One Spy Too Many 1966

Alexander, portrayed by Rip Torn, steals a dangerous chemical weapon from a military base. This device can strip an enemy force of its will to fight, making conquest far easier. The weapon serves Alexander’s twofold aim: to wage a world-scale campaign in the spirit of Alexander the Great, and to push against moral boundaries by violating essentially the Ten Commandments.

When the theft comes to light, the U.N. Counterintelligence Elite League—U.N.C.L.E.—steps in. Napoleon Solo, Robert Vaughn, and Illya Kuryakin, David McCallum, are assigned to recover the weapon. At the same time, Tracey Alexander, Dorothy Provine and Alexander’s estranged wife, pursues him with the intent of serving divorce papers. Through a series of coincidences and Tracey’s dogged pursuit of her husband, the trio’s paths cross, and they end up crossing forces at various moments, sometimes clashing with and sometimes aiding one another.

The pursuit leads to perilous scenes where the agents are detained, tortured, and, in an elaborate Egyptian tomb setup, left for dead, all while Alexander presses forward with his scheme. He believes that by aiding a military junta to seize a small country—implied to be Vietnam—he can establish a base for his global dominion. The plan reaches a grim apex as he seeks to execute a final blow: the assassination of the country’s leader, General Bon Phouma, Leon Lontoc. U.N.C.L.E. intervenes to thwart the hit, and as Alexander makes his escape, he is killed by his own accomplice, Kavon. The betrayal closes a chapter on a man who tried to bend the world to his will, and it leaves the UNCLE team to pick up the pieces and reflect on the fragile line between power and morality.