Last night I watched Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, courtesy of Netflix. Based on John LeCarre’s 1974 novel, which was adapted into a PBS miniseries in 1979, it depicts the quiet, real world of spying, so unlike the silly fun of the James Bond series, the tense, action-packed Bourne films, and even the MI5 TV series, which showcased edge of the seat suspense and the modern horror of terrorism. I don’t know why it was remade. The story remains rooted in the cold war era. It is not easy to follow. It is just too dry. Alfred Hitchcock said something like movies were life with the boring parts cut out. The film does have one major asset - a cast comprised of UK stalwarts: John Hurt, Colin Firth (The King’s Speech), Ciarin Hinds, who goes all the way back to Excalibur (1981), Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock), and Gary Oldman in the role more suited for his predecessor, Alec Guinness. Even the aged LeCarre has a cameo. It’s always odd to see Oldman as a good guy, especially one as reserved as George Smiley. In his bio at IMDb, it says he has specialized in playing “borderline psychotics.” He has played Sid Vicious, Lee Harvey Oswald and Dracula, and has appeared in the Batman and Harry Potter series. My favorite performance by this great talent was as a Boston hood in the under-rated State of Grace (1990). No one would guess he was/is a Brit. He was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for T,T,S,S. It’s not nearly his best work. It’s just another case of the Academy finally catching up to an actor’s great body of work. The film was directed by Tomas Alfredson, who breathed life into the vampire genre with the excellent Let the Right One In (2008). On a scale of five, I rate T,T,S,S two-and-a-half. The folks at IMDb rate it 7.1 out of ten. The producers proved correct in doing a remake. Made for “only” 20 million pounds, it brought it 39 million worldwide, proving that LeCarre‘s work still has a significant audience. Cheerio, old chap.
I accompanied a friend on a trip to the doctor today. When she was ready to go home, it started sprinkling, and I knew I wouldn’t have the will to open the floating book shop. We had lunch at Hinsch’s, a Bay Ridge diner that has been in business about 100 years. The highlight was an Egg Cream, a NYC fountain drink that has neither egg nor cream and is rare these days. It’s just milk, seltzer and chocolate syrup. It brought back memories of a luncheonette my classmates and I used to frequent as students at St. Mary’s Elementary School. The Special was: burger, fries and an egg cream for 50 cents. We alternated between that and Reliable Bakery’s double square slice of pizza. That and a soda from the Five Sons deli added up to a quarter. A single slice alone today is $2.50 at Delmar’s. Things change.
Visit Vic’s sites:
Vic’s Third Novel (Print or Kindle): http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic’s Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic’s Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic’s 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic’s 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic’s Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3f
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