With the release of Benedict Cumberbatch’s true life spy thriller The Courier, ten films about the era of (relatively) passive aggression between the Superpowers.
Director Dominic Cooke’s new picture The Courier is based on the exploits of businessman-turned-MI6 agent spy Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch), who in the early 1960s smuggled Soviet secrets to the West from his GRU contact, Colonel Oleg Penkovsky (Georgian actor Merab Ninidze).
The pair are eventually captured when the businessman travels to Moscow; Wynne faces 8 years’ incarceration at Moscow’s grim Lubyanka Prison, whilst Penkovsky is executed for treason.
The prospect of another Cold War has been a familiar refrain over recent years, with events such as the 2018 Skripal poisonings, ransomware attacks and last week’s arrest of suspected Russian agent David Smith in Berlin all pointing to a return to the paranoia and proxy wars that existed between 1947 and the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Cynically one could say the conflict didn’t really end, but merely paused over the chaotic Yeltsin years (1991-99) when the chance of establishing a truly democratic Russia was lost, at least for the time being.
During the 45 years of The Cold War, many movies used the struggle as inspiration, including classics The Third Man (1949), Fail Safe (1964), Seven Days in May (1964), and The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1965).
Even as the Soviet system was itself crumbling, producers were still scoring hits with Cold War-linked fare such as Top Secret! (1982), Firefox (1982), Red Dawn (1984), Rocky IV (1985), No Way Out (1987) and The Hunt for Red October (1990).
In terms of television, the success of FX’s spy drama The Americans (2013-18) proved that there was still plenty of interest in the era; producers must be hoping this also holds true for Paramount TV’s upcoming mini-series Reagan & Gorbachev.
The show purports to tell the behind-the-scenes story of the 1986 Reykjavik US/USSR summit and stars Michael Douglas as President Ronald Reagan, with Christoph Waltz as Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
With one exception, I will concentrate on ten more recent motion pictures about the Sub rosa conflict between two rival ideologies vying for world domination.
Atomic Blonde (2017) – Amazon Rent/Buy
David Leitch’s (co-director of John Wick) muscular action thriller is set in Berlin during the fag-end of Soviet Eastern Europe, with the fall of the Wall just days away.
Charlize Theron is terrific as Lorraine Broughton, an MI6 super-spy who kicks as much ass as humanly possible on her mission to rescue a Stasi defector and smoke out a treasonous British double agent.
As you would expect from Leitch, the action scenes are excellently staged, whilst the visuals pop and set designs create a genuine sense of place. There’s also a decent 80s soundtrack and a healthy injection of black humour.
In my estimation, Atomic Blonde stands far above similar fare such as Black Widow (2021), Anna (2019), Red Sparrow (2018), and Salt (2010). A shame that all the Brits are depicted as either bone-headed or treacherous, but that may reflect the actual situation at the time in espionage circles.
Hail Caesar! (2016) – Amazon Rent/Buy
This glorious Coen Brothers comedy set during the waning days of the Hollywood Studio System sees preening/oafish star Baird Whitlock, kidnapped from the set of his latest picture (a ‘Tale of the Christ’ set during the reign of Tiberius) by a cabal of Communist screenwriters.
Studio boss Eddie Mannix’s (Josh Brolin) quest to find the missing star (who in his captivity, is happily embracing Marxist ideology) brings the viewer into contact with a host of Hollywood characters and oddballs.
These include Ralph Fiennes hilarious turn as pernickety film director
Laurence Laurentz, a Gene Kelly style hoofing Soviet spy (Channing Tatum), identical twin rival gossip columnists (Tilda Swinton) and Alden Ehrenreich as Hobie Doyle, a denture-sporting young western star. Michael Gambon’s archly ripe narration is a pleasure in itself.
Clooney has an affinity with the era of The Cold War, as he has also produced and starred in Good Night & Good Luck (2005), the live Fail-Safe remake (2000) and The Good German (2006), which I will discuss later.
The Man From U.N.C.L.E (2015) – Amazon Rent/Buy
Loosely based on the hit 1960s TV series, The Man from U.N.C.L.E (United Network Command for Law and Enforcement) was a big budget attempt to create a Mission Impossible-style film franchise.
Spies from the US (Henry Cavill’s improbably named Napoleon Solo) and USSR (the now disgraced Armie Hammer as Illya Kuryakin) reluctantly team up to take down a group of Italian Neo-Nazis who have built their own atomic warhead.
Thankfully, unlike the original series, the bad guys organisation is not named THRUSH (Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity).
The performances of Alicia Vikander (as double agent Gaby Teller) and Elizabeth Debicki (as the villainous Victoria Vinciguerra) are better than that of Cavill/Hammer; but TMFU isn’t the kind of film designed to win acting awards.
The movie looks great, with a wonderful soundtrack which combines a spritely original score with appropriate songs from the 60s. Costumes and design are first rate, although Cavill’s bulked-up physique (doubtless for Superman chores) does make him look like he has a grapefruit stuck in each armpit whilst wearing his snappy Glen Urquhart check suit.
Director Guy Ritchie thankfully forgoes his jump cutting schtick to deliver a picture that has since deservedly acquired a cult following.
