Probe (1972)

Pretty Good

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I can add little to the excellent previous reader comments about the movie.I disagree a bit on the TV series. I thought the rotating cast was a brilliant idea, and actually preceded rotating casts on a number of other shows. I was always a fan of all three actors.One of the most common comments I heard during the short TV show run was "It's too unrealistic...a TV camera the size of a pendant? Being able to talk to the Probe ANYWHERE in the world? A computer system that's linked to computers all over the country? Those things will never happen." Of course, we take all three of those things for granted today.I think the demise of the TV show was, at least in part, due to the fact that the ideas (much like Star Trek) were way too far ahead of their time.While the pilot movie appears on TV from time-to-time, I have never seen the TV series run. I would love to get the series on DVD.

This TV movie / pilot was very interesting. Adding Sir John Gielgud to the cast gave it more gravitas. The diamond caper with the Nazi angle was fairly clever. When the show became a series, Hugh O'Brian (of "Wyatt Earp" fame) did not want to do a full time series. Unfortunately, the temperamental Tony Franciosa and the untalented Doug McClure were drafted to form a three agent "wheel". Each took turns every week. The series may have succeeded with the commanding presence of O'Brian, but it was watered down by Franciosa and McClure and faltered. The concept was great: having an agent jacked into to a mission control center that could advise and assist him in real time through a surgically implanted audio communication system and a miniature video camera that could be mounted on a ring or worn on a necklace. TV movie was fun, the series was a turkey.

Probe, later to become the TV series "SEARCH" (72-73 on NBC) was an attempt to cash in on the publics fascination with high tech from the space program. The movie had all the pieces of a fun romp: sci-fi with the hight tech scanners and communications, intrigue with the search for the NAZI theft of the French "Entourage" diamond collection, and locations spanning from Innsbrook Austria, the Gulf coast, and New York City, though I think all of the filming was done in southern CA with the Angeles National Forest doubling as the Austrian mountains and forests. The movie was well written, acted (it was great having older, more cerebral actors on the show) and produced, and the show started out that way until I think they ran out of ideas. Having three different agents (Hugh O'Brien, Tony Franciosa, and Doug McClure) was a mistake I think as it did not allow a fan following to develop for one main character. It would be great to do the series today, but I think there would be too much of a temptation to put young pretty boys instead of older more competant (and believable) actors in the agent roles.

"Probe" was the pilot for the series "Search", which lasted barely a year. If the series had stuck to the quality of this pilot, it might have been a hit. Hugh O'Brian was a natural for the suave, polished lead; he was never at a loss for words. Burgess Meredith played the head of the "secret agency", who presided over the monitoring of Hugh's vital signs from the control room via high-tech spy equipment on Hugh's person. Several technicians helped Burgess in this endeavor, one of them the gorgeous Angel Tompkins. She frequently made catty and snide but very funny remarks about Hugh's hormonal reactions to the beautiful women he encountered, and since he could hear what she said via his earpiece, he frequently shot a quip back at her. This, and Burgess' performance, were the highlights of the show, and were quite entertaining.The story involves a set of 6 missing jewels, which John Gielgud wants the Probe team to recover. Elke Sommer, Lilia Skalia and Alfred Ryder are also involved in some way with the jewels, and it's up to Hugh to figure out who's telling the truth since there is obviously more to this story than he was told. I enjoyed this show very much; it was extremely well-done and it's too bad they didn't continue on in this way.