Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
Though not quite a classic, director Michael Winner's Scorpio is still an underrated espionage thriller that was well attuned to the political cynicism of its time. Burt Lancaster plays Cross, a CIA operative who dates back to the agency's earliest days as the OSS. Scorpio (Alain Delon) is a protégé of Cross, and one of Cross's best friends in a netherworld where everyone's allegiances, personal and political, are in question. Higher-ups within the intelligence agency decide that Cross knows too much and is better off eliminated; at first, Scorpio refuses the job until the CIA frames him on a phoney narcotics bust and coerces him into the assignment. The two men play a game of global cat-and-mouse as Cross consorts with his Russian counterparts--fellow ageing dinosaurs in a young man's game. Cross's links with the Russians go back to the days of the Spanish Civil War and the time when Cross was given the ironic label of "premature anti-Fascist" by the House Unamerican Activities Committee.
The incredibly convoluted plot is rife with double-crosses and reverse double-crosses, in an environment in which nothing is quite as it seems and no one is to be trusted. Winner infuses enough energy and excitement into the film's many action segments to make Scorpio worthy of comparison to John Frankenheimer's best political thrillers. The director also throws in several curveballs, such as the zither music during a meeting in a Vienna café (shades of The Third Man) and the preposterous device of disguising Lancaster as an African-American priest. The best line must be "I want Cross, and I want him burned!" --Jerry Renshaw
DVD Description
Burt Lancaster (Field of Dreams), Alain Delon (Once A Thief) and Paul Scofield (King Lear) star in this masterful spy thriller filmed on location in Washington, Paris and Vienna. With its intense action, breathtaking suspense and fabulous supporting cast that includes John Colicos (The Postman Always Rings Twice) and Gayle Hunnicut (Running Scared), Scorpio is a bold and powerful modern classic. Lancaster is Agent Cross, a C.I.A. operative with a shocking secret, Delon is Scorpio, a French assassin with a hard-earned reputation for always getting his man. Both are experts in their field – brave, intelligent and lethal. And when they’re thrust together by personal ambitions and political forces beyond their control, each man finds himself fighting for his life amidst the brutal realities of the Cold War.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cold War Old School,
By
This review is from: Scorpio [DVD] (DVD)
I love this movie. The basic theme is the world of seventies cold war espionage, when the old warhorses who've been in the game since the second world war, or before, are being replaced by smart, new, cynical men. This new breed have no understanding of the more ambiguous loyalties of the old school, who have been alternately allies and enemies, and sometimes profound friends besides.
The film has some superb factors on its side. Firstly, the score is one of the best by someone called Jerry Fielding. Brash American big band themes, irresistible Parisian Cafe Accordian music, Bohemian zithers and incredibly exciting jazz piano that's like Schoenberg meets Oscar Peterson for some of the chase scenes. If you like convoluted spy thrillers with twists and turns right to the end of the plot then this is one of the best. There are ambiguities deliberately left unresolved even at the end. One of the stars of the film is the city of Vienna where much of the action happens. You see both the seamy side, portrayed so well in The Third Man, but also the impossibly romantic side of this fascinating city. Burt Lancaster as Cross, the tough but aging agent, effortlessly outwitting all his younger contemporaries, except the one he has trained himself, his protoge, Scorpio, played by Alain Delon, I think quite movingly. Scorpio is a man who is ruthless, very cool, but has a soft spot for cats, and proves ultimately too naive to realise what lengths his masters will go to. Paul Scofield as Cross's Soviet counterpart, a man full of ironies and contradictions and grim humour, is magnificent and also helps to lift this film out of the ordinary. On top of it all there is some indefinable something the film has that sets it apart from all others of its type, something greater than the sum of its parts. An aching nostalgia mixed with romanticism that is doomed.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not Quite Burt's Best!,
This review is from: Scorpio [DVD] (DVD)
The title of this thriller apparently derived from the shared birth sign of director Michael Winner and the two main stars of the film, Burt Lancaster and the French actor Alain Delon. It is a fairly straightforward story of deceit and unreliable alliances within the underground world of international espionage in the early 1970s and although the film is fairly entertaining it is largely undemanding and a little dated. Lancaster is one of the outstanding film actors of his generation, however, and is always worth watching, while Delon is also excellent as the freelance killer who accepts the contract to rub him out. I bought this as I am a Burt Lancaster fan and although it is far from his best, there is still enough to enjoy about this film and if you should choose to buy it you will almost certainly find it a perfectly pleasant way to while away a rainy afternoon.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Boring - It Isn't! Confusing - Just a bit,
By
This review is from: Scorpio [DVD] (DVD)
I have never quite understood why Winner is sneeringly dismissed by many U/K critics. He's a good pro director and this shows off his skills very well. The plot is convoluted but if you concentrate you get it. The action flows beautifully and Burt and Delon do (nearly) all their own stunts, and then some. The support cast is full of great yesteryear actors (Gayle Hunnicutt/J.D.Cannon/John Colicos/James Sikking and a raft of British character actors to numerous to mention.) Locations are great, photography excellent, music just right. If close ups are to your delight, Winner uses plenty of his photogenic cast. All in all this is (perhaps) a surprising pleasure to watch. Not a classic, but good unpretentious fun. Print - picture and sound excellent and as for the price... You could find this just right for a Winter's evening with a nice wine. Enjoy
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
