Buy "Sparrowhawk" and all the other episodes from I Spy Season 2
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Casting: Michael Constantin, who played "Col. Haluf Pasha," showed up again a few episodes later in the NINOTCHKA rip-off A GIFT FROM ALEXANDER as one of the three Russians. After that, he played the sympathetic high school principal in the ABC series ROOM 222 (memorable for launching the meteoric career of Karen Valentine). The character of Bobby Seville is what I guess we could now call a "sleeper," insofar as he had been carrying on a 'normal' American life waiting for his big assignment, his chance to kill the king and return to his country a hero. He is, in a way, then, a kind of 'Muhammed Atta' type character -- although there was no reference to Islamic belief in the episode at all, that I can recall.
Protocol: I have always recalled the scene in SPARROWHAWK in which Scotty loses his temper and tells the young king he wouldn't trust him to go to the market and "buy a jar of yogurt." I wondered for years where in the world yogurt came in jars (Answer: here in Austria). I can still recall Kelly's reaction: "Doctor, Doctor -- the sharpness of your scalpel!" But I doubt any US government bodyguards could ever get away with a breech of discipline like Scotty's, apology notwithstanding, or that they would be permitted to lie around the pool shirtless, as Kelly did, while on duty. It seems this would have been an appropriate episode in which to keep the boys in their suits and ties, as they were in THE SPY BUSINESS. Also, the whole thing would have been something of an international incident, and perhaps got Kelly and Scotty fired for negligence in letting the king almost get killed on their watch. I hate to say it, but I think that in some respects Kelly and Scotty seem barely competent in this episode.
Anyway, once when I was a kid on holiday with my parents in Las Vegas, I found the house supposedly at "4833 Mezzepa Drive, this city," as Soapy Snide Patterson tells the boys in the casino. The street is actually called something else entirely. It had been some years since SPARROWHAWK was filmed there, and the vegetation around the house had grown considerably, but there it was, the king's house, right on the Desert Inn golf course, pretty much as the boys had left it. There was the diving board on which Kelly had lain sunning himself, and the driveway in which the boys had jumped into their car in hot pursuit of the king -- heading in the direction of the street's cul-de-sac!. If you look in the background of a couple of shots in front of the house, you can see, in the distance off to the northeast, the newly-constructed Landmark hotel, with its unique "space-needle" like design. It has since been demolished, along with many other I SPY landmarks we've discussed here in the past.
Over the years I also got to know that desert out there fairly well, and even once had to walk across quite a few miles of it after a vehicle broke down, so I was never fully convinced by the sequence at the end in which the boys get lost and nearly die. Even then, the Mojave wasn't the Sahara, so that part never quite rang true, but it would have depended on just how far they actually followed him out that dirt road, and it made for a good story.
-- bbr
Author Colonel Benkovski
Date: January 23 2002 at 8:43 AM
Hey there BBR. In reply to a couple of your questions about the mythical Kingdom of Q'adrah. Apparently according to the script, the Kingdom was a constitutional monarchy which 12 years earlier has successfully weathered a military coup attempt, but the reigning King was assassinated in the process. The child king was taught and protected by his regent uncle, who was apparently an enlightened westernized liberal(ish) pro-US who was bringing up the king in a western education and culture. This was not unusual of the middle east in the mid-60's. At that time Morroco, Libya (pre-Khadafi), Turkey and a handful of other Arab nations would have fit this description. The king himself said in one of the scenes that his biggest ambition was to cultivate the land and make it green again. They never mention oil, and for a good reson. This was well before the 1973 embargo, well before many of Gulf nations gained their independence from Britain in the early 70's, before the Texas/Oklahoma oil fields started to peter out and about 1 year before, as you mentioned, the 6 Day War, after which the US and Israel became uniquely linked together.
Even more significantly, Islam is never mentioned in the dialogue of this episode. One year later, in the 3 episodes set in Morrocco, Islam would be a major factor in all three episodes, but in this one, the king goes to nightclubs, listens to western pop music, and has no real religious overtones.
