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22 out of 22 people found the following review useful: A Great Dramatization of Deighton's Great Spy Thriller, 5 April 2004 Author: deaflove from san jose
This made for television movie, based on the three books Game, Set, Match, by Len Deighton, is one of the best spy dramas ever produced. Ian Holm is brilliant in his portrayal of the stoic but cunning Bernard Samson. If you are a Deighton fan, as well you should be, this is certainly the best adaptation of his work ever to appear in this media since Michael Caine starred in The Ipcress File and Funeral In Berlin. If you like spy thrillers, this a collector's item. It is certainly on par with "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" and one can only hope that it will be made available on DVD. I'll keep my fingers crossed that such wisdom will strike those who own the copyright!
14 out of 14 people found the following review useful: Simply the best...., 23 March 2004 Author: (crogers-5) from Brussels, Belgium
Like many of the other viewers, I was lucky enough to tape this when it originally played. Until now, I have been mystified as to why it has never (a) been re-run or (b) never put on VHS or DVD. The film was expertly acted and simply the most realistic film ever of its genre. It captured the essense of the times and the places in which it was filmed. It is a true disservice to past and potential viewers that this creation is not available except to those who have the old tapes that will eventually crumble into disuse. Considering some of the lesser efforts that Len Deighton produced later on, I cannot understand why he would object to this magnificent portrayal of Bernard Samson et al.
9 out of 9 people found the following review useful: Unforgettable Series, 1 June 2001 Author: Jeff from Ann Arbor, MI
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Like the previous reviewer, I have seen this series only once at it's original airing -- I've hoped in vain to find it on tape or DVD since! After I saw this series I read Deighton's Game, Set, Match trilogy and that made me realize that it was Ian Holm's portrayal of Bernard Sampson that made this special. Most spy thrillers feature loners of one kind or another. These people live lives where duplicity is their stock and trade. You can't really have a family hanging around if you're going to try to fool all of the people of all of the time -- I mean your family has seen it all! So spy heros are usually disconnected from normal human relationships. Some are as cartoonish as James Bond (can you even *imagine* what Bond's mother would be like?). Some are as rich and textured as George Smiley. But invariably, these are men apart.Not Bernard Sampson. Bernard is one of us. Not only does he have family, he has family TROUBLE. His beautiful wife Fiona has just defected to the East Germans. When you're a British agent that is seriously embarrassing. And she was a spoiled rich girl from a better class and much more money. Her father is big in the establishment, of course he really blames Bernard. Why not? Bernard is not from the right kind of family after all. He grew up in Berlin of all places and he never had the sort of money that breeds good manners and gets you into the right school.Bernard's messy marital problems are just what his simpering, bureaucratic boss Dickie needs to make sure that Bernard's career doesn't rise to threaten his own. And it would if Dickie couldn't find a way to keep him down, because Bernard is the last true professional at MI6. He knows the spy game from beginning to end. From the messy killings to the scary skull-duggery to the boring stakeouts he lives this life in a way that his nicer superiors can only imagine. And perhaps they sense it because they don't trust him at all.And under it all Bernard keeps going. He is a dedicated father. He STILL loves Fiona (she has a strange way of showing up suddenly for parental visits). And he knows that he'll never have the career that others may enjoy but he still can't refuse to do the work when he knows that no one else can.On paper, in the Deighton books, Bernard is an interesting variant on the classic British spymaster. Portrayed by Ian Holm he's hauntingly real. Even now, some 13 years after seeing the series I can still see his craggy face and his tired walk. The terrible betrayal of his wife sits on his shoulders like the weight of the world. But his eyes were like cold metal probes. He was always the one who saw the most, understood the most. And because he was also the only real pro, he was the one left to do the dirty work.
7 out of 7 people found the following review useful: As Good as It Gets, 27 January 2003 Author: Eric Rawlins (erawlinsnyc@aol.com) from New York, NY
Others have done an excellent job summarising this fine mini-series, so I won't bother going into details. I did want to mention that, on a BBS devoted to Len Deighton's work, it was mentioned (although not independently verified) that it was indeed Deighton who kept the series from going to tape (or any other subsequent medium) because of his displeasure with its realisation (stupid temperamental writers!).It was only by chance that I learned about the series the morning of the day the first episode was to air (unlike one of the other reviewers, I knew Ian Holm very well, first from Alien, and I just happened to notice his picture in the paper in an article previewing the series). I had the foresight to tape it, but missed getting the post-first-episode interview with Ian Holm (tape ran out), which I kick myself for to this very day.I'm sure I'm not alone in stating that this series NEEDS to be on DVD, but until Deighton dies, this probably won't happen (and I am completely mystified as to what it was he objected to - the series brought every one of the characters to vivid, realistic life, was incredibly (though not slavishly) true to the books, and so enthralled me that I went out and bought all of Deighton's spy novels, even though I'd never read one before). Until then, those of us with tapes will continue to set aside 13 hours every year or so to enjoy this incredibly well-produced, well-acted, and well-told story, hoping each year as the tapes slowly corrode that Deighton will have a change (or massive infarction) of heart and let us have this series in all its glory on DVD...
6 out of 6 people found the following review useful: Fantastic series worthy of a re-release, 8 October 2002 Author: mikeutopia from Dartford, England
I have never tired of watching this excellent series since it was first aired back in the eighties. I had the foresight to tape every episode and always try to watch as much of it as I can when it's good old entertainment I'm looking for. Great settings - Mexico, Berlin. For historical value its great to see all the scenes filmed in the vicinity of the Berlin Wall when cold war tension was high. The perfomances of all the actors bring Deighton's characters to life - Bernie, Werner, Fiona, Dickie etc. are all portrayed very well.
