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Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979)

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979)
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Living a premature and somewhat humbling retirement, elderly British spy George Smiley (Alec Guinness) is abruptly resurrected by his former boss Lacon (Anthony Bate) with an ultra-secret mission: find the double agent in the ranks of the British Secret Service. Is it the pompous head of service, Percy Alleline (Michael Aldridge)? The blowsy Bland (Terence Rigby)? The shifty Toby Esterhase (Bernard Hepdon)? Or perhaps the urbane Bill Haydon (Ian Richardson)? Pushed into retirement by a scandal caused by the now-deceased head of service, Control (Alexander Knox), and because he suspected that there was a spy, Smiley journeys through the labyrinthine world of the British spy service layer by layer as he hunts the mole controlled by the mysterious Russian spymaster Karla (Patrick Stewart). Taken from a best-selling novel by internationally famed novelist John Le Carré, this nearly five-hour miniseries was first broadcast by the BBC. The story is loosely based on the infamous Kim Philby spy scandal of the early '60s. ~ Nick Sambides, Jr., Rovi

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Starring:
Alec GuinnessMichael Aldridge, (more)
Director(s):
John Irvin
Format(s):
DVD
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Synopsis of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Living a premature and somewhat humbling retirement, elderly British spy George Smiley (Alec Guinness) is abruptly resurrected by his former boss Lacon (Anthony Bate) with an ultra-secret mission: find the double agent in the ranks of the British Secret Service. Is it the pompous head of service, Percy Alleline (Michael Aldridge)? The blowsy Bland (Terence Rigby)? The shifty Toby Esterhase (Bernard Hepdon)? Or perhaps the urbane Bill Haydon (Ian Richardson)? Pushed into retirement by a scandal caused by the now-deceased head of service, Control (Alexander Knox), and because he suspected that there was a spy, Smiley journeys through the labyrinthine world of the British spy service layer by layer as he hunts the mole controlled by the mysterious Russian spymaster Karla (Patrick Stewart). Taken from a best-selling novel by internationally famed novelist John Le Carré, this nearly five-hour miniseries was first broadcast by the BBC. The story is loosely based on the infamous Kim Philby spy scandal of the early '60s. ~ Nick Sambides, Jr., Rovi

Theatrical Feature Running Time:
324 mins

Complete Cast of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy


Director(s):
John Irvin
Writer(s):
Arthur Hopcraft
Producer(s):
Jonathan Powell
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Member Reviews
 
Stephen S.

'The Third Man' and 'The Spy Who Came In From The Cold' pale in comparison to this BBC television series. Along with 'Smiley's People' (the continuation of this terrific story) it demonstrates that the consistently best writing, directing and acting is done for television, and not films. Five stars.

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Charles K.

The only flaw is the lack of close captioning.

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WILLIAM J W.

A true masterpiece that I waited for years to be released on DVD. The screenplay follows the great novel almost verbatim. Ditto for the great sequel "Smiley's People". My only disappointment is that it's not available in a widescreen version.

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