Espionage Aficionados discussion

You made an excellent post with graphics to boot. I applaud you!

My first reaction: Michael Caine in 'The Ipcress File'...dated? Says who? Classics are never dated. I'd watch that flick anytime and enjoy it. It was superb on release and still is. Deighton advanced a very valid view of government bureaucracy with that novel; one which is still pertinent.

'Dated'...errrrrrrrrm. Groan! Please be careful how you wield that term around my ears. It really sets me off. Compare a movie adaptation to a source novel-- yes. By all means. But 'datedness' as a criticism is usually criticism gone askew. A well-told story always works.

Anyway. I'd say we are fortunate in the thriller/espionage sphere to enjoy MANY movie adaptations which are the equal of their source novels. 'Spy/Cold' is one of them. The movie lacks nothing. It is one of the most powerful examples of what can be achieved when the right talent is involved. You can follow that complicated LeCarre plot via the movie alone, which is unheard of. Of all flicks to 'get right'--they got that one right, its colossal!

'Day of the Jackal' is another example, 'Black Sunday' another; 'Manchurian Candidate' yet another. The BBC 'Smiley' series with Alec Guinness. It is a surfeit of riches. Even the horror genre doesn't do as well.

Anyway. A fine, wonderful, post by yourself, and I appreciate it. Great fun. Cheers Paul. Say any news on your own recent book release?

A truly dubious project --to my mind--is an item like, 'The Deadly Affair' (James Mason) which is a re-telling of LeCarre's 'Call for the Dead'.

Or something wildly aberrant like, 'The Kremlin Letter'. Neither of these can really be taken seriously even though the actors are good. The projects were stunted, bastardized.

More interesting properties that 'straddle-the-the-fence' might be said to be movies like 'Three Days of the Condor' and 'The Eiger Sanction'. Redford; Eastwood. Both taken from exemplary source novels and both good films in their way. Meritorious films in each case, certainly; with many fine moments. But did they *really* capture the essence of the story, in each case?

How about the John Savage film, 'The Amateur' taken from the fine John Litell bestseller? Another tough call.

Or, 'Funeral in Berlin' and 'Billion Dollar Brain' --two more wonderful flicks adapted from Len Deighton. Michael Caine in spades! Nigel Green as his skeevy boss. What can be criticized against a film starring Michael Caine and Karl Malden? I love these quirky cinema gems. Harry Saltzman was involved, so was Guy Hamilton.

Certainly there's a lot of bad spy films but I haven't run out of fingers yet, tallying up the good 'uns...

Aye. Well, 'Billion Dollar Brain' (the movie) was deliberate camp; you only needed to look at the name of the director to cotton on to that. Really, I'm surprised Deighton allowed them such a free hand. But Karl Malden and Caine had wonderful chemistry and the surreal re-telling of the ice-floe scene from 'Alexander Nevsky' by Sergei Eisenstein was sublime and inspired.

How about a flick like 'Winter Kills'? Very similar. Said to have resulted in unintentional black-comedy, however. Taken from Richard Condon's novel.

More:

'Parallax View' - great.

'Telefon' - poor.

'Twilight's Last Gleaming' - poor.

'Brotherhood of the Rose' - (TV movie) poor; is the remake on the way yet?

'Marathon Man' - very fine in many ways; but somehow not quite on. Wouldn't know what to change to make it any better.

'Our Man in Havana' - a classic. So are many of the other classics, they are invariably always done very well: 'A Coffin for Dimitrios, 'Journey into Fear', 'The Man Who Knew Too Much', '39 Steps', etc

Hey there! Swapped it out for a while...you're right it is great..I change up all the graphics ever so often..

thats not a bad idea

give that man a cigar bomb!

Paul, in my other readers group, I did a bit of a photo quiz. It was a Walter Matthau-themed game. You're a member there too yes?

Well, all but 2 answers were solved. I doubt anyone will get the last couple.

But stay tuned for the next one!