Mission:Impossible: ``Odds On Evil,'' first aired Oct. 22, 1966 Writers: William Read Woodfield and Allan Balter Director: Charles R. Rondeau Music: Gerald Fried, Theme: Lalo Schifrin Prince Iben Kostas, ruler of a principality which gets its wealth from its casinos, intends to start a war with a small, oil-rich nation. The Impossible Missions Force is assigned to break the Prince and deprive him of the funds he needs to go to war. Does the plot sound familiar? In this, the sixth episode of Mission:Impossible's debut season, there appears to be at least a tip of the hat to Ian Fleming's first novel. This was the first M:I effort by William Read Woodfield and Allan Balter, who would quickly emerge as the premier writers of the early, and most successful, seasons of the show. The story is relatively straight forward (Woodfield and Balter would get trickier in future scripts). The IMF is going to beat the Prince in his own casino. This being Mission: Impossible, however, there has to be gadgets. First up: a 90-pound computer (this is 1966, after all), worn by strongman Willy Armitage (Peter Lupus). The computer can calculate the speed of a roulette ball and figure the winning number in time to place a bet. The information is transmitted to a watch worn by a guest agent, Andre Matif (Nico Minardos); the winning number shows up on his watch, where the date is supposed to be displayed. As it turns out, this is only the preliminary cheat. After Matif has taken about $250,000 or so from the Prince, the action shifts to the baccarat tables. There, Rollin Hand (Martin Landau) appears to clean Matif out and now has a stake that gets the Prince's attention. Rollin proceeds to beat the Prince thanks to some additional gadgets under the table that provide Rollin with the right cards at the right time - quite handy because the Prince plays with marked cards. Eventually, the $1.5 million the Prince is counting on the buy arms (again this is 1966 we're talking about) has been whisked away. Eventually, our heroes make their getaway in a rather crowded, bright red Aston Martin DB5. Besides all that, Nehemiah Persoff as the villainous Prince even resembles John McLusky's rendition of LeChiffre from the James Bond comic strip of the 1950s. Some of this undoubtedly is coincidence. According to The Complete Mission:Impossible Dossier by Patrick J. White, Woodfield and Balter's original outline had a villain named Ben-Jack Turner, ``a millionaire paramilitary hatemonger.'' Nevertheless, this episode makes for interesting viewing for any fan of the 2006 Casino Royale movie. (The first season of Mission:Impossible is now on DVD, with ``Odds On Evil'' appearing on Disk 2 of the seven-disk set.) Copyright ©2007 Bill Koenig

Contact the Author Bill Koenig Return to HMSS Contents BOOKS | FILMS | Q BRANCH | THE OTHER SPIES | THE BOND MARKET FIRST PERSON | LAGNIAPPE | BACK ISSUES | EDITORIAL | HMSS STORE