Mission: Impossible (TV Series) The Council: Part 1 (1967) User Reviews

Great nostalgia, but loads of plot holes

[RFM-2 · 15 August 2007]

Mission Impossible was a great series, and compared to the recent movie versions, it's still far superior. In it's day, it was landmark TV. Alas, it hasn't stood the test of time as well as some others. By today's standards, it's dated, but we really like the show from a nostalgic view point.

From today's view point, there are far too many plot holes to be believable (e.g. Martin Landau's voiced dubbing, the team apparently knowing how things would play out in advance, etc...) My wife and I enjoyed it more by playing a drinking game when Peter Lupus had a line. Still it was nice to see "the Coach" (Nicholas Colasanto), and other character actors, in another role!

OUTSTANDING STORY. A MUST SEE.

[tcchelsey · 10/10 · 21 January 2024]

PART I 10 Stars.

You have to salute master writer William Read Woodfield for writing this story, perhaps one of the best episodes of the first two seasons. This may have also had some influence on the writers of the GODFATHER. It is something to see.

This is a mob story if there ever was one, and what a cut-throat biz! Paul Stevens, in a standout performance, plays the head man who can actually ruin the US economy with his financial wheelings and dealings. Accordingly, the M. I. team has to put him out of business by getting the gangster's secret "books."

This is also a famous episode for the fantastic makeup. Cinnamon poses as a makeup artist who transforms Stevens into Rollin (Martin Landau) and vice-versa! It's a clever back and forth fake-out to fool the mob, excellently acted on everyone's part. The application scene is a standout.

There's only one question --a large dose of poetic license at that. Popular actor Nick Colasanto plays Jimmy, one of Stevens' goons, stealing mob money on the side. Stevens orders him killed and he has to dig his own grave! Two things. His assassin instead knocks him unconscious and buries him, when he should have shot him, execution style. Next, Phelps and the team are standing by to rescue him -- though for the time Jimmy is buried he should have died! A really close call, but that's TV Land. The grave digging scene was probably shot at Griffith Park.

Vincent Gardenia has never been more menacing as Vito, also looking a lot like GODFATHER material.

Great entertainment and acting, especially Paul Stevens, the perfect gangster. Stevens later became a regular on ANOTHER WORLD. Top direction on the part of Paul Stanley, who without too much surprise, mastered many episodes of HAWAII FIVE O.

SEASON 2 EPISODE 11 remastered color Paramount dvd box set. 7 dvds total, released 2007.

Another great example of a plot which SHOULD have been solved with a bullet to the head!!!

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 24 April 2014]

I have always been a fan of "Mission: Impossible", but I am not blind to the problems the series had. When the team went on missions into enemy countries, it was at its best. In episodes where they battled organized crime domestically (this got much more common in the later shows), the premise really made no sense. After all, if the team was willing to break 1001 laws to get mobsters to kill each other AND the team members always stood a chance of getting caught and killed, why didn't they just shoot the criminal in the face and be done with it?! These episodes were definitely focused solely on entertainment--not on making the shows very plausible.

In "The Council" (both parts 1 and 2), the IM Force is trying to get mobsters to kill each other as well as getting others to testify against their 'friends'. Again, a bullet to the face should have sufficed, but instead the team members design a complicated plan with plenty of plot holes. First, they arrange to dig up a guy the mob buries alive so that they can get him to testify. HOW did they know they'd bury him alive?! And, the guy nearly died in the process--so why would they take such a big risk by allowing him to be buried?! Second, they kidnap a member of the gang who just happens to have a voice identical to Rollin's!! Duh.

Actually, now that I put all this together, this is a very weak episode- -too bad they made it a two-parter. While a 5 indicates it's watchable, the show had a much higher standard--particularly during season 2.