THE WELL MEANING MAYOR sees Templar taking a break from his usual jet-setting antics to tackle that most British of topics: small town political corruption, namely a scandal surrounding a corrupt mayor who'll use any means to stay in office. This is a pleasingly domestic drama that features one of the best fight scenes of the show yet, a knock-out, dragged-out brawl between two bruisers. The cast invest in their roles and Templar is at his cocky best.
4 Reviews
The Well Meaning Mayor
Prismark1028 August 2022
Simon Templar goes into local small town politics.
George Hackett is both angry and drunk. He is sick and tired of corruption in civic society.
Hackett accuses the local mayor of corruption but he lacks proof and tact.
When Hackett dies, The Saint gets involved but discovers that the mayor actually be clean.
Someone else is crooked but could this be a clever ruse to thrown the Saint off the scent.
Written by Robert Banks Stewart, he offers a few twists. An action packed fistfight between Templar and the mayor.
Although I did think that the older mayor would be no match for the younger Templar.
George Hackett is both angry and drunk. He is sick and tired of corruption in civic society.
Hackett accuses the local mayor of corruption but he lacks proof and tact.
When Hackett dies, The Saint gets involved but discovers that the mayor actually be clean.
Someone else is crooked but could this be a clever ruse to thrown the Saint off the scent.
Written by Robert Banks Stewart, he offers a few twists. An action packed fistfight between Templar and the mayor.
Although I did think that the older mayor would be no match for the younger Templar.
Small Town Corruption, She Wrote
Gislef7 November 2022
Warning: Spoilers
The episode starts a bit slow, and Simon seems a bit of a big fish in a small pond when he starts doing stuff halfway into the episodes. The guy who commits crimes and cons on the Riviera doesn't seem to fit in very well with this small town tale of politics and corruption in a small English town. Even though it doesn't seem that small: look at the crowd (or at least the stock footage) gathered outside of Purdell's house when he gives his acceptance speech. I've seen Biden campaigns with more people. :)
The first half of the episode is basically George Hackett making wild accusations, and getting shot down. Over and over again. Once it gets rolling, the episode isn't half bad. I do like the knockdown fight between Simon and Purdell in Purdell's office.
It helps that the story has a twist which I'll admit, I didn't see coming. *spoiler* Purdell is the guilty party. *spoiler* I'm not sure I buy Simon's reasoning for why he realized Purdell is the cad, and Purdell is more the suspect because he's the only character in the episode that gets significant screen time. The other council members are pretty much non entities until the party at Purdell's, and even then I don't think any of them get names. So I suppose that leaves Purdell, Molly, Jack, or Dr. Yates.
A pity, because Leslie Sands as Purdell is a decent screen presence as the offended mayor who is actually the baddie. I particularly liked Purdell and Simon fighting it out, and then Simon apologizing and Purdell accepting. The mayor doesn't really get any motivation for his crimes, or why he's going to turn to murder. Other than "Mo Money" and implied greed. I also like how Sands turns on the evil when he's confronting Simon in the girder structure. He cracks a bit more easily than I would have preferred when Simon threatens to drop him. Also I'm not sure that a confession under duress, when there's no other witnesses, would hold up in court. But hey, it's 60s TV and British.
It's also a very modest con, and Angus the contractor is awfully cooperative. Yes, Simon has a reputation. But is an honest man really that willing to help him. Like Purdell's confession, it seems awfully convenient to move the story to a conclusion.
The rest of the cast is competent and inoffensive. Sands is the MVP, and I wouldn't have minded him coming back as a member of the League of Simon Haters. But alas, not was such to be.
I also like how the episode plays against the trope of the bluff, honest foreman (Purdell was a former coal foreman, or somesuch) who is a honest type. He isn't, which makes the story much more than it should have been.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
The first half of the episode is basically George Hackett making wild accusations, and getting shot down. Over and over again. Once it gets rolling, the episode isn't half bad. I do like the knockdown fight between Simon and Purdell in Purdell's office.
It helps that the story has a twist which I'll admit, I didn't see coming. *spoiler* Purdell is the guilty party. *spoiler* I'm not sure I buy Simon's reasoning for why he realized Purdell is the cad, and Purdell is more the suspect because he's the only character in the episode that gets significant screen time. The other council members are pretty much non entities until the party at Purdell's, and even then I don't think any of them get names. So I suppose that leaves Purdell, Molly, Jack, or Dr. Yates.
A pity, because Leslie Sands as Purdell is a decent screen presence as the offended mayor who is actually the baddie. I particularly liked Purdell and Simon fighting it out, and then Simon apologizing and Purdell accepting. The mayor doesn't really get any motivation for his crimes, or why he's going to turn to murder. Other than "Mo Money" and implied greed. I also like how Sands turns on the evil when he's confronting Simon in the girder structure. He cracks a bit more easily than I would have preferred when Simon threatens to drop him. Also I'm not sure that a confession under duress, when there's no other witnesses, would hold up in court. But hey, it's 60s TV and British.
It's also a very modest con, and Angus the contractor is awfully cooperative. Yes, Simon has a reputation. But is an honest man really that willing to help him. Like Purdell's confession, it seems awfully convenient to move the story to a conclusion.
The rest of the cast is competent and inoffensive. Sands is the MVP, and I wouldn't have minded him coming back as a member of the League of Simon Haters. But alas, not was such to be.