6 out of 7 people found the following review useful: one of the best, 8 November 2005 Author: (terrythrasher@hotmail.com) from United States
this i well remember. it was later . some years later that it has become a cult favorite. Deighton may not have like it( the movie) but i felt it was one of the great adaptationa classic. a great movie that parallels the book . am willing also along with many others, i see, willing to paid for it. It will require Granda TV to release it in DVD or some enterprising person. the suspense builds and leaves many questions. Much better than the shoot em up mindless prater that comes out now. A number of fans are waiting for the go - ahead to buy a DVD. it will be a instant best seller. It is better than Soldier, Sailer...etc..Post 12-07-05 i have obtained the DVD of it .now available. the sound is excellent , better than the original. video is acceptable. three years later . i actually pulled out the DVD last night and started watching it again. strange as i have gotten use to high def and this is plain DVD. the sound is terrific and the nuance is far superior to anything on the market.i am taking bids and if anyone is near Baltimore or Washington you are welcome to preview for the quality i stated. email me with bids . obviously no copies of this can be made as i suspect that is against the law.
4 out of 4 people found the following review useful: A Fontana's series, 26 August 2005 Author: nelsy58 from Canada
It has been quite awhile since I saw this series - 1987 or 1988 when I lived in the USA. It was on PBS MYSTERY and no other TV series has captured my attention - and admiration - as this ten art series did. Thought I had the story all worked out until the last series of course. made me read the second trilogy - Hook, Line and Sinker (there are place names to it as well but I forget them. I here Mr D bought the copyright to the all the films - pity. Never seen a better mystery since. Sir Ian was a wonderfully confused Bernard and the various other characters from his wife, his girlfriend, Silas, whomever were all played out exceptionally well. Locations - or so it appeared were bang-on as well. The Smiley series is great (the Sir Alec for sure), this ranks just as good at a minimum.
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful: Outline of basic plot w/out spoiler & outline star Ian Holm's style., 2 August 1999 Author: jrodden
Based on the novels of the same name by Len Deighton this 13-hour mini-series aired once on PBS in the US in 1988 and I believe the same in the UK. It stars Ian Holm and I believe it is filmed story-telling at its best. The story is of British spy Bernard Samson played by Holm and it picks up while he is a desk-bound spy in London Central Intelligence assigned there five years earlier after losing his nerve in his dealings in West and East Berlin. There is a mole in London headquarters passing secrets to Moscow. Bernard must become a field agent once more and go back into East Berlin and bring out the one man who can identify the mole in London. Identifying the leak is dealt with in the first few hours of the film. The identity of the mole is a shocker and the story escalates from there into a maze of mystery, cloak and dagger, international locales and very brilliant acting by an excellent cast.This is not a Bond flick. But the phrase "I'm not a spy but I know what I like." seems to apply. The film seems to be realistic in its portrayal of the spy world showing some ordinary office politics and the tedium of stakeouts. But if you like detail in your stories you'll find enough action to satisfy. And due to length and attention to detail it is true to the Deighton novels. It may seem like a shrug of the shoulders today as the Wall is down and Germany united. I've wondered if the Wall coming down a bare few months after airing in the US kept it from being re-aired - just a suspicion. I have heard that Deighton was unhappy with it and was able to keep it from being shown again. But the film highlights so well the sweaty paranoia of being in East Berlin when you could feel the tap on the shoulder at any time even if you were a citizen let alone a spy from the west. It captures the cold war paranoia from both sides of the wall.(If anyone knows another time and place in the past or especially in the future that it will air please share the knowledge.) At 13 hours of viewing it is not, I admit, for the impatient. This may be a moot point because I believe it is OOP or perhaps never available other than for those foresighted enough to have taped a keeper copy at home. If there is a source for this please share the information.Ian Holm has had a successful and varied career in both stage and screen for many years. I do not think it would be out of place, however, to say that he has received much more attention and accolades in the past several years because of certain roles he has defined or perhaps redefined (his King Lear on stage and television is one example). There are certainly people that know more about his career than I do (search the web) but for me Ian Holm was one of those actors that you knew for years before you knew his name. ("Oh, look honey. It's that.guy!") I believe it was Kenneth Branagh who described Holm's style as "Anything you can do I can do less of." But he is not minimalist. He merely (!) eliminates the superfluous in the performance. If his character called for outrageous excess I have no doubt he would supply it. But only just enough.if you see what I mean.Highly recommend to anyone who can find a copy.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful: A complete rating of 10 for the 1/2 I did see!!, 18 September 2006 Author: gauthi06 from Canada
If this is the same series I've been looking for on DVD that played on CBC way back I would like to know if someone has the WHOLE series. I remember when it finished the ending seemed quite strange in that it didn't seem "finished" and there were a lot of outstanding questions. I contacted CBC at the time whereby I was informed that the series was actually 26 episodes long but they had only purchased 13 of them. If anyone knows where I can get hold of the complete series I would appreciate it. I watched it faithfully for the 13 weeks it was on and it was the most captivating spy/espionage program I've ever watched!! If it ever played again I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes a good suspense movie. The only negative thing I could say was hard to keep all the characters straight with the 1 week breaks.
It's amazing how frequently I think of this series, 18 October 2009 Author: shrinkrapt-1 from United States
I agree with everyone who says that this series was the best of the 'spy' genre. My husband and I were captivated by it when it first aired in the US and watched every episode. I tried at that time to purchase the series (I did tape all of it) but was told by WGBH that it was not available. I even considered writing to Ian Holm to see if he might have a copy! Like others, I purchased and read the Deighton series (in part to understand the complicated plot.) If the original version ever comes available on DVD, I'll be among the first in line to snap up a copy. Ian Holm's portrayal of the vulnerable but courageous Bernard Samson was amazing. (He is always amazing.)
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