The Saint (Series 6)

Simon Templar (Roger Moore) returns for a final season, in color!  As usual, Simon encounters someone in trouble in the opening and must teach the villain the error of his, or occasionally her, ways.  One of the most notable things is that it is very dangerous to be a friend of the Saint.  All too often, his friends are murdered and he must set out on a path of vengeance.  Oddly, there are a couple of sci-fi episodes, one with a giant ant and another that involves cryogenics.  This series also had a pair of 2 parters that were converted into movies.

The Fiction-Makers: Simon attends a movie premiere with the leading lady on his arm.  It is an adaptation of an Amos Klein novel.  Klein's agent hopes more novels are adapted but fears for the author.  Would Simon act as bodyguard?  Simon goes to the address and is surprised to discover that Amos is a woman (Sylvia Syms).  It is her nom-de-plume.  Oddly, her real name is never mentioned.  No sooner has Simon arrived than the two of them are abducted.  Waking in an English manor, the kidnappers prove to be a band of men who claim to be characters from Klein's novels, notably members of SWORD, a SPECTRE clone.  They have mistaken Simon for Klein.  They demand that he write the perfect plan for robbing a high-security facility called Hermetica.  Mostly ludicrous but very entertaining.

Vendetta for the Saint: Simon is in Naples, Italy when he witnesses an unusual encounter.  An English tourist greets a man, calling him Dino.  The man, Alessandro Destamio (Ian Hendry) denies being Dino and his gaggle of goons punch the tourist.  Simon intervenes to prevent any further violence.  The man explains to Simon that he and Dino were good friends after the war and knows it was him.  The following morning, Simon discovers that the tourist was murdered.  On his path to avenge the man he barely knew, he learns that Destamio is a mafia boss who has no qualms about bumping off those who meddle in his affairs.  Where The Fiction-Makers was sort of goofy fun, this is a straight thriller.  Better yet, this one was filmed in Malta, giving it a more convincing look than the typical episode.

Among the standard episodes, there was one that was a knock-off of Casino Royale (The Ex-King of Diamonds) that sees Simon join forces with a Texas millionaire named Rod Huston (Stuart Damon).  Damon's Texan accent was laughable, but the character was quite a lot of fun.  It was like a buddy action flick, something that presages Moore's next series, The Persuaders.

The Saint ends its television run on a high note.  Yes, many episodes are rehashes of common storylines.  Perhaps the greatest failure of the series is how badly the Saint fights.  With how many times he has been punched in the face and clubbed over the head, it is amazing that he didn't look more like Quasimodo after 6 years of such punishment.  He never even gets a fat lip or black eye.

Highly recommended.