Mission: Impossible (TV Series) The Mercenaries (1968) User Reviews

Not believable but definitely watchable

[Guad42 · 9/10 · 1 February 2021]

This is one of my favorite episodes just for the intricate plot and the great acting of Pernell Roberts. As others have written, why not just tunnel into the vault and get the gold? Too easy. This is a series that had complicated methods of mission accomplishment. One show depended on a trained cat! Timing is critical and the bad guys have to act as predicted. It works out, as always. Pernell Roberts makes a great banana republic commando who is smart but let's his greed do his thinking for him. The always watchable Skip Homier is there to administer justice at the end. I wonder what his character thought when he found out the gold was not being held at the sentry gate and had vanished. Martin Landau is a great actor who justly won an Oscar later in his career. I think he is underappreciated in this series and there was a drop off when he and then wife Barbara Bain departed. He does well here as a former soldier with a secret. Cinnamon is her usual seductive self. Phelps is the "offended husband" and, as always, Barney and Willie do the dirty work and heavy lifting. Since Cinnamon Carter is shown as the "model of the year" on magazine covers when she is selected for various missions at the beginning of the show, why is it nobody ever recognizes her when she is undercover? A good episode well worth the time.

One of the better episodes.

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 21 June 2015]

Colonel Krim (Pernell Roberts) is not only a mercenary, but he's corrupt and evil...even compared to most mercenaries! So, the plan is to discredit him so that his own soldiers kill this butt-head. To do it, they have Barney create a machine to burrow into the mercenary treasury and melt their gold. They then take the liquefied gold out of the vault and make it into new gold bars. Why would they go to all this trouble? To create a treasure for Krim to steal and hide from his men. However, he doesn't realize he's stealing his army's funds--and when they find out about them, they sure WON'T be pleased and they'll think he knew what he was doing.

This one features a lot of gadgetry and an intricate plot. Fortunately, it also features few of the loose ends or conundrums that sometimes mar these episodes--well, aside from the impossible to construct gold-melting machine! Well done and worth seeing.

Lite spoiler, keeping the drama alive!

[smartalan · 8/10 · 24 December 2007]

Familiar cast, some in early roles. Pernell Roberts seemed to be an expert in roles where he looked like Fidel Castro and played the part in a similar vein as to how we Americans view him. The best part of this story comes at the end where you can compare the difference between corruptible and non corruptible. A bit of blood in this one, but of the non offensive variety. The crux of the episode is the IMF trying to steal a large amount of Gold Bullion from a military man out to take over his country by force. If they can get the gold, they can possibly stop a revolution as the rebels will now not ave their financing. The key line is when Phelps refers to the gold as "your gold" to the General but is corrected by the number 2 man who says that "the gold belongs to all of the soldiers and not one man". Points are removed purely because the ending is telegraphed.

This episode officially made this my new favorite comedy of the 60s.

[winepoured · 8/10 · 18 November 2018]

My wife and I recently started watching this old series that we both vaguely remember from back in the day. I remembered watching this show as a young lad and thinking at that time how cool it was. Now, after getting through several years of shows, I must admit that it probably seemed very "cutting edge" with all the clever gadgetry used to foil the "bad guys". Half the time I think - that was clever - and the other times I laugh out loud at how ludicrous some of the methods they used was. This episode just about topped them all so far. My wife and I both laughed at the crazy method they used to get the gold out of the vault. OMG! The basic theme of most episodes is - how can we accomplish something in the most insane way possible - when a MUCH easier and obvious way would have worked just as well. Spoiler alert at this point. After they drilled the hole into the floor of the vault we assumed they would simply make it large enough to enter it and lower the whole gold bars through the hole - simple. But of course that would be far too obvious and straight-forward. No - let's heat of the chamber to some 2,000 degrees and melt the gold. Problem is, the surrounding structure would surely have burst into flames? Not to mention the intense heat must have seeped into the area below and cooked the two guys underneath. Anyways, I get the need for some NEW way to be used and not shown before. Still I love the show just to see what new over-the-top thing they will come up with next. A mixture of awe and laughs - a great combination.