The other year I FINALLY saw the 9th SAINT movie... "THE SAINT'S GIRL FRIDAY" (alias "THE SAINT RETURNS"), in which an older and sadder Louis Hayward returns. I was shocked. It's DIRE. it's SO dark, serious, sombre, and I don't think Simon smiles once.
I mean, from the first time I ever saw "THE SAINT IN NEW YORK", Louis Hayward instantly became my FAVORITE Simon Templar. When I read the books, he was the ONLY actor I could picture in my head! He's the only one (barring the odd early Moore episode) where anyone plays Templar as he was in the books... and Simon's CRAZY. It's a good way.
I've heard stories (and I'm sure this happened to more people than most would like to think about) that when he came back from WW2, it had a very detrimental effect on him. I recently re-watched "AND THEN THERE WERE NONE", and for the first time, I finally noticed, he looks like he aged a LOT more than the time that passed between those 2 movies. I bet it probably even had something to do with his DIVORCE. It's sad to think about.
Anyway... when I saw that, I thought, I'd finally tracked down EVERY version of THE SAINT seen on film. But, come to think of it, there may be at least 2 (more recent ones) I haven't seen yet.
You know... when I look back on the 1997 movie with Val Kilmer, I still like it. It's just... "WRONG". Like "CONAN", "THE SAINT" did not need a freakin' "origin" story. And the hints we got over the decades are completely at odds with every single thing in that film. That film... like "KISS ME DEADLY"... would have been a LOT better, if they'd just changed the names of the main characters. (It's a good movie, but no matrter how I look at it, Ralph Meeker was NOT playing "Mike Hammer"... even if that's what they called him in the film. NO-- F***ING-- WAY. That film is an INSULT to Hammer, and to Spillane. And their fans.)