Bridge of Spies (2015) – Amazon Rent/Buy
Steven Spielberg’s gripping drama should well be on its way to classic status; it is a superbly well-constructed movie that provides a very satisfying viewing experience.
The acting is top notch, but star Tom Hanks stands out in his unshowy leading role as real life lawyer James B. Donovan, who arranged the return to the US of downed U2 pilot Gary Powers and student Frederic Pryor for his client, convicted Soviet Spy Rudolf Abel (an excellent Mark Rylance).
Bridge of Spies makes me want to see Spielberg helm a sequel, as Donovan went on to negotiate directly with Fidel Castro for the release of 1,113 prisoners held by Cuba after the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961.
Pawn Sacrifice (2015) – Amazon Rent/Buy
2015 was obviously a good year for Cold War movies, as Pawn Sacrifice is my third entry from the year.
Except for 2020’s Netflix mini-series The Queen’s Gambit, chess isn’t the most visual game/sport, but Pawn Sacrifice gives it a shot.
Chess prodigy and burgeoning anti-Semitic paranoiac Bobby Fischer (Toby Maguire) takes on Soviet grandmaster Boris Spassky (Liev Schreiber) at the 1972 World Championship in Reykjavík.
After the film’s release Spassky complained of inaccuracies, as did fellow chess world champion Anatoly Karpov.
If you like the premise of Pawn Sacrifice, you may enjoy The Coldest Game (2019), a Cold War thriller where a boozy professional chess player (Bill Pullman) helps avert the Cuban Missile Crisis when shanghaied to compete in a Warsaw championship game.
The Good German (2006) – Amazon Rent/Buy
Steven Soderbergh’s indulgent choice to ape the look of a classic 1940s black and white Hollywood Film Noir is an interesting misfire.
The performances are self-consciously stagey, whilst the action moves at a slow pace, but it is still worth a look.
George Clooney plays a U.S. newspaperman Captain Jake Geismer, who’s drawn into a complicated story of Nazi scientists, murder, and a Jewish collaborator when he is assigned to cover the Potsdam peace conference in the summer of 1945.
The film takes place before the Cold War ‘officially’ began in 1947; before even Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech of March 1946 – but the tensions between the U.S. and Soviet allies are already evident.
The Lives of Others (2006) – Amazon Rent/Buy
This superb spy drama depicts the humanising effect on Stasi operative Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) when he is ordered to bug the apartment of renowned East German playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch).
Set in 1984, The Lives of Others paints a picture of an East German government blind to the imminent collapse of the system. Shockingly, Mühe (who was East German) was said to have seen evidence that his second wife Jenny Grollman spied on him for the Stasi, although this was vehemently denied by her.
Sebastian Koch also made a strong impression in Bridge of Spies and was particularly good in Paul Verhoeven’s Black Book (2006) as a sympathetic SS officer (if that’s not a contradiction in terms).
Spy Game (2001) – Amazon Rent/Buy
Having directed Brad Pitt in A River Runs Through It (1992), Robert Redford reunites with the actor onscreen for Tony Scott’s underrated thriller.
A twisty tale told in flashback, Spy Game follows the recruitment of ace sniper Tom Bishop (Pitt) by CIA case officer Nathan Muir (Redford) and their adventures across the globe in the 70s and 80s.
When Bishop stages his own off-the-books operation in China, Muir is forced to risk all on the day of his retirement. Redford is particularly good as the jaded spy, and shows a flare for humour as he runs rings around the new generation of pen-pushers at Langley, including a priggish Stephen Dillane.
13 Days (2000)
Roger Donaldson’s gripping re-telling of the Cuban Missile Crisis manages to ratchet up the tension despite us knowing how the almost-Hot-War ended.
The always good value Bruce Greenwood is excellent as President John F. Kennedy; Kevin Costner plays Special Assistant to the President Kenneth O’Donnell in a role that looks suspiciously supersized to accommodate the star’s desire for screen time.
Eagle-eyed viewers may notice Dakin Matthews in the role of imagery intelligence expert Art Lundahl, he also played Judge Mortimer W. Byers in Bridge of Spies. Kennedy’s nephew, the late Christopher Lawford, has an eye-catching role as Commander William Ecker, who led the first low-level reconnaissance flight over Cuba during the crisis.
Ecker was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation personally by President John F. Kennedy in November 1962.
Gorky Park (1983) – MGM, Amazon Rent/Buy
Going back a good few years to 1983’s Michael Apted’s adaptation of Martin Cruz Smith’s thriller Gorky Park, a rare Hollywood movie that takes the point of view of the Russians.
Set during the final atrophied Brezhnev years, the picture stars William Hurt as Arkady Renko, a Moscow police officer assigned to the investigation of the murder and disfigurement of three bodies in the park of the film’s title.
In the course of his inquiry Renko butts heads with the KBG and a sinister American sable importer Jack Osborn, played by a grizzled Lee Marvin.
With a screenplay by Dennis Potter, Gorky Park boasts a roll call of British acting talent in support, including Ian Bannen, Michael Elphick, Richard Griffiths, Rikki Fulton, Alexei Sayle, and Ian McDiarmid.
Another U.S. film to see life from the communist side was The Beast (1988), which followed the travails of a Russian T-55 tank crew lost in mujahideen territory during the Soviet-Afghan War (1979-89).
Comments