The Prisoner - Complete Series Megaset (40th Anniversary Edition)
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Movie Reviews of The Prisoner - Complete Series Megaset (40th Anniversary Edition)
Movie Review: Questions are a burden to others
Summary: 5 Stars
SPOILER ALERT!!! What follows divulges show secrets. If you haven't seen The Prisoner, do NOT read on. (I am assuming that most people at all interested in a show as old as The Prisoner have already seen it.)
Now, with that said, The Prisoner is easily, hands down, without any reservations the single greatest TV show in history. (A close second, in my book, would be the first four Doctors on the ORIGINAL run of Doctor Who.) The Prisoner wasn't only entertaining, it was thought provoking. To call it "Kafkaesque" is now cliché, though its similarities to Kafka's The Trial are many and striking. (By the way, McGoohan, upon first seeing the real location of The Village while filming an episode of Danger Man there, reportedly thought it was the ideal location for something Kafkaesque. Thus, this was purely intentional.) In The Trial a man is told he must defend himself in a bizarre court but cannot learn what the charge is. He never does. In The Prisoner a man learns he is a prisoner in a place called "The Village," a bizarre prison disguised as a luxury resort. The reasoning behind the prison is that prisoners will be so taken with the luxuries at hand that they will find no reason to escape. For No. 6, the sheer fact that he is not free to escape if he wishes is reason enough to do it. He spends the entire series trying to escape.
After discovering that the man in charge of The Village is himself (yes, No. 6 is No. 1), he manages to leave the Village. Or does he? Notice that when he finally gets home his door opens on its own, just like the doors in The Village. For those who didn't catch on, McGoohan later (in an interview) told us what it all means: No. 6 never escaped. He's still in The Village. Society IS The Village. If you live in society, you ARE a prisoner. But you pretty much HAVE to live in a society, which means you pretty much HAVE to be a prisoner. There is no escaping this fact. As McGoohan had achieved fame with Danger Man, he discovered he was prisoner to a contract he deeply regretted signing. He wanted to escape. Ironically, he was playing a spy on Danger Man, and resigned as star of the show. He then made The Prisoner, about a man who quits his job as a government agent. This has created much debate as to whether No. 6 in The Prisoner is in fact meant to be Drake from Danger Man. McGoohan has said no, but The Prisoner's other main writer and script editor, George Markstein, has emphatically said yes. You decide. (I'll go with McGoohan, as I think his ultimate point is that everybody is No. 6. He once said that at the end of the show, he wishes the words "The Beginning" had appeared.) We create our own prisons in our minds. Ever notice that the hand gesture that people in The Village make when they say "be seeing you" forms a number six? Also, at the beginning of almost every episode No. 6 asks No. 2, "Who is No. 1?" No. 2 responds, "You are No. 6." Is this a clue? At the beginning of one episode there is even a pause: "Who is No. 1?" "You are, No. 6." In short, No. 6 is No 1 because HE IS THE ONE WHO REQUIRES OF HIMSELF THAT HE LIVE IN A SOCIETY, WHICH NECESSITATES THAT HE IS A PRISONER THAT MUST CONFORM TO THAT SOCIETY.
McGoohan is obviously a libertarian. He despises bureaucracy, authority, and big government. He has said he loves the first amendment, adding emphatically that there can be no freedom without privacy. Thus we see why the greeting in The Village, "be seeing you," is so ominous to No. 6. Sure, it sounds like "see you later," but is really a way of reminding everyone in The Village that they are always under surveillance.
The show and No. 6's character traits and struggle has stayed with me, ever since I first saw it as a child. McGoohan is easily my favorite actor, and it is a true shame he did not star in more movies. I've always loved his devotion to his wife and children, how he never lets his work come before them, how he refuses to film any type of love scene because he doesn't want to kiss anyone but his wife, etc. He is truly a remarkable man. It saddens me that he had to turn down the parts of Gandalf and Dumbledor, due to his bad health, as he would have been perfect in both of them. I am very glad for his part in Braveheart, however, especially considering that before this he had spent much of the early 90s in a coma! Mel Gibson wanted McGoohan in the film as he is also a great Prisoner fan, and even (supposedly) toyed with the idea of helping McGoohan make the film version, playing No. 6 himself. Though I simply cannot think of any other actor who could "become" No. 6 (the role being a pure expression of McGoohan's rare personality), Gibson is about as good of a choice as one could make given the current options. In fact, AMC is currently toying with remaking the entire series, and guess what their greatest obstacle reportedly is? Surprise, surprise: they simply can't find anyone who can pull the role off. The actor would almost have to share McGoohan's convictions to be able to do it, becoming almost an embodiment of pure defiance and anger. The Prisoner is, after all, the single greatest showdown of the individual vs. the collective ever put to film, in my book trumping even The Fountainhead, Bullitt, and Enemy of the People (though Ibsen profoundly influenced McGoohan).
Interestingly, McGoohan and fellow Prisoner star Alexis Kanner later made a film together. Like much of McGoohan's film work, it's not available on DVD (which here is an absolute shame given that 1: McGoohan is one of the best actors alive and 2: this film is simply brilliant.) It's called Kings and Desperate Men, and has many of the same elements that The Prisoner contained. I've always been shocked that Prisoner fans haven't rallied for this film to be released on DVD. Perhaps they've never heard of it. In it, McGoohan's character is taken prisoner (literally) by a group of idealistic youthful liberal misfits. He laughs that they think they're in control simply because they have a shotgun, and proceeds to unravel them all with his wits. His libertarian views come out here as much as in The Prisoner, as his character scoffs at the moral crusaders' silly liberal ranting, and exposes the fact that their leader really doesn't know what he's talking about, and that if what he wanted actually occurred, chaos and anarchy would result. (Now that I've brought Prisoner fans' attention to Kanner and McGoohan's followup to The Prisoner, let's see how fast all 8 copies that exist on Amazon are snatched up. If you like it, try to do something to help get this released on DVD. I've written Anchor Bay several times.)
Movie Review: One of the five best TV shows ever created
Summary: 5 Stars
THE PRISONER is so clever it warrants multiple viewings. Everyone else's reviews below will give away the plot, but there is so much to catch you can't see it all in one viewing. Watch "Many Happy Returns" and see if you didn't catch the number 1 on McGoohan's door (suggesting in advance that he was number one). Watch Annette Andre in the episode about the clock maker in which McGoohan ha to decide whether or not he's being tricked into participating in a cruel game, or whether the inhabitants of the village to plan an assassination. (I get to meet Andre in September at the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention where she is a guest) and anyone who watched RANDALL AND HOPKIRK (DECEASED), will recognize her in a younger role. They plan to do a remake of this TV series with Christopher Eccleson and regardless of the outcome, we will always have the original that inspired us all. By the way, Amazon.com's price is much better than their competition, so I recommend buying your complete series today.Movie Review: Futuristic Adventure
Summary: 5 Stars
Excellent story line, this show is way ahead of its time. Remindes of Orson Wells's "1984" the big brother society.Movie Review: Quirky TV Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
That quirky TV classic is back after 40 years(where did the time go?).Movie Review: A Prisoner of the Prisoner
Summary: 5 Stars
If there's one tv series that I could watch over and over again it's THE PRISONER. It was so far ahead of it's time and is surreal, a true visual montage of the future, the past, and the present. But I ask where am I? The village is the world that we live in and the conformity of our society. The complexity is so profound that if you miss a minute you'll miss the point. "I am not a number, I am a free man" is my motto!