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Great spy flick streaming on Netflix....Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Judge Smails

Well-Known Member
May 29, 2001
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Best movie I've seen in a couple of years.....

https://www.gq.com/story/one-of-the-best-cold-war-spy-movies-is-streaming-on-netflix

2017-09_GQ_NETFLIX-Tinker-Tailor-Soldier_3x2.jpg


The plot of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is dense and complex, but revolves around George Smiley (Gary Oldman in excellently frumpy form) being brought out of retirement to figure out who is the Soviet "mole" at the upper levels of "the Circus," aka the British intelligence agency. John Le Carré—who worked as a spy for the British Government before writing novels—loosely based the story on the real life KBG double agent Kim Philby. Smiley finds himself in a tangled web of paranoid schemers and bureaucratic infighting as he tries to figure out which spy is the double agent.
 
Best movie I've seen in a couple of years.....

https://www.gq.com/story/one-of-the-best-cold-war-spy-movies-is-streaming-on-netflix

2017-09_GQ_NETFLIX-Tinker-Tailor-Soldier_3x2.jpg


The plot of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is dense and complex, but revolves around George Smiley (Gary Oldman in excellently frumpy form) being brought out of retirement to figure out who is the Soviet "mole" at the upper levels of "the Circus," aka the British intelligence agency. John Le Carré—who worked as a spy for the British Government before writing novels—loosely based the story on the real life KBG double agent Kim Philby. Smiley finds himself in a tangled web of paranoid schemers and bureaucratic infighting as he tries to figure out which spy is the double agent.

Dude!! This is a great movie - and it was when it came out like, seven years ago! :) Oldman is awesome (as is Hardy, Firth, Cumberbatch). It's a slow burn, but big payoff.

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Agree on Tinker Taylor, Soldier, Spy, Judge, great movie and book. Has anyone seen "A Good American" on Netflix? An excellent, eye-opening documentary on career NSA crypto-mathematician turned whistleblower William Binney and a depressing look into how our government is wasting billions and billions of our tax dollars on unlawful surveillance programs that don't even work. Highly recommended.
 
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Best movie I've seen in a couple of years.....

https://www.gq.com/story/one-of-the-best-cold-war-spy-movies-is-streaming-on-netflix

2017-09_GQ_NETFLIX-Tinker-Tailor-Soldier_3x2.jpg


The plot of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is dense and complex, but revolves around George Smiley (Gary Oldman in excellently frumpy form) being brought out of retirement to figure out who is the Soviet "mole" at the upper levels of "the Circus," aka the British intelligence agency. John Le Carré—who worked as a spy for the British Government before writing novels—loosely based the story on the real life KBG double agent Kim Philby. Smiley finds himself in a tangled web of paranoid schemers and bureaucratic infighting as he tries to figure out which spy is the double agent.
Le Carre was just on 60 minutes recently. Pretty interesting. He actually started writing novels while working as a spy. He did let his superiors know that he was writing and they allowed him to do so.

I will definitely check out the film.
 
I’m watching this right now and I’m thinking that Ishtar was more exciting. I guess I am just not high brow enough for this film. Shame, too, as Hurt is my favorite actor of all time.
 
If possible, someone give a good review of the film. good or bad won't matter. I have a class soon and this is one of the movies to be shown. I have seen this movie several times and my readings indicate that the British TV show Tinker, Tailor.......was the best show ever concerning this subject.
 
I’m watching this right now and I’m thinking that Ishtar was more exciting. I guess I am just not high brow enough for this film. Shame, too, as Hurt is my favorite actor of all time.

It's one of my favorite movies from the last 20 years, probably the best spy movie ever made - but I understand your first impression.

Everything is so understated, so subtle -- but really that's the point -- things are not obvious, real spycraft is not like James Bond, it's like this. Smiley, who has a great analytical brain, has to gradually put together all these little clues and work out all the permutations to crack the mystery.

