The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

Sean Connery had already starred in four James Bond movies by the time this bleak masterpiece from director Martin Ritt gave audiences an inside view of what life really was like for a spy – dull, dreary and debilitating to the soul of any poor bastard who signed on for the job. Richard Burton stars – and gives a terrific performance --- as Alec Leamas, an almost washed-up operative who is called to task after his plan to get an informer out of East Germany only gets the agent killed at Checkpoint Charlie. His bosses use his blunder as a cover story for his quitting the agency to become an informer for the very person who foiled his plan. There are plenty of twists and turns to the story, all made without any real action taking place outside of the war of words Burton fights with every speech he makes. Despite the lack of babes and bombs, though, it’s far more exciting to watch than anything Bond ever did on screen.