MovieChat Forums > I Spy (1965) Discussion > Got a big kick out of watching the 'Spar...

Got a big kick out of watching the 'Sparrowhawk' episode


This episode was filmed in Las Vegas. A good portion of it looks like the area west of town going out toward Red Rock Canyon. If they filmed where I think they did--just off Charleston Blvd.--this area is now covered with houses and strip malls.

I've lived here long enough--36 years today(!) that I can remember when all of this area was beautifully pristine. There is some very nice photography of the desert in this episode that reminds me of those days.

It's nice to see a show featuring old Las Vegas that's not all touristy shots of the Strip.


"He was running around like a rooster in a barnyard full of ducks."--Pat Novak

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When I began watching I Spy again after 25+ years the location photography was one of the first things about it that just made my jaw drop (the other was the music).

Back when I was a kid I took all that stuff for granted if I thought about it at all; now I appreciate how difficult it was (and how rare it still is) for a television show on a tight shooting schedule to drop in shots of the main characters walking through crowded plazas, streets, markets... Whoever thought of that stunt had to have been crazy, as crazy as the people who actually did it for three solid seasons. It sure looks great, though, and I love seeing familiar landmarks and landscapes from something other than the standard canned footage angles.

I was born in San Jose in the pre-Silicon Valley days so the third season San Francisco and Sierra Nevada(?) episodes are one big nostalgia trip for me. I suppose nothing looks like that anymore, but then probably it never did... ;-)

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The production values for this show are truly top-notch. These days, most series hardly ever go on location, much less travel around the world.

I recall in the 80's when Magnum PI filmed an episode in London, and that was a big deal at the time. Twenty years earlier, I, Spy went all over the world--every week!

Today, if you see a series actor on location, there is a good chance that he is just standing in front of a blue screen.

Ah, for the good old days.

"He was running around like a rooster in a barnyard full of ducks."--Pat Novak

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The only other dramatic TV show that I can think of that consistently filmed all over the world is Young Indiana Jones.

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I've been watching Route 66 on DVD over the last few months. I don't think it's as good I Spy -- in many of the episodes our heroes' travels just seem to be an excuse to present a slow moving "local" morality tale, and some are just downright sappy -- but the scenery is always great. Apparently they made a point of shooting all over the country. It's like watching a time capsule being opened. It's riveting.

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Apparently, in all the travels on Route 66, only a couple of episodes were actually filmed on old 66. Sad to say, I've never watched this show. When I was younger, it used to appear on Nick at Nite, along with other great old shows like Dobie Gillis and Love that Bob, but I never sat down and watched 66. I regret that now.



"He was running around like a rooster in a barnyard full of ducks."--Pat Novak

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You're not too late to catch "Route 66": reruns are on RTV, and occasionally, MeTV.

I like the series for the very same reason, and also, because I drive trucks for a living, and occasionally stumble across a place used in the series.

One example, is Page, Arizona: in the series, the dam was still under construction. I've since driven across the bridge that passes above it several times.

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Saw another Vegas episode today--"Lori." What an amazingly different place Las Vegas was during the "Rat Pack Era." Truly, it was the height of cool.

Someday, someone is going to build a hotel with a vintage Vegas theme--a classy place where men where dinner jackets and the music is performed by live musicians. It would make all kinds of money. If it ever comes to pass, remember folks, you read it here first.



"He was running around like a rooster in a barnyard full of ducks."--Pat Novak

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I agree: Vegas has grown by leaps and bounds: just in the past 20 years, the city has expanded westward by some 10 miles!

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