|
|
List Price: $19.95 Price: $6.92 You Save: $13.03 (65%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Binding: VHS Tape EAN: 0031504065097 Format: NTSC Label: Paramount Languages: Manufacturer: Paramount Publisher: Paramount Release Date: September 01, 1998 Studio: Paramount Theatrical Release Date: December 16, 1965 Editorial Review: Amazon.com: John le Carre's classic spy yarn gets a suitably brisk, unromanticized telling in this quintessential Cold War movie. A British agent (Richard Burton) sets up an elaborate cover story for being lured into defecting to the Communists, but he hardly needs to manufacture his disgust and cynicism over spying. The grim business of point-counterpoint espionage has rarely been depicted with less glamour; Burton's great climactic speech on the subject is the definitive take on sinking to the level of the enemy. Claire Bloom is an offbeat love interest, and a bearded Oskar Werner is an East German investigator on Burton's case (the pecking order in the Communist spy hierarchy is a source of black humor). Director Martin Ritt extends his unvarnished approach to the movie's stripped-down look, which means that Richard Burton is constantly in a harsh, unflattering light. He looks terrible, but it's in the service of a fine performance. --Robert Horton Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Classic cold-war thrillerClassic cold-war thriller that portrays the sacrifice of the individual for the good of the state. The Richard Burton character is involved in a mission to frame an opposite spy and in the end finds himself also expendable to that same cause. Rich undertones of the cold war chill and it's cost. Very well done and an excellent choice in Mr. Burton for this intense ambiguous role. Rating:  - Superb adaptationHaving read the novel by LeCarre, I can't imagine anyone but Richard Burton as the burnt-out false defector Alec Leamas. The black-and-white of this film underscores the shades of gray in the moral no-man's-land in which Leamas takes on the most difficult, most insidious assignment of his trying career as a spy. The jacket of this edition of the film says "forget James Bond," a very apt line for what's inside. This film is made with raw, real suspense, fine acting, and excellent cinematography. ... Read More Rating: - grim story accurately portrayed This is an adaptation of the first popular novel by John le Carre (David Cornwell) who served in MI6 just after WWII. If you are easily depressed avoid this one. Otherwise it is close to the things that actually happened in that time frame. The woman judge is modeled after a real person. She was from the German Aristocracy and was an opportunist who embraced the communist cause for what she could get from it. In stark contrast, her brother aided MI6 in WWII by being the source of ... Read More Rating: - 5 stars for The Spy Who Came In From The ColdThis movie makes you feel like you are back in the cold war era. The main character's life and job are nothinglike James Bond or other fictional glamorous spies. This is a real person, flaws and all, struggling to do his very best to fight for what he believes in. And Richard Burton plays this character perferctly. It shows the changes he goes thru and the how forces he can't see or control affect his life. I highly recommend this movie for someone who wants to experience the cold war instead of a lot ... Read More Rating: - More than a spy thrillerAs in all of LeCarre's works, there is a lot more shown than the machinations of Cold War espionage. The human element is always there. As much as the spies try to suppress their more human feelings in order to carry out their difficult missions, sooner or later they have to deal with them. That's what I find fascinating, rather than the plot complications of the spy business. Spy story fans will think differently. Here you don't have to choose--you get both. Richard Burton gives a ... Read More |
