Robert Redford play Joe Turner, a low level CIA analyst code named Condor, who is forced to go on the run when he returns to work to find his entire team murdered by government assassins lead by Max von Sydow. Redford and director Sydney Pollack had a rather fruitful creative partnership that produced many hits (Jeremiah Johnson, The Way They Were, The Electric Horseman, Out of Africa) and only one miss (Havana). This was their contribution to the paranoid conspiracy thriller genre. Redford and von Sydow are both great as hunter and prey, but after a strong start it loses some momentum and the romance with Faye Dunaway's character is rushed and somewhat uncomfortable, but it manages to get back on track for a truly unnerving final scene.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Starring Michael Caine and directed by Sidney J. Furie, who clearly never met a Dutch angle he didn't love, this was the first (and best) adaptation of Len Deighton’s novels about his unnamed spy, who was given the name Harry Palmer for this movie because it sounded suitably dull. Despite being made by much of the same production team (producer Harry Saltzman, production designer Ken Adam, and composer John Barry), Palmer was intended as the working class alternative to James Bond, a glasses wearing, overworked, underpaid government agent in a constant battle with paperwork and bureaucracy who never goes anywhere more exotic than the local supermarket. It's a role tailor made for Caine's own brand of cockney charm, and the one he would return to the most, first in two cinematic sequels, Funeral in Berlin and Ken Russell's barmy Billion Dollar Brain, and then a pair of forgettable 90s TV movies.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Jaded British spy Alec Leamas (Richard Burton) is sent across the wall to East Berlin as part of a scheme to bring down an East German agent. After his identity was exposed to the Soviets in the early 60s, David Cornwell turned to writing full time, taking on the nom-de-plume John le Carré. While the likes of Ian Fleming peddled glamours fantasies, le Carré's wrote very cynical and bitter books about what Cold War espionage was really like, a dreary and dirty business where there are no heroes and villains, no winners or losers, just survivors. This gripping adaptation retains all the acid of his original novel and features the best performance of Burton's entire career.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Due to a simple misunderstanding, Manhattan advertising man Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) is believed to be a government spy by foreign agents, who are determined to get rid of him. Hitchcock had a fondness for tales about innocent men mistaken for spies, framed for crimes they didn't commit, and forced to go on the run. He made numerous such films throughout his long career and the greatest of them all was North by Northwest. Powered by a blistering Bernard Herrmann score, this is the most purely enjoyable film he ever made featuring some of cinema's most iconic set-pieces. Grant, sharply dressed and perpetually bewildered, is on top form and equally matched by James Mason as the film's suave villain.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Lawyer Robert Clayton Dean (Will Smith) is unknowingly handed a video recording showing the murder of a congressman by rogue NSA agents, who will go to any length to get it back. There was probably no one better at making slick, big budget action thrillers than Tony Scott. Enemy of the State was him giving the paranoid conspiracy thrillers of the 70s a thrilling, disorientating, tech heavy 90s remix. Backed up a surprisingly stacked supporting cast, Smith and Gene Hackman (effectively reprising his role from The Conversation) make for an entertaining duo, proving that pairing Smith up with a grizzled Oscar winner is a formula for success, so long as you don't overdo it (*glares at the Men in Black sequels*).
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Super spy Derek Flint (James Coburn) is brought of retirement by his former boss at Z.O.W.I.E. (Zonal Organization World Intelligence Espionage) when a trio of mad scientists threaten the world. The Derek Flint movies sell themselves as parodies of James Bond, but apart from a few pointed references, they're more like sillier, cheaper, American imitations that are even more dated than those early Connery adventures (Flint has his own harem of playmates). Coburn is having fun with the role, and the Jerry Goldsmith's theme is a banger, but this and its sequel are more like historical curiosities than enduring cult classics.
Rating: ⭐⭐
Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a secret agent chasing down a group of terrorists who have gotten hold of nuclear weapons, but he gets sidetracked from his mission when he begins to suspect his unknowing wife (Jamie Lee Curtis), who think Harry's just a dull computer salesman, is having an affair. This is Cameron and Schwarzenegger doing a spy flick so naturally it's less about the tradecraft and more about the excessive property damage. Based on the 1991 French comedy La Totale!, there's a lot about True Lies that doesn't really work or hold up all that well. Despite a game cast, many of the jokes fail to land, the affair plot takes some awkward turns, and the villains are just cartoon stereotypes. The whole thing works so much better as an action movie than it does as a comedy. There are few who can really match Cameron's ability to deliver big scale set pieces.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Mark Greig has been writing for Doux Reviews since 2011 More Mark Greig
No comments:
Post a Comment
We love comments! Just note that we always moderate because of spam and trolls. It's never too late to comment on an old show, but please don’t spoil future episodes for newbies.