It is interesting to see this 1966 snapshot of US attitudes towards the middle east. The Middle East was alwasy of special interest to the British and French, but until World War II, the US never had dealing with the region. During the war, the US was part of the Allied armies that occupied Iran, but following the war, it would be 10 more years before the US stepped into Middle Eastern politics. When Nasser deposed King Farouk in 1954, we courted his favor, but when he moved toward the Soviet camp after the 1956 Suez War (A war in which Eisnehower, incidentally, came down heavily in favor of the Arabs, against not only Israel, but also our NATO allies Britain and France. 1956-58 was the begining of the turning point. Britain no longer had the resources to "police" the region and French were tied up in the Algerian War, so when the coup crisis in Lebabnon occured in 1958, Ike sent in US troops to maintain order. But our policies were still based on an anti-Soviet mentality, and we would deal equally with Arab and Israeli until the 1967 war. That marks to start of the fundamentalist Islamic movements, and of our increasing support of Israel.
Sparrowhawk gives us a last glimpse, at pre-67 US middle eastern policies.
Author: Tatia Loring
Date: January 28 2002 at 2:35 AM
Sparrowhawk did not rank very high on my list of favorites when I first saw it .... but again like many other episodes, it improved greatly upon subsequent viewings - especially when I began to see all the details woven around and embellishing the main story.
I thought the casting was excellent in this one - the king, Clive Clerk, was sufficiently disdainful, spoiled, arrogant, proud, intelligent, willful, and at the end showed the definite beginnings of nobility and wisdom - that would hold him in good stead as the leader of a nation. I have always liked Michael Constantine, a wonderful character actor, who always displayed qualities of charm and gentleness below the gruffi-ness of his exterior. Andrea Darvi was bright and astute and mature beyond her years as Queen Nezhmet - and the 2 characters who are most responsible for my "change of heart" regarding this episode and making it far more endearing to me are - Soapy Snide Patterson and the inimitable Bobby Seville - both of whom, we on the "Forum," are most fortunate to be able to converse with on a regular basis
I enjoyed the discussions on Sparrowhawk and its place in the context of Middle East politics very much. Yes, King Bashik and his regent uncle were open to the US and western culture ... his uncle was in Washington obtaining several million dollars for modernizing irrigation methods - (in exchange for what??) And you are right, no mention is made of oil or Islam in this episode. As pointed out, the King enjoys sports cars, the Vegas shows (cabarets), and Bobby Seville's singing ... and Queen Nezhmet is unveiled.
I think for safety purposes they probably would have housed the King and his entourage (especially the Queen) away from the unseemliness and glitz of a Las Vegas hotel and into a quiet private residence on the golf course. And yes, I agree, even though Scotty and Kelly were reluctantly shanghai-ed into the bodyguarding business - this was a sensitive and diplomatic assignment and suits and ties would have been in order.
The dialogue and attitudes and interactions between the King and our all American "boys" were very enjoyable to watch ... a bit reminiscent of Capt. Kirk always asserting that humans could never be enslaved - our spirit of freedom is too strong. Well, Scotty and Kelly were true sons of democracy and were both chomping at the bit at being required to follow protocol and deference to - royal customs and peccadillos - the sitting, standing, respect, etc. routines.
Now my major problem with this episode was ... WHY did Col. Halouf and Bobby Seville not leave the King, Kelly, and Scotty in the desert until they were "thoroughly" dead??? (OK, OK ... so there would not have been a show the following week ... BUT other than that  ) .... it made no sense whatsoever for them to "go on with this rescue attempt" as the Col. called it by putting them into the helicopter (5 men in a 2 man helicopter to boot) ... and the Col. says something lame about "not leaving anything to chance" as an explanation - What?? ... they almost kill them and then save them to kill them someplace else before they bring them back???? If I was misinterpreting this, please set me straight!
This is the opposite of most "kill-the-hero" scenarios where the evil villain just happens to leave "right" before the good guys are to be killed (e.g., the famous laser scene in Goldfinger) and of course, as has to be, the hero escapes - every time!!! But Col. Halouf and Bobby Seville pick up our guys "before" they were done for???? ... and as Billy Bob pointed out - just how far into the desert did they drive to find the King? - their walk back seemed a tad long, if they were just heading towards the main road ... and had the dirt road to follow back??
Sparrowhawk - a "C" bordering on a C- (saved from a failing grade only by the sterling "cast" of characters ...)
As ever, Tatia
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