pmw1004 Reviews

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)

Is that right?

[8/10 · 1 March 2010]

The last reviewer wrote: Burton is cast as Alex Leamas, a nerve-dead, aged secret operative operating out of West Berlin. After a routine assignment goes awry, Leamas is sent home and out of the service. He struggles to try to live a normal, average life as a librarian's assistant, but he can't make it work for him (something that is not helped by his chronic alcoholism). This fact is made forcefully clear when he winds up beating a local grocer and is sentenced to jail time. Slowly but surely, he allows himself to be pulled back into the Cold War he operated in, not suspecting or maybe not even caring that his superiors are setting him up for a fall.

I think this is wrong. I believe the Burton character, Leamas, working with his UK spy agency, pretends to be kicked out of the spy service and acts as if he is going to seed so he can be "turned" by the enemy and complete his secret mission.

Regardless, it's a great film with a great performance by Burton as the world-weary spy who has seen it all, and Claire Bloom as the idealistic UK communist party member who has no idea how ugly it is out there.

The Searchers (1956)

Missing the point ...

[9 May 2005]

Yes, this movie has a number of flaws (typical of any Ford film), including lapses into sentimentality, goofy "boys-will-be-boys" antics, and grade school humor.

The core story line, however, is still compelling: Wayne as the isolated outsider, always searching, never finding. From Wayne's forbidden love for his sister-in-law to his inability to enter the house at the end, his character is forever on the outside looking in.

There's a reason why Tarantino paid homage in Kill Bill #2 to the Searcher's closing "door scene". It's haunting, like much of the film when you strip away the silliness.