Our look at spy films takes a decidedly more serious turn, as we go from the wackiness of The In-Laws and Top Secret! to the Cold War grittiness of today’s films based on novels by John LeCarré.
We begin with The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, from 1965. This film, directed by Martin Ritt, deals with a spy (Richard Burton) whose entire team, it seems, has been burned. He’s encouraged to retire…or perhaps take on one more caper.
In Part 2, we jump forward to 1990 and The Russia House, directed by Fred Schepisi. Sean Connery is a British spy (wait…what??) who is tasked with finding the author of a document containing very sensitive information.
Both films have a love story subplot, but the resolutions aren’t the same.
COMING ATTRACTIONS:
In Episode 73, we look at another pair of John LeCarré novels turned into films. We start with Then its on to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy from 2011. Then we take on A Most Wanted Man from 2014, which incidentally is Philip Seymour Hoffman’s last leading role (one of the Hunger Games sequels came out after this one.) Join us, won’t you?