Mission: Impossible (TV Series) The Short Tail Spy (1966) User Reviews

Outstanding performance by Barbara Bain

[shakspryn · 8/10 · 25 October 2022]

The first season episodes of MI are sometimes quite different than those we saw in later seasons. This is one of those different episodes, in a good way. For one thing, the story is centered on Cinnamon, and Barbara Bain gives us a tour de force performance, as she plays a dangerous game of romance with a notorious, womanizing, deadly spy, ably played by Eric Braeden.

The succession of quick scenes developing the romance angle is colorful, imaginative, and like nothing else I've ever seen on the series. The episode is aiming for a tone of poignancy, and achieves it. We don't get Martin Landau or Peter Lupus in this episode; it all belongs to Barbara Bain, this time. A very fine and memorable episode.

So painful to watch

[annie-293 · 6/10 · 28 March 2011]

It actually took me several days to watch this episode -- not because it was good, but because (knowing the ending from other reviews) I kept putting off watching the last bit of the show. Willy and Rollin Hand are nowhere to be seen (given Rollin's customary by-play with Cinnamon, he would have gotten in the way of the plot), and there is very little for Barney or Dan Briggs to do. It's really Cinnamon's show and she goes to town with it. Eric Braeden (or Hans Gudegast as he was here) was very effective as the spy (and so gorgeous to watch even if he is a bit young for his fearsome reputation as a manipulative killer). The byplay between Braeden and Cinnamon would have made a good foundation for a chick flick of the time; knowing that they were fencing from opposite sides of the Iron Curtain added a treacherous undercurrent to their interactions. The surrounding plot line, though, was thinner than thin.

Decent but not among the best for season 1.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 4 February 2014]

A scientist from the Eastern Bloc has defected and two enemy agents are planning on killing him. However, the two are rivals and instead of working together, each wants to do it themselves and in their own fashion. Colonel Shtemenko (Albert Dekker) just wants to blast the scientist. However, Adrei Fetyakov (Eric Braeden) likes to use finesse--plus he's already killed at least 30 people. Here is where the plan gets a little dicey--they want Cinnamon to vamp Fetyakov and that is a very perilous thing. As for the Colonel, Dan and Barney will take care of him themselves.

I think the best thing about this episode is watching Cinnamon go through so many fashion changes! It's like watching a Barbie fashion show--and it made me chuckle. I also laughed at the scene where she and Fetyakov were at the beach--you could tell the ocean was just a photo as the surf never moved! The same can be said about the rainbow colored scene on the balcony. Still, it's a pretty good episode overall despite these little things. The only thing is that it was set in the USA--so why not just shoot the two agents and be done with it?!

CINNAMON'S MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

[tcchelsey · 10/10 · 30 July 2023]

I agree with the last reviewers that this is Barbara Bain's show all the way as Cinnamon, the mistress of seduction, plus a nice wardrobe. Her wardrobe changes are Hollywood 101, and you have to tip your hat to the behind the scenes fashion folks at Paramount for that.

The IMF crew is more or less shuffled to one side as it's Cinnamon's turn; her mission to romance a nefarious spy, called Andre Fetyakov, played by future soap opera star Eric Braeden. Bottom line concerns a famous scientist, who defected, and knows where the bodies are buried, now marked for assassination. So its Cinnamon versus the deadly Fetyakov, who definitely has an eye for the ladies... but he should have stayed home that day!

Original writing from Julian Barry, who a few years later would write the award winning stage play (and later screenplay) LENNY, all about Lenny Bruce. The only debit is that had this been actual factual cloak and dagger stuff, Cinnamon would have been covered with a white sheet. The ending will NOT disappoint. However, all of us true blue M. I. enthusiasts will never cross that path!

Just sit back and watch it all unfold, and it's one episode you will want to see again.

Great support by veteran Albert Dekker (best remembered by sci fi fans as DR CYCLOPS) playing Colonel Shlemenko. Don't you love the names? Dekker was always at his best in sinister roles, his final film appearance before his sudden death was in THE WILD BUNCH (1969). Stone-faced heavy Joseph Sirolo plays Suprin. Sirolo is another actor from the old school of heavies.

Director Leonard J. Horn gets everything he wants from this crew and more. At the time, Horn was also directing for VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA and THE FUGITIVE. Yes, some of the background settings are cardboard and plywood, meaning Paramount must have put all their money into Barbara Bain's clothes! You can't have it all. And this was a tv budget, not a movie budget.

FROM SEASON 1, remastered CBS dvd box set, which has become a collectors item.

Worst episode I've ever seen.

[Cpt_Berns · 3 March 2007]

I love the original Mission: Impossible, but this episode is the worst one I've ever seen. The opening scene (where Briggs gets his mission) is a reuse of footage of the opening scene of the episode Old Man Out. The to the embassy ball, where we get a lot of clumsy hand held camera shots that seem to be stalling for time. The ending of the episode was very stupid. *** SPOILER ALERT *** In the ending, the bad guy stands there with a gun, threatening the whole IMF team. Cinamon walks toward the guy, who says he will shoot. Then click, click. Gun empty. Cinamon unloaded the gun. What if he reloaded? No professional hit-man would take for granted that the gun was loaded. First thing you do when you pick up a gun is check it's status. So he WOULD have reloaded! *** END SPOILER ***