The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)

Black and white, made in the Sixties, a spy film without gadgets - has bummer written all over it, right? Well, no. Forget all that James Bond cack and the good guys in the West vs. the evil guys in the East schlock, once you have seen The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, you feel you know the seedy world of spying inside-out. Well actually, for all I know Spy is just as much fantasy as all that ridiculous James Bond glamour. But that isn't the point. Spy is, after all, only a film, but it is a film which carries a hell of a punch. No, I really do not know whether this portrays the real world of spying, but I have strong suspicion that it does. There are no good guys and bad guys in Spy (and possibly in the real spy world), just intelligent, devious and utterly ruthless men and women who simply want to make sure that the other side doesn't get to win. That, it would seem, is the one principle dear to both sides: make sure you don't lose. In the process of not losing, people are highly expendable. Yes, I'm sure that some agents occasionally use guns and bombs to kill people, but I'm even more sure that the most effective weapon either side has is intellect. Spy is a joy. It takes a little while for the essential story to begin, but that is necessary. If you are reading this before deciding to see it, see it and stick with it. You ain't seen deviousness until you have seen the ruthless deviousness portrayed in Spy. As for the film itself - I have rather been rattling on about spying in general rather than the film - there is not a weak performance in it, and Burton is outstanding. Make time to see it if you can.

Fmovies: If the character of James Bond were actually thrust into the fray of the true world of espionage, he would be dead inside of 5 minutes. As soon as he ordered his martini "shaken, not stirred" his existence would be eliminated completely from the record. The world of British intelligence headed by "Control" does not involve masculine leads skiing over snow-laden cliffs to evade faceless KGB agents by day and seducing beautiful princesses in lavish hotel-casinos by night. Spies are care-worn spent people whose lives are empty and hollow. They make friends with their enemies and ultimately betray them. And simultaneously, they are pawns of the political hierarchy who hire them to betray the friends they make. In short, they have no real friends on either side. And they are expendable.

This is the world of Alec Leamas which brims with loneliness, betrayal, lies, and deception. Leamas does not don a tuxedo and flirt with young women at bars. He does not sneak around millionaire mansions sporting an automatic weapon equipped with a silencer to take out incompetent henchmen. He does not commiserate with billionaire magnates at long dining tables. Leamas walks alone in alleyways, befriends strangers on park benches, and sits in cement prison cells. This is the life of the real spy--lonely, emotionless, and loveless--in short "cold".

Leamas, a hardened veteran in service to Control, requests yet another spy mission instead of being given a desk job. His task: to act as a disgruntled former operative who seeks to defect to communist East Germany in order to frame a rival operative on the other side. Leamas, played by Richard Burton in an absolutely stunning performance, is a man of few words. His expressions convey much of the loneliness yet steadfast resolve that is a must to be a convincing spy. In the course of his deceptions, Leamas is not too quick to give the communists the information they think they need. His withholding further whets their appetite for Leamas' counter-intelligence. Leamas is a seasoned spy and manipulator who knows how to persuade his enemies.

"The Spy Who Came in From the Cold" may be the best theatrical film about espionage ever produced. As with typical Le Carré, the beginning setup is enigmatic with much that is unexplained. Not until the stunning ending do scenes from the beginning make sense. This is a tour de force production on every level. After seeing this movie, you may not only ponder the real price we pay to gather intelligence from the "other side" but you may also question who are "the good guys". And you'll probably never see a James Bond flick in the same way.

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. 9/10.

For those of you who haven't seen this movie and are looking for a review, wellÂ….. This is a movie I had to watch twice. The first time I saw it, many years ago; I didn't like it at all. It was on broadcast television and it was live, no tape, no tivo, just straight through. I couldn't make out what the big deal was about this film. I had some difficulty understanding the dialog and I also had some trouble in putting names with faces. I was more than a little bit frustrated with not having enjoyed it when so many others had.

