The Executioner
       
Director: Sam Wanamaker
Year: 1970
Rating: 6.0
This was a solid Cold War spy vs spy flick that I had never heard of for some reason. Perhaps there were so many spy films being made at the time that it got lost in the shuffle or perhaps it didn't have the needed pizzazz to make an impression. But it stars George Peppard, who had been a star of sorts since Breakfast at Tiffany's, Blue Max and The Carpetbaggers. Hard to say if Peppard was much of an actor as he seems to have always played the same part - ridiculously handsome, smug self-confidence, insufferably conceited, breezy charm and more in love with himself than any woman that crossed his bed - the sort of person you would hate in real life. Nevertheless, I liked the Banacek series but never saw The A Team and hadn't realized or had forgotten that he died at 65 that feels awfully young to me now.


 
This one falls in the Le Carre realm of cynical spy films if Smiley was in over his head and much more appealing to the opposite sex. Though it begins with a quiet scene of dead bodies dispersed throughout the grounds, it is a more cerebral film than an action one with one twist after another in true spy fashion. Double agents or perhaps triple agents and betrayals lurking around every dark corner. In this opening scene a litter of murdered bodies are on the ground and Shay (Peppard) is carrying a wounded woman to safety. She is played by Joan Collins who was inexplicably well-known at the time - and having three men in love with her in this film is more difficult to swallow than most of the twisty bits that come later. From that opening scene, the rest of the film is a flashback leading up to it.

 

Shay is a British spy with an American accent - explained in the film a few times - is running a string of agents in Czechoslovakia that get blown and executed. He can't figure out who talked but suspects that it is someone back at HQ in England. He takes his suspicions to the seniors but they (the wonderfully reptilian Charles Gray and Nigel Patrick dismiss his accusations out of hand) and class seems to possibly be the reason why. The man that Shay suspects is above reproach due to his high status and damn he plays cricket. So, Shay sets out on his own. He thinks he has it all sorted out but not exactly as it is a bigger game than he knows. At the end, he asks his bosses, why didn't you just tell me. Well, old man, you really didn't have the needed clearance. Shay is an interesting character - hard to get a feel for him. Sociopath or patriot. I miss spy films like this that don't depend on heroic action, just connecting the dots. The title actually misleads the audience. It also brings in a few other actors that I like - Oscar Homolka, George Baker and Judy Geeson. Directed by Sam Wanamaker, who didn't do much else, he leaves a few holes unexplained but ends it nicely with a cynical blank face like a question mark.