You have to be in the right mood for it. Drink a coffee, pay attention to every line (turn subtitles on), every actor's glance. Don't be ashamed to replay a scene if you missed something.

It's one of those movies where you're still grasping more on the 3rd and 4th viewing; I barely got the outline the first time I saw it. It would definitely help if you at least know the outline of the book -- read the wikipedia synopsis. The movie does follow the book very closely. Not required -- the essential details are all in the movie. But helpful.
 
It's one of my favorite movies from the last 20 years, probably the best spy movie ever made - but I understand your first impression.

Everything is so understated, so subtle -- but really that's the point -- things are not obvious, real spycraft is not like James Bond, it's like this. Smiley, who has a great analytical brain, has to gradually put together all these little clues and work out all the permutations to crack the mystery.

You have to be in the right mood for it. Drink a coffee, pay attention to every line (turn subtitles on), every actor's glance. Don't be ashamed to replay a scene if you missed something.

It's one of those movies where you're still grasping more on the 3rd and 4th viewing; I barely got the outline the first time I saw it. It would definitely help if you at least know the outline of the book -- read the wikipedia synopsis. The movie does follow the book very closely. Not required -- the essential details are all in the movie. But helpful.
It can move a bit slowly, or seem to. Having read the book(s) and seen the BBC show, that probably helped. On the BBC show, Patrick Stewart was Karla!

I was not a big Oldman fab before, but he is sensational as Smiley. Really, really well acted. Hardy was a great Ricky Tarr. Highly recommended movie, and I agree that you need to see it more than once.

I didn't understand the need to make Guillam have the orientation he had. I don't recall that from the books.

I would love to see them make the sequels, but I don't see them doing the Honourable Schoolboy with Jerry Westerby as the main character.
 
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I’m watching this right now and I’m thinking that Ishtar was more exciting. I guess I am just not high brow enough for this film. Shame, too, as Hurt is my favorite actor of all time.

I love movies with such involved plots that you might not even completely get it all the first watch. Like "Miller's Crossing", "Chinatown", "Three Days of the Condor", "Micheal Clayton".
 
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It can move a bit slowly, or seem to. Having read the book(s) and seen the BBC show, that probably helped. On the BBC show, Patrick Stewart was Karla!

I was not a big Oldman fab before, but he is sensational as Smiley. Really, really well acted. Hardy was a great Ricky Tarr. Highly recommended movie, and I agree that you need to see it more than once.

I didn't understand the need to make Guillam have the orientation he had. I don't recall that from the books.

I would love to see them make the sequels, but I don't see them doing the Honourable Schoolboy with Jerry Westerby as the main character.

Nothing holds a candle to the BBC version of TTSS and Smiley’s People. At the time, there was discussion of making The Honorable Schoolboy, but shooting in location in Hong Kong and other Asian sites was deemed too expensive.
 
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Best movie I've seen in a couple of years.....

https://www.gq.com/story/one-of-the-best-cold-war-spy-movies-is-streaming-on-netflix

2017-09_GQ_NETFLIX-Tinker-Tailor-Soldier_3x2.jpg


The plot of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is dense and complex, but revolves around George Smiley (Gary Oldman in excellently frumpy form) being brought out of retirement to figure out who is the Soviet "mole" at the upper levels of "the Circus," aka the British intelligence agency. John Le Carré—who worked as a spy for the British Government before writing novels—loosely based the story on the real life KBG double agent Kim Philby. Smiley finds himself in a tangled web of paranoid schemers and bureaucratic infighting as he tries to figure out which spy is the double agent.

Meh, low standards. Just OK. There are better books out there, not enough good spy movies based on the books
 
I’m watching this right now and I’m thinking that Ishtar was more exciting. I guess I am just not high brow enough for this film. Shame, too, as Hurt is my favorite actor of all time.

The film does a pretty nice job of putting everything together for the viewer at the end. Give it time...
 
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