Scorpio

This is a convoluted espionage thriller with shades of John Le Carre. Unfortunately Michael Winner directs it like an early 1970s Europudding with most of the main actors sound like they have been dubbed.

Burt Lancaster is veteran CIA spook Cross who wants to retire and live in peace with his wife. He has accumulated a nice nest egg.

However Cross is now branded by his employers as a double agent. It helps them to know that Cross has leftist sympathies during the Spanish civil war. His protege codenamed Scorpio (Alain Delon) has been tasked to wipe Cross out, a task he has been forced to do.

Both play a cat and mouse game across various cities. Scorpio is not sure if Cross is a double agent or has merely been framed.

Winner has adopted a cynical look at spies. Both Cross and his Soviet counterpart Zharkov (Paul Scofield) are disillusioned old men, both of live and their countries.

There is plenty of good action but it is a muddled story and with a disappointing ending.

Whereas Ian Fleming and Robert Ludlum tended toward the super-hero approach to international espionage, John Le Carre preferred it's more-realistic side: the tawdry shadow-world of betrayal, futility, and the brutal exploitation of human weakness. It looks like screenwriters Daniel W. Rintels and Gerald Wilson and director Michael Winner took a page from the Le Carre playbook when crafting this 1973 thriller.

Scorpio ranks with The Spy Who Came In From The Cold and The Looking Glass War as one of the best espionage flicks ever made. Burt Lancaster displays subtle depth as a veteran CIA agent who might be turning to the other side. Alain Delon excels as the young French assassin tasked with the liquidation of his old friend and mentor. Paul Scofield, John Colicos, and a young James Sikking all turn in fine supporting performances.

Scorpio is a lesser-known yet very satisfying classic from the Anti-Hero/Anti-Establishment era of the 1970's.

The movie hasn't aged well, but it still lives with great performances by it's lead actors. The editing and pace feel a bit odd (or off) and it's not only, because it's a slow moving movie, but because some choices seem "wrong".

If you can overlook those "flaws", you can surely enjoy the movie. The story is pretty complicated though and you might feel a bit confused at the ending. But this confusion can be a good thing, too. And the more I think about the ending, the more I like it. While it could have a better set-up, it still delivers and gives the movie one final punch, that will leave you surely with some sort of taste in your mouth (as the saying goes). If you like spy movies, this is essential, otherwise be aware of it's flaws and downfalls.

In Paris, CIA operative Cross (Burt Lancaster) uses freelance assassin Jean 'Scorpio' Laurier (Alain Delon) to kill. It's their sixth or seventh assassination together. CIA don't usually do the killings themselves. They try to take out Cross within the Agency and fail. They do a deal with Scorpio to kill Cross. In Paris, Cross is given a safe house from his Soviet opposite Zharkov.

Cross and Scorpio need to be closer. There is a connection but a deeper emotional connection would make the chase more compelling. Scorpio can't be an outsider especially considering their conversation later in the movie. They talk like teacher and student. It doesn't really fit their relationship as described in the beginning. I still like their connection. It just needs some minor changes. On the other hand, Cross and Zharkov are almost perfect. They are both world-wearied warriors on their last legs. The movie does drag a bit too long after the explosive climax in Paris. Despite that scene, the movie could use a good action car chase in the city. It could use some more action and it needs to get to the ending faster. Overall, it has some interesting aspects of the genre but it's not one of the memorable ones.

Handsome Alain Delon is "Scorpio" in this 1973 spy film starring Burt Lancaster and Paul Scofield, and featuring John Colicos, Arthur Hil and Joanna Linville. Cross (Lancaster) is an old CIA agent who assassinates foreign officials the U.S. needs out of the way. His some time parter is Jean Laurier, aka Scorpio, a freelancer. Scorpio is given the order to kill Cross - the agency feels he knows too much. Cross is very clever, but Scorpio knows him well enough to anticipate some of his moves. The two men play an international game of cat and mouse, and along the way, there are casualties.

This is a compelling if somewhat slow thriller, very typical of the spy films one saw in the '60s and '70s. What makes this one is the locations - having been to Vienna, I sat across from the opera house in the exact place where one scene was shot. The streets, the hotel lobbies and the rooms were unmistakably European. The cast is excellent, with Lancaster doing a great job - and his own stunts at the age of 59 - as a down to earth, tired agent. Scofield is effective as Zharkov, a Communist friend who helps Cross, and John Colicos is very good in a typical role for him as Cross' cold-blooded boss. Delon isn't quite in the league of these actors - he brings a kind of lethargy to his role and is almost too internalized, plus his accent is quite thick, so some of his dialogue is difficult to understand. You can't beat him for eye candy, though.

I've enjoyed other spy films better, but this one, written by David Rintels (my cousin's brother-in-law) is good with the right atmosphere and some dandy performances.