Just One More Thing: Identity Crisis

Notes and screenshots for Identity Crisis: Originally broadcast on November 2, 1975, starring Leslie Nielsen and Patrick McGoohan as secret agents at cross purposes, guest appearances by Bruce Kirby and the great Vito Scotti and, of course, Peter Falk as Columbo.

"A top CIA operative commits murder, as only a brilliant agent can, never guessing he'll have to contend with a man like Lt. Columbo."

-IMDB Summary

"Patrick McGoohan- actor, director, murderer. He’s a triple threat! Molly Eichel (AV Club, Philadelphia Daily News) joins Jon and RJ to talk about “Identity Crisis,” a season five episode directed by McGoohan and co-starring Leslie Nielsen (for the first 20 minutes, at least). Spies, lies, fancy houses, CIA agents, amusement parks, halter tops and class issues aplenty await."

-RJ's episode summary

Listen to the original podcast episode here:

Episode 8: Be Seeing You with our guest Molly Eichel.

Identity Crisis

Season 5, Episode #3

Director: Patrick McGoohan

Writers: William Driskill

Loaded with references to the Prisoner (you can see McGoohan wearing a suit reminiscent of the his Prisoner togs in one of the above shots, and the "Be Seeing You!" was liberally applied to the dialogue), Identity Crisis is definitely one of the ... top ten episodes, maybe? I'm reluctant to number the best ones, but certainly, if nothing else, this episode really brings home the value of the Falk/McGoohan collaborations.

In retrospect, this is one of those episodes where the murderer is so compelling that I wish they had spun off into their own show. The adventures of mockingly suave super-agent Patrick McGoohan would have been an interesting show (I know, I know, I mean again). 

RJ and I were originally going to bring my wife in to discuss the belly-dance scene at "Sinbad's" ... my wife's been studying, performing and teaching cabaret-style raqs sharqi for almost twenty-five years, and it's not unusual for her to see a belly dancer in one of these old TV shows or films and be able to identify her or the troupe whose style she's employing like *that* ... don't think the dancer here is an actual performer, though, she's sort of just generally moving as opposed to dancing in a particular style. Oh well, we'll bring her back for the Ruth Gordon episode.

Next episode: A Matter of Honor