Closing Ranks (1980 TV Movie) User Reviews

Very realistic

[convoyhx · 8/10 · 24 May 2008]

My hobby for the last 40 years has been the history of espionage of this era. This program contains a large number of realistic items. I suspect that it was written by a participant or journalist of this era who was involved in espionage.

Fortunately, I taped this off the air 20 years ago. I enjoy viewing it every few years.

Pay attention to the details. Ask yourself why did this or that thing happen or was said. You will learn a lot about the secret world.

It was quite common in that time to send fake defectors to the other side to sew false information.

Good Cold War Thriller....

[Piper12 · 24 November 2000]

I saw this one on the Washington, DC PBS station back in 1982, I think, I recall being pleasantly surprised. A Soviet KGB agent defects in London with tales of treason within British intelligence. The stories seem believable, but is the defector for real, or only a plant, designed to sow havoc and unrest within an Allied intelligence service? Remarkably precient, given the "defection" to the West just three years later of a man said to be a high-ranking Soviet intelligence official who subsequently redefected to Moscow. I hope someone gets the idea to bring this one out on VHS or DVD.

Superb psychological spy story

[naylorjs · 9/10 · 3 December 2005]

I saw this twice in the early 1980s on ITV in the UK. It had a similar atmosphere to the superb Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, mostly talk rather than action. This is not a criticism as it meant that there was a lot of depth to the story.

The story is simple. A soviet defector arrives in the UK with a list of spies embedded in the establishment, from low level officials to the very top. Many of them are already known to the secret service, but some names are new and have the power to destroy British politics and the civil service. They then discover that the defector has terminal cancer and therefore has nothing to lose. Doubts are expressed about the list, and the film finishes with difficult decisions having to be made.

From what I recall there was no satisfactory ending, no closure, which made it all the more interesting to watch and made it stay in at least one viewers mind for a long time.

I was also struck by the music, simple but powerful electric guitar picking.

I would really love to see this again some day.