Patrick McGoohan makes stubbornness gripping, with clipped speech and a stare that offers little comfort. His acting and direction give The Prisoner much of its force, though we sometimes wish he would leave more room for doubt.
Fi1m perspective
Patrick McGoohan holds a stare long enough to make friendliness seem beside the point. In The Prisoner (1967), his Number Six has to remain difficult when agreement would make life easier, and we believe that he will. The clipped delivery gives each answer the firmness of a decision already taken. Warmth is scarce, but adding it would weaken the stubbornness the Village authorities are trying to overcome. It is a gripping performance, even when spending time with the man is hard work.
Danger Man (1960–68) had established him as the secret agent John Drake before he conceived The Prisoner. The move matters because he was now helping determine the pressures on his character as well as playing the man who resisted them. Later film work included Escape from Alcatraz (1979) and King Edward the First in Braveheart (1995). He also acted, wrote and directed for Columbo. Those credits are worth remembering, but The Prisoner gives us the clearest reason to consider his acting and directing together.
McGoohan also wrote, directed and produced The Prisoner, and the programme shares his performance’s severity. George Markstein’s contribution as script editor and co-creator is a reason not to treat it as a solo achievement. The writing works best when it trusts the setting and the actors instead of insisting on what we should think. We felt uneasy watching it because the Village made familiar surroundings seem unsafe.
The difficulty comes when stubbornness leaves too little space for uncertainty. Sometimes the people running the Village seem to be there merely to prove Number Six right, and the writing presses a case the setting has already made. We can admire his determination while wishing someone would be allowed to trouble it more convincingly. The solemnity becomes wearing, but it does not cancel the programme’s grip. Start with The Prisoner, provided an agreeable leading man is not a condition of the evening.
Biography
Patrick McGoohan was an Irish-American actor, director, producer and writer. Born in New York City on 19 March 1928 to Irish parents, he was raised in Ireland and England. He began his career on the British stage in the 1950s and became known for the lead role of secret agent John Drake in the ITC series Danger Man (1960–68), also broadcast as Secret Agent in the United States.
McGoohan created, produced and starred in the surreal series The Prisoner (1967–68) as Number Six. He wrote and directed several episodes, sometimes under the pseudonyms Joseph Serf and Paddy Fitz. Later credits included four guest appearances as murderers in Columbo (for which he won two Emmy Awards), David Cronenberg’s Scanners (1981) and the role of King Edward I in Braveheart (1995). He died in Santa Monica, California, on 13 January 2009.
