Conspiracy thriller
Missing (1982) – Poignant and relevant
Director: Costa Gavras Genre: Drama – True Story Time: 1 Hour 57 minutes Platform: Amazon Prime (rent) Cast: Jack Lemmon. Sissy Spacek. John Shea. After the Watergate scandal broke, there followed a series of disclosures about the American government that had the ordinary American , shaking his head in disbelief. The CIA had not…
Read MoreFoul Play (1978) – Surprisingly good comic thriller
All clickable links in red Writer, Director: Colin Higgins Genre: Comic thriller Time: 1 Hour 51 minutes Platform: You Tube Alfred Hitchcock made 58 films over 50 years of which 11 were superb spy films, though they were marketed as “suspense thrillers”. His films influenced and continue to influence generations of filmmakers, in…
Read MorePOINT OF NO RETURN – 1993 aka The Assassin – Lost in translation?
Director: John Badham Cast: Bridget Fonda. Gabriel Byrne. Dermot Mulroney. Anne Bancroft. Conspiracy theorists will love this film. The premise is simple. A secret Government department trains young people convicted of severe crimes into an assassin squad. In this case, a female drug addict Maggie (Bridget Fonda) who has been involved in a…
Read MoreNight Agent (2023) and The Recruit (2022) – two modern spy series
At times I get asked – very politely, of course – whether I have something against “new stuff”, as most of my blogs are about “old” movies or serials. I have nothing for or against new stuff except that, at times, they seem to recycle “old stuff”. I also have a “problem” with TV…
Read MoreThe Ipcress File (1965) – the first coolest Anti Bond
Director: Sidney .J.Furie Cast: Michael Caine. Guy Doleman. Nigel Green. Sue Lloyd. In 1962 the first James Bond film Dr No was released. In 1962 Len Deighton wrote his first book, The Ipcress File. Perhaps it was a coincidence. By 1965 when Thunderball was released, the Bond mania had spread worldwide. Everyone thought…
Read MoreThe Odessa File (1974) – Lost in adaptation
Director: Ronald Neame . Script: George Markstein (also an excellent spy fiction writer) Cast: Jon Voight, Maximilian Schell, Mary Tamm Israel has always considered itself to be facing existential threats from everywhere. Historically the state of Israel seemed at its most fragile from its declaration of independence in 1948 till the 1967 Seven-Day War.…
Read MoreThe Day of the Jackal – 1974 – RIVETING (even now)
Fact: The OAS – The Organisation Armee Secrete (the Secret Armed Organisation), was composed of ex-French Army soldiers who opposed French President Charles de Gaulle’s policy of granting independence to Algeria as they considered it and its French population as French. The organization aimed to kill de Gaulle and bring Algeria back under French rule.…
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