Scorpio

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.

In the 1960s, disenchantment among the Western populations led to the hippie movement and a new questioning of authority. Combining this with the Watergate scandal and you set the context for movies like SCORPIO and THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR. Both films view our own government with great suspicion--particularly the CIA. Such films probably would NOT have been accepted by the public just a decade earlier, but in the 70s paranoia of this type was fashionable. So was the moral relativism that implied that the US and Soviet governments were pretty much the same.

In some ways, the plot to SCORPIO is pretty interesting--a CIA agent (Burt Lancaster) is perceived to be a double agent and is ordered to be killed. Oddly, Alain Delon, a Frenchman, is given this task but Lancaster seems too slippery and skilled to be easily taken. Unfortunately, after a while the film both becomes rather dull and is rather hard to believe. As one reviewer pointed out, the way that Lancaster and Scofield knew each other didn't really make sense, as an American serving with the Spanish Republicans would have been seen as an extreme leftist--not exactly a person you'd expect to later be in the CIA. Of course, this DID help the moral relativism being pushed in the film.

Aside from watching the acrobatic Lancaster do his own stunts and Scofield overact (in a fun way), this is a very low energy film--and you'd not expect this would be the case for an espionage thriller. It just seemed very detached and uninvolving. Overall, it's a passable film, but not one you should go out of your way to see.

Back in the 1970s when Capitalism and Communism were fighting the cold war with undercover activities, a film such as this was able to play on our fears of the "good" guys as well as the "bad" guys. So, along with Burt Lancaster's aging C.I.A. agent, Cross, we can't know whom to trust. We like Burt, but we also like Alain Delon (Scorpio) the free agent assigned to assassinate him. We loathe John Colicos as the C.I.A. chief, yet he's supposedly working for our side. We like Paul Scofield's Zharkov, yet he's a commie. (Indeed, Scofield who is a master of cold characters has never been so charming.) The film offers great action scenes as well as unmitigated suspense. There is a superlative cast, and a lot of surprises. (Burt ain't named Cross for nothin'.) If you are a fan of thrillers, or even you aren't, this one's a must see!

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 thing about spys and espionage is that there is a difference >between good guys and bad guys. Burt Lancaster portrays aging C.I.A agent Cross who wants to leave the C.I.A to spend more time with his wife (Joanne Linville). However he has been training another mentor Jean code name "Scorpio"(Alain Delon) who is just been learning the tricks of the trade as a C.I.A assasin. C.I.A boss (John Colicos) feels that Cross knows too much and that he should be killed. He soons asks Scorpio to do the job, but he refuses. Scorpio is later arrested on phony narcotics rap and is blackmailed to do the job of eliminating Cross, so he accepts it. Cross however catches on that he is being by the watched C.I.A and the game of cat and mouse between him and Scorpio begins. He later takes refuge in with on old colleague (Paul Scofield) in Venice. Yet the question remains. Who is doublecrossing who? Who will survive the game? Who is good and who is bad? This a great film. Burt Lancaster was 59 years old and he had the ability to perform his running scenes as he is being pursued by Delon and another C.I.A hitman. He is proven to be a good actor who attributed the physical-athletic attributes in the film. Alain Delon gives a marvelous performance the man forced to hunt down and kill Lancaster. I give this film 10 out of 10**********.