In Part 2 of our episode, we look at 1990s The Russia House, starring Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer. This film, directed by Fred Schepisi, features Connery as a British Intelligence agent (wait...what?) who's looking for the author of a sensitive Soviet manuscript whose contents, if true, could mean a great deal to the Intelligence Community.

COMING ATTRACTIONS:

Next time, we stick with LeCarre novels rendered on film, with Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), and A Most Wanted Man (2014), Join us, won't you?

Our look at Spy films takes a more serious turn with this look at a pair of movies based on John LeCarre novels.

We start with The Spy Who Came In From the Cold (1965), directed by Martin Ritt and starring Richard Burton and Claire Bloom. It's a tale of a spy who chooses one more mission instead of coming in after a Cold War mission goes wrong.

In Part 2, we'll move on to The Russia House, from 1990.

In the second half of our episode, we're reviewing the Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker parody Top Secret! starring Val Kilmer playing an Elvis/Beach Boys pop star who is invited to perform in East Germany as a means of distraction from a plot to destroy NATO submarines. Typical of most ZAZ films, it's chock full of weird sight gags, bent cliches and multi-layered jokes that don't distract (much) from the main story's ability to make progress and give you an outcome you didn't realize you were invested in.

COMING ATTRACTIONS:

We stick with the spy genre for a while, but on a less-comedic note as we visit several movies based on John LeCarre novels. In our next episode we start with The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1965) and from there we visit The Russia House (1990). Join us, won't you?

What happens when you're an Ordinary Schmoe who suddenly gets sucked into the spy game? This is what we're exploring this week, as we look at a pair of films dedicated to the proposition that anyone can become a spy, if they're stupid enough.

We start with The In-Laws, from 1979 and directed by Arthur Hiller. Peter Falk and Alan Arkin are soon-to-be in-laws who get caught up in an international incident shortly before their children get married.

In Part 2, we'll take a peek at Top Secret! from 1984.

In Part Two of our episode, we review Cold War, a film from 2018 that follows a couple that can't seem to get their act together, not until the very end, when it's far too late to do anything about it. Wiktor and Zula find themselves on opposite sides of several things, ultimately on opposite sides of the Iron Curtain. He's smitten enough to return to Communist Poland, sacrificing his freedom and delaying their reunion for years. She finds a way to get him released early, which ends up being a huge sacrifice for her as well. Whether it was worth it for the two of them to be together, we'll leave it for you to decide.

COMING ATTRACTIONS:

Episodes 71-73 will cover--or maybe it's "undercover" spy films, but we're going to start off light, with a pair of spy comedies. First up will be The In-Laws, from 1979, starring Alan Arkin and Peter Falk. After that we'll look at Top Secret!, a 1984 spoof that asks what might happen if Elvis did a spy movie.

Welcome Back! Sean and Claude took a little Spring Break and we hope you were able to do the same.

For our 70th episode, we take a peek at two films that involve couples dealing with life on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Part One features The Unbearable Lightness of Being, directed by Philip Kaufman and starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin. In this film we have a couple who find themselves going from the Prague Spring to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and the events afterward. How they deal with life, love and the things that are thrown their way, you'll find quite touching.

In Part Two, we'll look at a rather star-crossed couple that finds itself on opposite sides of many different lines, in 2018's Cold War.

In this half of the show, we jump to the early 1960s as four more icons come together ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI...(2020). This meeting is a little more contentious than in INSIGNIFICANCE, and while this meeting didn't happen, the characters and their reactions have a truthful feel that allows you to believe it would have been exactly like this.

COMING ATTRACTIONS:

Next time around, we look at love during wartime, as we screen THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING (1988), a story that takes place in the late 1960s in Prague and Switzerland. Then we skip back to post-WW2 Poland for COLD WAR (2018). Both films have similar endings but how they get there is vastly different. Join us, won't you?

We stick with the fantasy thing for one more week, but with a different spin, as we examine a pair of films that have more of a "What If?" thing going on.

In the first half of our episode we have INSIGNIFICANCE (1985), based on the play of the same name by Terry Johnson and directed here by Nicolas Roeg. We see four almost-unnamed famous people come together in a very interesting way in the late 1950s. Whether you believe the events here could have happened is up to you, but you'll be entranced nonetheless.

In Part 2, we'll see another quartet of icons meeting in the early 1960s, in ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI...(2020).

In this half of the episode we're talking about Hanna, directed by Joe Wright and starring Saoirse Ronan in the title role. This is truly a modern-day story, with story beats that have fairy-tale aspects to them...and a couple of scenes that are more overtly related to fairy tales.

This film was the basis for the Amazon Prime TV series of the same name, and we spend a little time exploring the differences between the two.

We continue our series of modern-day fairy tales with The Bride With White Hair, from 1993. It's a Wuxia film with a star-crossed lovers element, and while it might be a little confusing early on, stick with it and you'll be glad you did.