This episode deviates from the standard format of IMF. There is no tin hat dictator in a Latin American banana republic. The IMF is not after a former SS Officer in some Eastern European country. This time the Impossible Mission Force takes on a completely different adversary - a corrupt executive in the Music Recording Industry who resorts to murder when necessary.
We get to see and hear Barney (actor Greg Morris) sing a couple of blues songs, including the classic "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay". Morris, portraying a funky too-cool-for-the room singer, also acts out a great heroin withdrawal scene, when the bad guys take his smack away.
In the opening scenes, there is a strong allusion to the real-life death of singer Sam Cooke. In this IMF story, performer "Judy Saunders" (actress Gwenn Mitchell) is singing "You Send Me", a song composed by Sam Cooke, when her manager "Stu Gorman" (actor William Windom) shows up. Judy and Gorman get into a heated argument. She wants out of her contract; Gorman insists that "he owns her", since he controls the rights to her music. Then he throws Judy out the window, to her death.
This is reminiscent of the dubious killing of Sam Cooke in 1964, who composed "You Send Me" (the song that Judy was singing). Some people have speculated that Sam Cooke's manager, Allen Klein, may have played a role in the killing of Cooke, because Klein owned all rights to Sam Cooke's recordings.
"Blues" has a great story line, with the IMF Team using their typical high tech ingenious methods to entrap the criminal. I rate "Blues" 8 stars.
We get to see and hear Barney (actor Greg Morris) sing a couple of blues songs, including the classic "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay". Morris, portraying a funky too-cool-for-the room singer, also acts out a great heroin withdrawal scene, when the bad guys take his smack away.
In the opening scenes, there is a strong allusion to the real-life death of singer Sam Cooke. In this IMF story, performer "Judy Saunders" (actress Gwenn Mitchell) is singing "You Send Me", a song composed by Sam Cooke, when her manager "Stu Gorman" (actor William Windom) shows up. Judy and Gorman get into a heated argument. She wants out of her contract; Gorman insists that "he owns her", since he controls the rights to her music. Then he throws Judy out the window, to her death.
This is reminiscent of the dubious killing of Sam Cooke in 1964, who composed "You Send Me" (the song that Judy was singing). Some people have speculated that Sam Cooke's manager, Allen Klein, may have played a role in the killing of Cooke, because Klein owned all rights to Sam Cooke's recordings.
"Blues" has a great story line, with the IMF Team using their typical high tech ingenious methods to entrap the criminal. I rate "Blues" 8 stars.
