User Reviews

OSI Colonel Steve Austin apes James Bond for all it's worth in this uneven but enjoyable 1st season episode from THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN -- Steve travels to Innsbruck, Austria to rescue Allan Oppenheimer's Dr. Rudy Wells from the clutches of an international crime figure bent on creating his own army of bionic thugs to loot the banks of Europe. Plenty of authentic European locations, settings, hotels, chalets, women, and fancy cars make this somewhat out of step with the rest of the series and yet an unofficial extension of the 3rd Pilot Episode, the similarly themed "Solid Gold Kidnapping."

It's all pretty routine until Steve manages to find Dr. Wells and is himself captured by the kingpin, finding himself in a sort of Bionic Olympics as he is forced to fight single handed against a gang of NFL sized supporting actors to see how many men it will take to bring him down. The hi-light of the episode is a slipping, sliding free-for-all on the grounds of the head baddie's villa as Steve dutifully holds his own against seven huge lummoxes, sending them sliding across the wet snow with bionic judo flips until they finally bring him down en-masse, damaging his bionic arm in the process.

The climax of the episode is a doozy and one of the most brutally violent sequences from the whole series as Steve & Rudy escape, the goons pile into a car and take after them, obliging Steve to then have to fight for his & Rudy's lives against the bloodthirsty apes bent on outright killing them: I made the body count at about four dead, including the occupants of an exploding car flipped off a cliff by a good bionic shove. Steve of course wins, and in later syndication package form some of the violence was toned down a bit after the series became a family-oriented show rather than a somewhat gritty action fantasy for grown ups. I especially enjoy the scenes where Steve is shown seeming to run at 60mph in relation to the pursuing car, and the interrogation scene where Rudy and Steve come clean on his bionics and their capabilities is classic in every sense of the word.

Granted, the opening 30 minutes or so get a bit tedious as Lee Majors apes 007 with his sunglasses & expensive Euro cars, but once the big men start to fly this is a pretty decent example of what made the show popular. And, according to a trivia entry, the first time Steve is shown jumping high in the air via some trick reverse photography. Unpolished but interesting, and Yamo's demise is nothing but sheer brutality.

7/10

Dr. Rudy Wells(Alan Oppenheimer) the brilliant scientist who created Steve Austin's(Lee Majors) bionics is on holiday in Innsbruck, Austria at his old study grounds when he is kidnapped by a crime family headed by Alfredo Tuccelli(played by John Van Dreelen) who want him to build them a new bionic man, though of course Wells refuses. Steve goes to Rudy's rescue, but is captured and identity discovered, forcing them both to come up with a quick plan to stop this insidious plot from being created. Acceptable if predictable episode at least gives the good doctor an expanded role after an absence, though I can't help but wonder how original Rudy Wells Martin Balsam would have fared!

Rudy Wells, inventor of the bionics program, who is in Vienna receiving an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, but he is then kidnapped. Luckily Steve Austin has some time off and follows Rudy unannounced to Innsbruck, Austria. The trail soon leads to the wealthy Tucelli family, who want to force Dr. Wells to give up the secret of constructing a bionic man.

The authentic European locations, ebullient settings, hotels, chalets, and fancy cars lends some class to the action packed proceedings, and the most action-packed episode of the series I have seen with Steve taking on a Savate expert and other brawny specimen, who all get thrown like rag dolls. It's a less thoughtful script and more excitements. It's quite enjoyable with a villain quite obsessed with creating another bionic man.