Moore would indelibly
make his mark in the role he was born to play.
From 1962 until 1969, Moore didn’t just
play Simon Templar… he was Simon Templar.
The rather light tongue and cheek way he had with
his performance was perfect match for Templar,
where it didn’t quite sit right (at least
for me) as Bond.
I was too young when the series first aired in
the U.S., but I remember watching it in syndication
years later with my parents. Whenever we knew
it was going to be on, we’d sit in front
of the TV and wait for the all-to-familiar logo
to pop up on the screen. Every episode was a treat,
and what I wouldn’t give for that white
Volvo P1800 he drove around in during the earlier
episodes.
After the series ended, there were a couple of
attempts to bring it back, once in 1979 with Ian
Ogilvy in the role, but it was short-lived. Then
in 1987 a pilot was shot with Andrew Clarke as
Templar, but that was as far as it got. The last
attempt I’m aware of was in 1989, with a
series of six two-hour movies starring Simon Dutton.
These were actually pretty good, but none of them
really recaptured the style of the Moore series.
I won’t mention the 1997 American film starring
Val Kilmer… well I guess I just did. Uhh,
let’s just leave it at that.
“Vendetta for the Saint” was originally
a two part episode that ran during the final season
of the series. Those episodes never aired in the
United States, but were instead repackaged into
a film. Set in Sicily, Templar finds himself on
the trail of a Mafia kingpin following the death
of a British Banker. As Templar probes deeper
into the Mafioso’s business, the hunter
soon becomes the hunted as he becomes the target
of assassins. Of course, ever the devil may care
playboy, Templar can’t help getting involved
with not only the mob boss’s mistress, but
his niece as well.
The plot of “Vendetta for the Saint”
was taken from Charteris’ final novel featuring
the Saint, and it was one of my favorite ‘episodes’
of the series. I found it odd to note that when
the episodes were turned into this film, they
changed up the opening credits a bit, and much
to my consternation, even changed the highly recognizable
theme music! I was shocked to hear it gone. Oh
well, it’s a minor quibble.
On the bright side, this DVD actually contains
a pretty good extra feature in the way of an audio
commentary. I’m not sure when it was recorded,
but it not only features producers Johnny Goodman
and Bob Baker, but the man himself, Roger Moore!
The commentary is moderated by noted author and
producer Marcus Hearn, and he does a great job
keeping the three speakers on track. The entire
commentary is very conversational and relaxed,
but is never boring. There is a lot of droll humor
that permeates some of the comments and it is
a real treat to hear these guys converse.
This new DVD is being released by MPI Home Video,
and quality of the image is much better than I
would have expected considering the age of the
materials. If you’re a fan at all of the
Saint series, “Vendetta for the Saint”
is one of Templar’s best adventures and
well worth picking up.
Directed by: Jim O’Connolly
Starring: Roger Moore, Ian Hendry, Aimi MacDonald,
George Pastell, Finlay Currie
Extras: Audio Commentary by Roger Moore
Studio: MPI Home Video
Release Date: 8/31/2004
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website
We'll give Vendetta for the Saint a B.
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