Cut to ten years and one tivo later.

I love this movie.

This is a movie that will stay with you long after the credits have finished. If after one viewing you feel that you didn't like the movie, don't abandon it quite yet. I realize it's not the kind of movie you'll want to watch back to back, especially if you didn't like it the first time, but take some time away from it and then watch it again. I believe after a couple of viewings you'll really start pick up on a lot of nuance around the characters. And you'll start to understand the dialog better; at least this is how it has played out for me.

For those who have seen this movie, and are looking for a review to see what others may have picked up onÂ…..check out the IMDb review from Richard Tunnah or burgbob975. I liked their reviews for this movie the best.

I don't feel I can add too much more to this review that others haven't already written, other than just pointing out the performances from Richard Burton, Claire Bloom, Cyril Cusack and Oskar Werner as being absolutely magnificent. I especially liked Oskar Werner.

My Favorite scene from the film happens towards the end when Leamas and Nan Perry are driving to meet up in a rendezvous with a person who is to help them escape the occupied territory. While in the car Leamas spills out to Perry all of his pent up venom for his profession and self-loathing. He describes his profession as people who are just a lot of "drunkards, queers and hen-pecked husbands" who protect the "moronic masses". It's the one scene where you feel a genuine release from the tension that has built up through the movie.

Unlike Alec Leamas, you won't be on the fence for this one. You'll either hate it or you'll love it. After two viewings, I've come back to loving it. 9/10.

Clark Richards

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold fmovies. It seems to me as though no one remembers this film. In fact, I think that it would be fair to say that I wouldn't have become intrigued enough by it to finally rent if I hadn't seen just the briefest of clips of it on an ABC news broadcast. When I think about it, I realize why should anyone remember it? This was made during the Golden Age of Bond, which this film acts as a dark mirror to. More's the pity, actually, as this was one of Richard Burton's finest performances.

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.

One will never mistake Alex Leamas' grey, rainy world for the sunlight universe of James Bond. It offers what is probably the ugliest depiction of the Great Game on film: drunkards, ex-Nazis, Jews, and die-hard Communists swimming like sharks through a fish pond, all of them devouring any who get in their way. None have any more than lip-service loyalty to their fellow operatives, their countries, or maybe even their own ideologies. At it's center stands Burton, playing Leamas as a walking dead man, festering with hate, resentment, and cynicism at the system that eventually sends him into the gutter. His devastating parked car monologue alone is worth the price of renting this one from the local video store.

It's bitter cynic tone may have been the film's undoing; rarely have I seen a film so downbeat in it's depiction of humanity. Still, it is not one that deserves to be forgotten.

I read the book about three years ago and was prepared to be disappointed with the feature as it's a grim book and I thought they'd soften it a little, the movie is excellent though, they made a couple of changes but all for the best, anyone who thinks spying was/is a glamorous occupation should check the film out, LeCarre actually worked as a spy too which adds weight to his dark and realistic (in my opinion)view of this filthy job. My favourite feature of the film is the contempt with which each of the communist spies treats his inferiors as the chain of command is followed, it's a beautiful touch which I don't remember from the book, and by the time Leamass starts laughing at it I was right there with him. I loved this film and can't recommend it enough, Burton is brilliant, some of his cold stares as things start going bad are magnificent, and of course he plays a great drunk... it's a nice script too.

It's truly refreshing to see a spy movie which does not involve fast cars, bikini clad women, super heroes etc. This movie shows how spies are used and discarded. The main character cannot perform stunning stunts while doing one hand push ups. He is just your average Joe who drinks too much and knows that there is no escape from his profession which he seems to hate. The idealism of young people seems to depress him even more which he rips apart towards the end (the highlight of the movie). The bleak look of the movie (it's in B&W) gives it even more of an authentic look and sets the mood for the viewer.

There are no explosions, no car chases, no sweeping a woman off her feet......just plain, simple story telling.