In 1885, super Agent James West and Artemus Gordon have been in retirement for years. But villain extraordinare Miguelito Loveless, Jr. has somehow replaced the crowned heads of England, Spain, and Russia with exact duplicates under his control, and President Cleveland could well be next. Pressed back into service, and once again aboard their special private train, West and Gordon set out to stop Miguelito from taking over the world. It won't be easy, for it seems he's managed to develop the atomic bomb, around sixty years ahead of its time. In 1885, after years of retirement, West is called in from his Mexican home, and Gordon is taken off the road as a Shakespearian actor to track down and arrest Dr. Michelito Loveless, Jr. The evil son of their most famous opponent has kidnapped the heads of state of countries from around the world and replaced them with deplicates under his control. West and Gordon must stop him before President Cleveland is replaced, but the job won't be easy as the mad scientist has at his disposal a wide assortment of advanced weapons, ranging from robots to atomic bombs. James West (Robert Conrad) and Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) are brought out of retirement in this engaging, if very campy, TV reunion movie from 1979. West and Gordon battle Miguelito Loveless, Jr. (Paul Williams), who has imprisoned several European heads of state in a dungeon and replaced them with doubles. Loveless also has a nuclear bomb with which he's menacing the world. In an ending reminiscent of the old series, West and Gordon manage to foil Loveless and escape in a most improbable manner.<br/><br/>Fans of the original series will notice a few differences. First, West uses very few of his famous Secret Service gimmicks such as the pistol up his sleeve and the explosives hidden in his boot heel. Second, the dialog and acting are comedic and very broad, almost to the point of ridiculing the characters. Some of the situations presented are pretty ridiculous.<br/><br/>Familiar faces such as Skip Homeier and Harry Morgan appear as Secret Service agents, and the familiar train is of course present. The beautiful Old Tucson filming locations are a big plus as well. Conrad and Martin are good, but the film suffers from its campy approach. It's still enjoyable to see the old duo back in action after 10 years, so if you liked the original series, you'll like this TV movie. I was excited when I first heard about The Wild Wild West Revisted. I loved the original series and enjoyed Conrad's more recent series, Baa Baa Black Sheep. I was all set to see one of my favorite series reborn. I was soon to learn a harsh lesson: you can't recreate the past.<br/><br/>The movie finds Jim and Artie retired, but pressed back into service. Now, one thing they got right was not pretending that Jim and Artie were still young. Unfortunately, they used this to try to mine laughs, rather than drama. We are introduced to Dr. Loveless Jr., played by Paul Williams. It's a nice idea, and Williams tries hard, but it doesn't work (still better than Kenneth Branagh, though). Add 70's TV staples Shields and Yarnell, as steam era cyborgs (in a bad parody of The Six Million Dollar Man) and you have a complete mess.<br/><br/>The elements that made the show great are missing. There are no wild stunts, no clever gadgets or steampunk devices (Shields and Yarnell aside) and it's rather lacking in the bizarre, or at least interesting bizarre. The atomic bomb shtick also ends up to be overly jokey.<br/><br/>Conrad and Martin still had good chemistry, and it's fun to see them, but the material just wasn't there. Fan's would have been better off with a retrospective, or a more straightforward, dramatic script; but, instead, they get one big lame joke.
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295 weeks ago