This is what I love about this book. He doesn't glamourize either side. he shows that both of them know the most important rule of any type of war - you do what you have to do if you want to win
Oh hell, you can take just about any scene from this movie and it absolutely makes chills climb my spine.... And I read the book, the short, magnificent, brutal book before I saw the movie. And never have I seen an actor so deftly slide into a character role so convincingly, so completely. The book, all by itself, blew me away when I first read it. And today, whenever I think of the character of Leamas, it's not whatever mind's eye image I formed of him whenever I first read it that I see. It is, and forever shall be, Richard Burton in that devastating role.
Perfectly summed up. A devastating book that says everything it needs to about the Cold War in a tidy 200 pages or so. And the great director Martin Ritt perfectly captured the novel in this movie. Ritt said of Burton’s performance in this movie: something like “ i got the last good lay out of the old whore.”
Claire Bloom & Richard Burton means perfection for me together. They filmed four movies together, and they are amazing as a couple in everyone of them. Alexander The Great is my favorite, but omg. Richard really had something for Claire onscreen.
+JR9979 too good for a oscar a jewel beyond value for insiders. Some hard truths the public don't like hearing when you consider what won that year. Yes politics...
I've been reading "the great game" by Frederick P. Hitz about the real life spy game & the myth. He says this scene/speach by Burton is one of the most accurate about all of it. Good book.
Happy 91st to Claire Bloom. They originally considered Rita Tushingham due to her working class cred, but Bloom did a good job. Also Richard wanted Liz for the part, but he didn't have casting control, though he did get his friends in other roles in the film. Burt Lancaster was originally considered as a possible actor for it too.
I can think of no other actor who could convey in a character such genuine deep-seated disaffected anger and contempt for all those around him. Watch Richard Burton in the courtroom scene in "The Medusa Touch" as a further example. Or his portrail in "Night of the Iguana". And as for "Whose Afraid of Virgina Woolf?"...well I rest my case.
@JuanMacready That is the most Stupid statement I have heard in Years- BUT, you have a right to your Opinion- this man was one of the Greatest Actors in the world-
You should it's good. LeCarre actually worked for the Security Service (MI5) and the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), so he knows what he's talking about when it comes to spies.
@JuanMacready So what you're saying is that someone who is dead, copied someone else who is also dead and should therefore have died of lung cancer instead of a stroke (triggered by alcoholism and cirrhosis). So, what was the point of that?
One of the funny things about this scene is that Burton was drinking so hard in those days that he couldn't remember his lines - he had cue cards pasted all over the inside of the car just out of sight of the camera.
Not true. He certainly isn’t reading in this scene but he does at the end of The Wild Geese when he confronts Matheson. Marlon Brando couldn’t be bothered to learn lines in Julius Caesar.
How many takes I wonder ? To capture that vitriolic intensity . Can't imagine asking him : er....sorry, Richard....could we just try that again ? Brilliant .! I listened to BBC Radio version with Brian Cox . Good, but nowhere near this. Not just the voice but the face.
@JuanMacready So what you're saying is that someone who is dead, copied someone else who is also dead and should therefore have died of lung cancer instead of a stroke (triggered by alcoholism and cirrhosis). So, what was the point of that?