I also like how the episode plays against the trope of the bluff, honest foreman (Purdell was a former coal foreman, or somesuch) who is a honest type. He isn't, which makes the story much more than it should have been.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
Another fine addition to a well-loved series.
jamesraeburn200325 October 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Simon Templar (Roger Moore), a.k.a The Saint, arrives in the pleasant English coastal town of Seatondean where he plans to enjoy a fishing holiday. But, he soon becomes involved in another mystery when he bumps into his old friend, the local newspaper man Jack Bryant (Noel Trevarthen). He meets Jack's fiancée, Molly Hackett (Mandy Miller), whose father George (Norman Bird) is a local councillor who is forever accusing the town's popular mayor, Sam Purdell (Leslie Sands), of corruption and exploiting his position to run his own rackets, in particular, of milking the building boom cow. Most people dismiss Hackett's claims suggesting that it is down to jealousy since he lost the recent mayoral election to his bitterest rival, including Molly whereas her fiancé tends to keep an open mind about it all. Things hot up when Hackett is involved in a collision with a car belonging to Maxin (David Morrell), who happens to be the Clerk of the Works at the building site of the new civic centre, and he is accused of being drunk and faces an assault charge for slapping Maxin in the face. Then Hackett receives a letter which he says will prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the mayor has his hands in the trough. But, on the following day, Hackett is found dead and the coroner returns a verdict of death by misadventure. Simon agrees to investigate further since his devastated daughter isn't at all satisfied with the verdict. After satisfying himself that Purdell is on the level - or, at least he allows him to think that he believes he is genuine - Simon poses as a representative from a company bidding for the contract to install the electrics at the new civic centre building when it is completed. He attends a party thrown by Purdell and offers each of the council bigwigs a bribe to see if any of them come out into the open. None of them do, at least, not in public. But, later Simon finds an anonymous letter in his car asking to meet him at the civic centre building site with £1000 in cash. Is one of Purdell's colleagues guilty of corruption and murder or is he really 'The Well Meaning Mayor' he claims to be?
All in all, The Well Meaning Mayor is another fine addition to this well-loved cult TV series. It features two exceptionally fine performances from Leslie Sands and Norman Bird as two rival politicians whose battle between them ultimately ends in tragic circumstances. Bird plays the underdog, Hackett, a rather dishevelled and uncharismatic guy who tells it like it is and does not care a damn if it gets him into hot water and, eventually, it causes him to lose his life. The actor skilfully portrays the emotional element in the story in which his obsession with discrediting his opponent affects his relationship with his beloved daughter, Molly, who is competently played by Molly Miller, whom he pays little attention to and it threatens her engagement to the reporter Bryant. Sands' role is the archetypal 'career politician' whom has probably been groomed by a spin doctor into being a person he isn't really for electoral purposes and, unlike Hackett, Purdell is media savvy meaning that no one pays any attention to his opponents' accusations of corruption and dishonesty. Yet, ultimately it does not fool Simon Templar who dismisses his "outrage virtue act straight out of Madame Butterfly" in response to his pretend anger after he had offered him a bribe to test his sincerity. There is a glorious fight between Moore and Sands in the mayor's office where the two of them call it quits after assuring each other that they both share the same concern for ending the corruption on the council. Well, at least one of them really does. They are interrupted by the hysterical secretary who, on the hearing all the commotion, rushed out to get the local policeman. "Oh, it was nothing. Mr Templar and I were merely having a friendly business chat", says Sands. "Friendly!" gasps the astonished cop observing the wrecked office and the two bruised, battered and dishevelled men following their punch up.
The film's tale of local government corruption in a quiet English seaside town is neatly conveyed through attractive settings, which are atmospherically lit in black and white by Lionel Banes. The fact that there one or two obviously faked exterior shots is forgivable and the standard of the acting is good all round. Director Jeremy Summers, who made several episodes for various series throughout the sixties, does his usual proficient job. In itself, the story is a reminder to us all that sometimes the underdogs in politics - and in life in general - can be right and should not always be dismissed out of hand.
All in all, The Well Meaning Mayor is another fine addition to this well-loved cult TV series. It features two exceptionally fine performances from Leslie Sands and Norman Bird as two rival politicians whose battle between them ultimately ends in tragic circumstances. Bird plays the underdog, Hackett, a rather dishevelled and uncharismatic guy who tells it like it is and does not care a damn if it gets him into hot water and, eventually, it causes him to lose his life. The actor skilfully portrays the emotional element in the story in which his obsession with discrediting his opponent affects his relationship with his beloved daughter, Molly, who is competently played by Molly Miller, whom he pays little attention to and it threatens her engagement to the reporter Bryant. Sands' role is the archetypal 'career politician' whom has probably been groomed by a spin doctor into being a person he isn't really for electoral purposes and, unlike Hackett, Purdell is media savvy meaning that no one pays any attention to his opponents' accusations of corruption and dishonesty. Yet, ultimately it does not fool Simon Templar who dismisses his "outrage virtue act straight out of Madame Butterfly" in response to his pretend anger after he had offered him a bribe to test his sincerity. There is a glorious fight between Moore and Sands in the mayor's office where the two of them call it quits after assuring each other that they both share the same concern for ending the corruption on the council. Well, at least one of them really does. They are interrupted by the hysterical secretary who, on the hearing all the commotion, rushed out to get the local policeman. "Oh, it was nothing. Mr Templar and I were merely having a friendly business chat", says Sands. "Friendly!" gasps the astonished cop observing the wrecked office and the two bruised, battered and dishevelled men following their punch up.
The film's tale of local government corruption in a quiet English seaside town is neatly conveyed through attractive settings, which are atmospherically lit in black and white by Lionel Banes. The fact that there one or two obviously faked exterior shots is forgivable and the standard of the acting is good all round. Director Jeremy Summers, who made several episodes for various series throughout the sixties, does his usual proficient job. In itself, the story is a reminder to us all that sometimes the underdogs in politics - and in life in general - can be right and should not always be dismissed out of hand.
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