Return of the Saint (TV Series) Murder Cartel (1979) User Reviews

Murder Cartel

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 13 June 2023]

It starts off with an assassination attempt on an Arab oil sheik Kemal in Rome which fails.

Hendricks, an American intelligence friend of Simon Templar is convinced that there will be another attempt made. A notorious assassin called Brown has been hired from South America. A shadowy murder cartel is behind it.

Only when Hendricks is killed. The Saint is after the cartel himself and impersonates Brown after getting the real Brown involved in a car accident.

Only a blonde woman called Laura (Britt Ekland) has latched onto Brown in the hotel he is staying at. Vidal (Helmut Berger) a representative of the cartel does not trust Brown as Templar tries to find the man at the top of the cartel.

Murder Cartel has a nice involving story, as Templar avenges the death of an old friend and stops another assassination.

Britt Ekland provides the glamour but it is very difficult to take her in her ultimate role seriously. The acting chops is left to Helmut Berger. He had a long association with the Italian director Visconti and had died a few weeks before I saw this episode.

Ian Ogilvy is no slouch here he does raise his performance because of Berger. In fact this is the first time I could see him as James Bond if Moore decided to quit once he completed Moonraker.

The Saint Turns Evil

[ShadeGrenade · 10/10 · 9 September 2009]

Leslie Charteris complained when he read the script for this episode that it appeared to have been 'written by committee'. Certainly it has an unusually large number of writers - story by Moris Farhi and John Kruse, final script by John Goldsmith - but all were top pedigree and, as a result, this is easily 'Return's' second finest episode ( the first being 'The Armageddon Alternative' ).

Powerful oil baron Sheik Kamal ( Marne Maitland ) ventures outside his hotel in Rome when someone on a motorcycle tries to shoot him. The would-be killer speeds off. Templar gives chase. He then witnesses the gun-man being executed. Behind the murder attempt is a cartel of international assassins - trained killers ready to kill important targets for a high price. Although the attempt on Kamal failed, it is reasonable to assume the cartel will strike again.

Templar, in collaboration with the Italian police, arranges to have a known assassin called Brown involved in a car accident, so that he can then take his place. Looking cool in smart suit and dark shades, the Saint is about to have one of the most dangerous adventures of his life...

Bearing a strong plot similarity to an episode of 'The Champions' entitled 'The Fanatics', this gives Ogilvy the chance to have fun by impersonating a villain. He not only looks cool but is cool. You almost find yourself wishing he would stay in character! There's a great scene - almost Bond-like in fact - where he breaks into a safe during a party, and it culminates in him climbing onto a roof to elude security guards.

As 'Laura', the leader of the organisation, we have the lovely Britt Ekland, tabloid fodder for much of the '70's thanks to her highly publicised affair with Rod Stewart. She co-starred with an earlier 'Saint' - Roger Moore - five years earlier in the Bond film 'The Man With The Golden Gun'. Unlike 'Mary Goodnight', her character here is a ruthless, scheming woman, not a bimbo. The late Marne Maitland appeared in countless films and television series, ( usually cast as villains ). He too appeared in 'The Man With The Golden Gun' ( as 'Lazar' ).

Slickly directed by Tom Clegg, who made the movie 'McVicar', starring Roger Daltrey.