Leslie Charteris' The Saint made the move to television in 1962, with Roger Moore (ex-Maverick) cast as Simon Templar, a role that ultimately would prepare him to play another literary icon, James Bond, more than a decade later.
The Saint aired for seven seasons total (1962-9), arriving in America near the end of the run with color episodes airing on NBC. Ye scribe discovered the series in syndication in the early 70's, and began reading the paperback novels while in high school. Around that same time, CBS acquired the rights to air reruns as part of the CBS Late Movie, which was really an anthology package by that point. Needless to say, during senior year in high school, I was hustling just to get to class on time after dozing off watching Saint the night before. I was hooked.
Unlike the radio series with Vincent Price that we previously reviewed, Templar was presented here as having an adversarial relationship with at least one lawman, which would continue throughout the series. I didn't really notice anything of the sort in the books, to tell you the truth. If anything, Charteris, who also composed the theme music, believe it or not, had set up his hero as a "Robin Hood of crime", as they said on radio, but, to be technical, he was more of a vigilante.
If you're only familiar with the color period, which would be the last three seasons, you know this version of the theme song by heart.
Currently, Me-TV has the series buried in overnights on Sunday nights/Monday mornings (check your listings), but it probably airs elsewhere as well. Not sure if Retro still has it.
Rating: A-.
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