The Wild Wild West Revisited & More Wild Wild West

Twenty years after the titular Old West-meets-James Bond series left the air, Robert Conrad and Ross Martin reunited as 19th-century secret agents Jim West (the dashing action hero) and Artemus Gordon (master of disguise and creator of gadgets) for a pair of TV movies that are even more tongue-in-cheek than the original series. The Wild Wild West Revisited (1979) lures the two agents out of retirement to take on Dr. Miguelito Loveless, Jr. (Paul Williams)—son of their diminutive former nemesis—who kidnaps leaders of the great powers, replacing them with exact duplicates. Comedy mime team Shields and Yarnell costar as $600 henchmen enhanced by steampunk mechanical limbs. More Wild Wild West (1980) pits the two heroes against a mad genius (Jonathan Winters) who has an invisibility device and a plot to plunge the civilized world into total war by sabotaging peace talks organized by Secretary of State Henry Messenger (Victor Buono, using a Henry Kissinger accent). Dr. Joyce Brothers and Jack LaLanne make jokey cameo appearances and the henchmen are a spoof of The Incredible Hulk. Both films are directed by Burt Kennedy and both costar Harry Morgan as the exasperated head of the secret service, and Rene Auberjonois as a meddling British agent. These lightweight TV movies spoof Westerns, spy movies, and late ‘70s culture with a specificity that works better as nostalgia than as comedy. A strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)