Danger Man (TV Series) The Lonely Chair (1960) User Reviews

McGoohan Has A Field Day

[CoastalCruiser · 9/10 · 20 June 2014]

Most of my reviews cover the spy gadgets employed throughout the series, but there are a few standout episodes that bear comment on their own. This is one of them. The other reviewers have covered the topic pretty well, and I would just underscore that this episode is highly watchable, especially if you're a McGoohan fan...

There are a few Danger Man and Secret Agent episodes that give us a glimpse of the real Patrick McGoohan, the one that is fully exposed later in The Prisoner series. This is one of those episodes. Patrick is fully unleashed here and at his dramatic and eccentric best. He literally takes over the last half of the show... from a wheelchair! McGoohan fans will be in stitches at his antics.

McGoohan really impresses in this one

[bensonmum2 · 8/10 · 23 September 2014]

John Drake's Mission: When the daughter of a wheelchair-bound industrialist with government secrets is kidnapped, Drake is called in to get her back.

What started out has a ho-hum kidnapping turns into an incredible episode thanks to McGoohan. He gives his best performance so far in the series. In The Lonely Chair, he is afforded the opportunity to really chew the scenery - and he does it quite well. He's really a lot of fun in this one. He's joined by another nice cast featuring Sam Wanamaker and the always delightful Hazel Court. I get a real kick out of some of the actors who appear in each episode.

One thing I especially enjoyed is the humor in The Lonely Chair. Most of the other episodes have been played so seriously, this was a nice change of pace.

An 8/10 from me.

See an evil Dr. Who.

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 26 October 2013]

Patrick Laurence (Sam Wanamaker) is a wealthy man with access to top secret government projects. When his daughter is kidnapped, Drake (Patrick McGoohan) wonders if maybe the criminals don't want money but access to some of these top secret plans. Laurence isn't very cooperative so he handles this in an unusual way--he pretends to be the nasty and wheelchair-bound millionaire.

In addition to Wanamaker, another interesting guest in this one is Patrick Troughton--who later gained fame by playing the second Dr. Who (the one that looked a lot like Moe from the Three Stooges).

I liked this episode because although Laurence was crusty and annoying, seeing Drake pretending to be Laurence was hilarious. He was not only nastier but really dealt well with these criminals. Well worth seeing and, for once, kind of funny.

One-man show

[lor_ · 11 March 2024]

Listing Sam Wanamaker and Hazel Court as guest stars got me excited, but both received nothing roles -no chance to emote. But fortunately Pat took over and ran with this stock kidnapping episode, getting physical and making mince meat of the villains as he outwitted them during the last half.

The gimmick of him impersonating Sam in a wheelchair sort of demonstrated how he could beat up and subdue any baddie with one hand tied behind his back. The too-quick denouement (I guess part of the difficulty of packing in a show into 25 minutes of running time) was a bit much, but he managed to "get the girl" even though it was tastefully unerotic given the kid who was 'napped is underage (18-year old actress Liz Lanchbuy, whose career never made it).