British director Michael Winner cast brawny Burt Lancaster as a veteran CIA agent on the lam in "Scorpio" while handsome French contract assassin Alain Delon cannot decide when he will ice him in this sinister international spy thriller. Despite a modicum of dreary, loquacious interludes, this espionage epic contains some spontaneous action scenes, featuring Lancaster at his acrobatic best. The best of which is a lengthy foot chase through the streets with Burt hoofing it. Cross (Burt Lancaster of "Valdez Is Coming") recruits a former French Foreign Legion soldier, Jean Laurier (Alain Delon of "Purple Noon"), to assassinate a diplomat at Paris' Orly Airport while a young radical Arab terrorist distracts the authorities. As it turns out, Laurier had been paid by the CIA to ice Cross while the two men were together in Paris. They fly back to Washington, D. C., where they part company on good terms. Cross goes home with his wife, Sarah (Joanne Linville of "Gable and Lombard"), but isn't surprised the CIA are maintaining round-the-clock surveillance on their residence. At one point, Cross lures two agents in a car who have been tailing him into an alley. He jams on the brakes and lies across the front seat momentarily as the CIA goons pull into the alley. Suddenly, Cross throws himself behind the steering wheel, slams the car into reverse, and smashes it into the vehicle following him. One of the agents pursues him into a building where he follows him into a toilet. Checking each toilet stall methodically, the agent is surprised when Cross bursts from one, beats him up, and shoves a pill down his throat. According to Cross, the pill is a 'kiss the mortgage goodbye' pill. Later, we learn he stuck a harmless hay fever pill down the agent's gullet! Instead of walking back into CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia, Cross skips town, disguised as a priest, and flies to Europe.
Meantime, Washington P. D. arrest Laurier on a trumped-up heroin charge. Making matters worse, a pugnacious D. C. detective rudely pistol whips the Frenchman during his arrest. Moreover, when the cops barged into Laurier's bedroom, he was snuggled up next to his gorgeous girlfriend, English Literature instructor Susan (Gayle Hunnicutt of "The Wild Angels"), who has been scheming to marry him. CIA official McLeod (John Colicos of "Raid on Rommel") offers Laurier a choice to walk away from a possible 30-year sentence if he cooperates and helps the Agency locate and then eliminate Cross. Ironically, despite the cutthroat tactics of both the CIA and Cross, Laurier appears reluctant to terminate his mentor with extreme prejudice since the man has provided him with so much information to protect himself from people like McLeod and his second-in-command Filchock (J. D. Cannon of "Cool Hand Luke") who desperately want Cross's head on a platter. Cross seeks unofficial asylum from a Soviet, Zharkov (Paul Scofield of "The Train"), who is an old friend. Meantime, McLeod fears Cross has been selling out to the Soviets. Tensions come to a boil when McLeod's clumsy CIA gunmen kill Sarah, and Cross comes back to America with vengeance in his heart. Cross hires an acrobat to walk across the street in front of McLeod's car. The fearless fellow hurls himself on the hood of the vehicle, bringing the car to a abrupt halt. While everybody is focused on helping the poor, unfortunate man who stepped into the oncoming vehicle, Cross steals like phantom up to the other side of the car without attracting attention, pops open the backseat door, and shoots McLeod dead in the back of his limo.
Although he was getting pretty long in the tooth at the time, Burt Lancaster doesn't let us forget that he was once a nimble circus acrobat. He has some rigorous moments in "Scorpio" where it is abundantly clear that the Oscar-winning actor shunned the services of a stunt double. One instance involves him leaping from a high place to plunge across a huge drum in the bottom of a subway station under construction in Vienna. He bounces off the gigantic drum and tumbles to the floor next to in without injury. It is a cool stunt, and it is done all in one shot so you know that it was Burt the entire time. The international locations add zest to this tale of friendship and betrayal. Winner directs with his customary brusque style, and the mentoring melodrama that occurs here is reminiscent of Winner's earlier film "The Mechanic." Lenser Robert Paynter composes some of the tightest compositions that you will ever see. This is one of those spy sagas where virtually everybody dies. Altogether, if you enjoy watching Burt Lancaster, "Scorpio" won't sting you.
Meantime, Washington P. D. arrest Laurier on a trumped-up heroin charge. Making matters worse, a pugnacious D. C. detective rudely pistol whips the Frenchman during his arrest. Moreover, when the cops barged into Laurier's bedroom, he was snuggled up next to his gorgeous girlfriend, English Literature instructor Susan (Gayle Hunnicutt of "The Wild Angels"), who has been scheming to marry him. CIA official McLeod (John Colicos of "Raid on Rommel") offers Laurier a choice to walk away from a possible 30-year sentence if he cooperates and helps the Agency locate and then eliminate Cross. Ironically, despite the cutthroat tactics of both the CIA and Cross, Laurier appears reluctant to terminate his mentor with extreme prejudice since the man has provided him with so much information to protect himself from people like McLeod and his second-in-command Filchock (J. D. Cannon of "Cool Hand Luke") who desperately want Cross's head on a platter. Cross seeks unofficial asylum from a Soviet, Zharkov (Paul Scofield of "The Train"), who is an old friend. Meantime, McLeod fears Cross has been selling out to the Soviets. Tensions come to a boil when McLeod's clumsy CIA gunmen kill Sarah, and Cross comes back to America with vengeance in his heart. Cross hires an acrobat to walk across the street in front of McLeod's car. The fearless fellow hurls himself on the hood of the vehicle, bringing the car to a abrupt halt. While everybody is focused on helping the poor, unfortunate man who stepped into the oncoming vehicle, Cross steals like phantom up to the other side of the car without attracting attention, pops open the backseat door, and shoots McLeod dead in the back of his limo.
Although he was getting pretty long in the tooth at the time, Burt Lancaster doesn't let us forget that he was once a nimble circus acrobat. He has some rigorous moments in "Scorpio" where it is abundantly clear that the Oscar-winning actor shunned the services of a stunt double. One instance involves him leaping from a high place to plunge across a huge drum in the bottom of a subway station under construction in Vienna. He bounces off the gigantic drum and tumbles to the floor next to in without injury. It is a cool stunt, and it is done all in one shot so you know that it was Burt the entire time. The international locations add zest to this tale of friendship and betrayal. Winner directs with his customary brusque style, and the mentoring melodrama that occurs here is reminiscent of Winner's earlier film "The Mechanic." Lenser Robert Paynter composes some of the tightest compositions that you will ever see. This is one of those spy sagas where virtually everybody dies. Altogether, if you enjoy watching Burt Lancaster, "Scorpio" won't sting you.