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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
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Classic
Love the BBC and Alec Guiness. Almost as compelling as Tinker Tinker Soldier Spy
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A Gift Well Received
Purchased as a b'day present for me sainted mum (aged 91), I myself haven't viewed it. But she was ecstatic, particularly because of the closed captioning. Which ought to be available on everything, but isn't. For seniors with hearing challenges, it's essential!
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Fantastic and Riveting
This is the sequel to "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy," which you should really watch first. When John Le Carre wrote these novels the Cold War was at its height and Britain was thoroughly disgraced by scandalous Soviet infiltration of its intelligence agencies. Nobody trusted British intelligence because moles had been discovered inside the Service. All of that is true history, and forms the back drop to this series. The BBC got the rights to Le Carre's two classics, and after Tinker/Tailor proved phenomenally successful in UK and USA, they put more money into the production of "Smiley's". Give yourself a treat: settle in for a marathon and watch the entire thing at once. Amazing. It's too bad they don't make TV movie series like this any more ---- WAY better than "24".
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A Spy in Winter....
The BBC's superb dramatization of "Smiley's People", based on John Le Carre's novel of the same name, is a companion piece to the earlier "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" in which retired British spy George Smiley was recalled to the Secret Service to smoke out a Soviet mole.
In "Smiley's People", Vladimir, an aging Estonian expatriate and former British spy, makes contact with the British Secret Service on a matter of importance relating to "The Sandman", a code name for Karla, head of Soviet espionage operations against Britain. Unfortunately, Vladimir is murdered on the way to his rendezvous with a young agent handler. George Smiley (played with world weary patience in a spot-on performance by Alec Guinness) is again summoned from retirement, this time to clean up the mess. Smiley reluctantly agrees on the basis of an ancient friendship with Vladimir. His investigation slowly unravels a string of clues pointing to Karla.
Senior civil servant Lacon (Anthony Bate in a reprise of his role in Tinker) authorizes an off-the-books operation to follow up on the clues. Smiley recruits assistance from other retired Secret Service personnel and enters a dangerous game, in which Karla appears willing to kill to protect an ancient secret. The game will lead Smiley from London to Germany to Switzerland and back to Germany as he retraces what is in effect his own history in deciphering Karla's secret. A final confrontation will be the end of a life-long struggle between Smiley and Karla.
"Smiley's People" has a slow developing plot, only gradually revealing the dimensions of the story and the implications of Karla's secret. Much of the early episodes of the series are taken up by Smiley's solitary visits to old contacts and former agents, most of whom are not happy to see him. Smiley's low-key but ruthless pursuit becomes the connecting thread in a series of vignettes, nearly the last of which involves a snatch operation and interrogation of a key witness to Karla's secret.
This atmospheric series is very highly recommended as superb entertainment, especially for fans of John Le Carre and of the spy genre.
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Smiley's People
I consider this to be one of the top 10 best films ever! If you like the book you'r going to love this film.
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