The Spy Who Came In From the Cold
Released in 1965 and based on the novel by John Le Carre, Richard Burton gives an incredible performance (he was nominated for an Oscar but lost) as Alec Leamas
-a British spy who comes out of retirement to take the job at a desk position in Berlin.
But when several other British agents are caught Alec is summoned by a general-only known as Control (Cyril Cusack), for what would be his last mission before he could retire again (and for good): To go past the Iron Curtain. Before he could that, Alec gets drunk. And even before he knows it he meets Nan (Claire Bloom) a British woman who is for Communism in England. With her along for the ride Alec begins his mission. He wants to know who was behind the bust of the several British agents. Alec then finds the truth: It was Jewen Fielder (Oskar Werner and wearing a beard that made him look like George Carlin!)
and he comes face to face with him.
Now it's up to Alec and Nan to get back to The Berlin Wall safely.
(a scene from the movie that leads to the ending)
The movie was produced and directed by Martin Ritt and for those who are going to see this, a little reminder: Don't expect a happy ending.
Arabesque
One year later another spy film came out (with some humor): Arabesque. Produced and directed (another one) by Stanley Donen, Gregory Peck stars as David Pollock-an American professor who meets Yasmin Azir (Sophia Loren) while in London
(which as you know the city and country was "swinging"). He has come there so that he can find a secret Egyptian hieroglyphic code and crack it because it could lead to gold.
Instead David discovers the code to assassinate a Middle Eastern leader. It's up to them to stop the plot because someone could control the oil system.
The movie teamed Donen again with composer Henry Mancini and the same for Maurice Binder; who did the opening credits.
The Quiller Memorandum
Released that same year The Quiller Memorandum was based on a novel from Adam Hall called "The Berlin Memorandum". The story begins with Quiller (George Segal), an American agent who has come to Berlin after when two British agents are killed. When he meets a middle-aged man only known as Pol (Alec Guiness),
he tells Quiller than the murders may be caused by a organization that is trying to resurrect the Nazi system. Going as a reporter Quiller meets Inge (Senta Berger); who had been working with the agents.
They start to like each other but then, Quiller gets drugged up. When he wakes up he meets a mysterious man named Oktober (Max Von Sydow) and is running the Nazi movement.
He then straps Quiller and asks him what he knows of the British agents.
Quiller refuses to answer and escapes. He returns back to Pol but Oktober catches him again. When he sees Quiller again, Oktober ups the ante: Give him the information on who killed the agents or his girlfriend Inge gets killed.
The movie was directed by Michael Anderson and written by Harold Pinter while John Barry (the movie composer of the decade) wrote the music that was stripped down from his Bond work and his sound for this film was more eerie than the score he did for The Ipcress File.
The Chairman
Three years after Arabesque Gregory Peck starred in another spy film: The Chairman. As far as 60's storylines go (forget about spy films) this is by far the strangest. Peck plays John Hathaway-a doctor who then meets a nervous American general (Arthur Hill). He's nervous because he just heard that Soong Li (Keye Luke), a professor from China has created a liquid that could lead to the worst food poisoning epidemic the world may ever experience. Now Hathaway must take the general's mission and that is: Go to China, meet Chairman Mao Tse Sung (Conrad Yama), and kill him with a nuclear bomb (!) that is no bigger than a key. When he comes home he tells his wife (Anne Heywood) that he is going on a secret vacation.
He then begins his journey
and is warned that if he can't start the nuclear bomb the U.S. military will.
As that weren't enough when rumor breaks out that he is coming to kill Mao, the Chinese people threaten to kill Hathaway and to compicate matters, the British military has set up a computer that will set off the minibomb aimed at killing...Hathaway! (and this is the very same one that Peck's character uses in his attempt to blow up "The Chairman")
The movie re-teamed Peck with director J. Lee Thompson (their third movie after The Guns of Navarone and Cape Fear) and it featured a great music score from Jerry Goldsmith.
Well, that is it for today.
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