{{notability, date=April 2021 "The Night of the Steel Assassin" is a January 1966 episode of ''

The Wild Wild West ''The Wild Wild West'' is an American Western (genre), Western, spy film, spy, and science fiction on television, science fiction television series that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons from September 17, 1965, to April 11, 19 ...

'' TV series, produced by Michael Garrison. It was written by Calvin Clements and Steve Fisher, and directed by

Lee Katzin Lee H. Katzin (April 12, 1935 – October 30, 2002) was an American film director. Early life and education He was born in Detroit, Michigan and became a TV director in the late 1960s for TV shows that included ''Bonanza'', '' Mission: Impos ...

. This series had US Secret Service agents James West and Artemus Gordon aiding President Ulysses S. Grant in the 1870s American West. Together they faced a plethora of Victorian-era criminals.

Wild, Wild West characters

''Recurring Characters:'' * James West, played by

Robert Conrad Robert Conrad (born Conrad Robert Falk; March 1, 1935 – February 8, 2020) was an American film and television actor, singer, and stuntman. He is best known for his role in the 1965–1969 television series ''The Wild Wild West'', playin ...

* Artemus Gordon, played by

Ross Martin Ross Martin (born Martin Rosenblatt, March 22, 1920 – July 3, 1981) was an American radio, voice, stage, film, and television actor. Martin was best known for portraying Artemus Gordon on the CBS Western series '' The Wild Wild West'', which ...

* President Ulysses S. Grant, played by Roy Engel ''"Night of the Steel Assassin" characters:'' * "Iron Man" Torres, played by

John Dehner John Dehner (DAY-ner; born John Dehner Forkum; November 23, 1915February 4, 1992), also credited Dehner Forkum, was an American stage, radio, film, and television character actor. From the late 1930s to the late 1980s, he amassed a long list o ...

* Nina Gilbert, played by

Sue Ane Langdon Sue Ane Langdon (born Sue Ane Lookhoff on March 8, 1936)Lisanti, Tom; Paul, Louis (2002). Film Fatales: Women in Espionage Films and Television, 1962-1973'. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. p. 171. . is an American actress. She has appeare ...

* R. L. Gilbert, played by John Pickard * Dr. Meyer, played by Arthur Malet * Maria, played by Sara Taft * Lopez, played by Allen Jaffe * Bartender, played by Bruno VeSota

Synopsis

As secret agent Jim West entered a sailor's shop on the wharf, he witnessed the death by strangulation of a man named Gilbert at the hands of an assassin named Torres. West tried to stop the murderer but bullets glanced harmlessly off the man, and the agent finally drove him off with a smoke pellet. West learned that Colonel "Iron Man" Torres (John Dehner), a former Army officer scarred and crippled by an accidental explosion and repaired by surgically implanted steel plates, systematically murdered six officers who he thought were responsible for his accident. He served with seven officers during the Civil War and believed they tricked him into pulling guard duty when his accident occurred. Nina (Sue Ann Langdon), Gilbert's niece, appeared waving a picture of Torres and the other officers, the last one alive being President

Ulysses Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as commanding general, Grant led the Union Army to victory in the American Civil War ...

(Roy Engel). Fearing for Grant's life, West and Gordon unsuccessfully tried to divert Grant away from his speech in a nearby town. In order to pursue his vengeance, Torres learned the skills of 'auto-

suggestion Suggestion is the psychological process by which a person guides their own or another person's desired thoughts, feelings, and behaviors by presenting stimuli that may elicit them as reflexes instead of relying on conscious effort. Nineteenth-cent ...

' instead of anesthetics during surgery, and

hypnosis Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention (the selective attention/selective inattention hypothesis, SASI), reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.In 2015, the American Psychological ...

, in the form of a spinning lampshade, which he used to regress the niece of his latest victim, Nina Gilbert, into a childlike personality and to control (or so he thought) Artemus Gordon. The hypnotizing of Nina was performed in disguise: with the backdrop of Bach's Dorian Toccata and Fugue in D-Minor, he questioned her about her studies in psychology and made a reference to regression as he spun the lampshade; as he continued to talk about regression and later actively suggested it, her attention was caught by the bright flashing light in her eyes and she unknowingly went into a trance. Once entranced she was regressed into a laughing, empty-headed girl. She was later found by West as a carefree can-can dancer in a bar, with no memory of ever meeting West previously. Torres used Nina to capture West. Dangling in front of 2 wireless remote-controlled rockets, one aimed at him, the other at Grant, West freed himself in time to prevent the rockets' launch and confronted Torres by an underground river. A fight ensued as West drove the ironman into the river, where he sank like a knight in armor. In the end, Nina returned to normal, using the same lamp, but still provocatively dressed as a dancer, which provoked a fit of rage as she didn't understand what occurred.

External links

"The Wild, Wild West"
Fictional spies