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80. The Spy Business
Synopsis
Kelly and Scotty are trying to keep a defector alive, while evidence suggests that Kelly's old friend, an Army Intelligence agent, is working with the enemy.
[Location: Mexico]
French title: Le métier d'espion
Guest Stars
Dane Clark (Mike Woods), Paul Richards (Chanetsov), George Voskovec (Hasel), William Mims (General L. West), David Frank (Foreign Legation Man), Victor Eberg (Tall Man), Javier Lopez (Janos), Raul Perez Prieto (Thin Man)
Written by
David Friedkin & Morton Fine
Directed by
Christian Nyby
Original Airdate
8 April 1968
Review
Kelly and Scotty join two Army Intelligence agents, one of whom is Kelly's old friend Mike Woods, and who are protecting (and debriefing) an East German defector. The problem is that one of them, apparently, works for the enemy, leaving clues to their whereabouts, so that a team of hitmen can find and kill the defector, Hasel. As it turns out, Hasel is the one leaving the clues -- he finds the spy business great fun, until people start getting killed. One of the casualties is Woods; and the "codebook" that seemed to incriminate him turns out to be notes in his illegible scrawl for a spy novel he planned to write upon retirement.
An entry written by the team of Friedkin and Fine and directed by Nyby -- I SPY veterans all -- could hardly go wrong, and this one doesn't. It's an action-packed spy story blessed with one of the best locations in the history of the series: Janitzio Island in Lake Patzcuaro, Mexico. That Hasel himself turns out to be the one leaving clues that bring the team of hitmen, and doing it because he longs for a little excitement in his otherwise prosaic life, is a nice twist. So is Kelly's willingness to bend the rules and let his friend Mike "walk" once he concludes that Woods is the traitor. Robinson and Scott have always had scruples and have played by their own rules, because the spy business doesn't have any. It's what sets them apart, and makes them better than the rest. All three of the principal guest stars -- Dane Clark (who had previously appeared in "One Thousand Fine"), Paul Richards and George Voskovec are first-rate, while Victor Eberg, as the leader of the team of hitters, is wonderfully menacing.
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Currently available on DVD
(UPC: 14381984125)
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