SPOILER ALERT - Not sure if I do give much away, but to be safe, do not read until you have viewed.
Not being a huge Ken Russell fan, it was even more of a surprise to me how much I love this film. It is a quintessentially 60s work, but in a good way. Caine puts in another understated and accomplished turn as Harry Palmer, the anti-Bond of the age (though I love Bond films too).
Two moments I particularly liked were the crazy General and his followers burning pictures and whipping themselves up into a frenzy as the camera swirls dizzily around them and close to the end where the beautiful Russian wants to kiss Palmer as if everything is alright, just because she is so gorgeous, but he spurns her brilliantly.
The books are excellent too, by the way; pity even more Len Deighton works have not been made into films, though in fact a reasonable number have.
Not being a huge Ken Russell fan, it was even more of a surprise to me how much I love this film. It is a quintessentially 60s work, but in a good way. Caine puts in another understated and accomplished turn as Harry Palmer, the anti-Bond of the age (though I love Bond films too).
Two moments I particularly liked were the crazy General and his followers burning pictures and whipping themselves up into a frenzy as the camera swirls dizzily around them and close to the end where the beautiful Russian wants to kiss Palmer as if everything is alright, just because she is so gorgeous, but he spurns her brilliantly.
The books are excellent too, by the way; pity even more Len Deighton works have not been made into films, though in fact a reasonable number have.