User Reviews

Burt Lancaster and Alain Delon are the star cast of this archetypal seventies spy film where, as the final line goes, "the only rule is to stay in the game". A taciturn Lancaster is Cross, a veteran CIA agent who comes under suspicion of double play by the young wisecracks who run the shop. Cross's hit-man Jean Laurier aka Scorpio, a French mercenary played by Alain Delon, is hired by top officer McLeod to get rid of the old man but something tells him there's more to it and he decides to wait. Soon, Cross knows the time on his watch and is on the run, seeking refuge in Vienna with his KGB counterpart and buddy Sergei Zharkov (Paul Scofield in a posture reminiscent of Fernando Rey in French Connection) while trying to reunite with his wife (Joanne Linville) and quit the game. Though not convinced of Cross's alleged defection, Scorpio finally agrees to go after him. Ensues a twisted tale of foul play, double entendre and grim realpolitik. Though not an unforgettable classic nor, by any means, an extravaganza, and despite obvious flaws - among which the sketchy synchronising, some phony dialogue and the occasional action blunder - Scorpio is a highly entertaining and at all times suspenseful flick, which hardly ever loses pace and offers a great platform for a no-nonsense performance by the bulky Lancaster and the sly Delon. Unlike Costa Gavras, director Michael Winner clearly chooses story intrigue over naturalism or verisimilitude, and turns in a solid thriller with overall likable types. Certainly, there is no moral authority here, and not even so much as true friendship or love - he who trusts will get stung.

Retirement is not always possible for a spy, particularly an agent caught in the no-man's-land between the two superpowers... Cross (Burt Lancaster) is such a spy in Michael Winner's 'Scorpio.'

Released at a time when disclosures about CIA and FBI abuses were receiving wider acceptance, 'Scorpio' might have become a controversial success, but was forestalled by Costa-Gavras' more factual 'State of Siege.'

A melodramatic and threatening spy film, 'Scorpio' had two rival protagonists: Cross, an experienced CIA agent being hunted by his former colleagues, and a former French paratroop officer, Jean Laurier (Alain Delon), now a 'CIA contract button man,' a professional assassin, code-name Scorpio...

Irritated by the Frenchman's independence, the CIA chief McLeod (John Colicos) has had heroin planted in his bedroom to make the hired killer more pliable... Threatened with a drug arrest, Scorpio has no choice but to accept the assignment to kill Cross, although McLeod sugars the pill with promises of a fat bonus and Cross' job as the CIA's man in the Middle East...

Although told that Cross has been a double-agent working for the "opposition," Scorpio remains doubtful... In the meantime, by a series of clever tricks and tactics, Cross has not only managed to evade the CIA men following him, but has arrived in the favorite city for cinematic intrigue, Vienna, Austria...

The most part of the film's action and some of its best sequences take place in the country on the Danube River where the mystery surrounding Cross deepens... In a nighttime rendezvous on a deserted street, Cross is met by a Viennese worker who is whistling, perhaps as a signal or out of habit, the "lnternationale."

The husky-voiced Cross says, "It's been a long time since Spain," to which the man responds, "The best died there," and gives Cross directions to meet two more "cut-outs." This kind of political reference occurred frequently in the film's dialog as part of the sympathetic characterization of Cross as envisioned by an intelligent and well written script...

In a sequence that was easily the equal of some of the best spy films, Cross and his Soviet counterpart, Sergei Zharkov (Paul Scofield), laughingly discuss their mutual reject for their bosses and the identical young men who support both the CIA and KGB... While Cross accepts Zharkov's evaluation of themselves as a pair of premature anti-fascists, he can not understand Zharkov's professed belief in Communism after years spent in a Stalinist labor camp and the recent invasion of Czechoslovakia... In a later scene when Zharkov tries to get help from his superiors and is refused, the embassy official is given a dose of Zharkov's irony when told of his resemblance to another man 'who didn't leave his name, but was trying to build socialism in one country out of the bones from a Charnel house' –as strong an indictment of Stalin's Russia as any Cold War film, but more intelligent and more skillfully presented...

The film's major element was the state of tension in which the audience was held, until the final minutes viewers could be certain of Cross true identity, and CIA director, the eccentric hated human being represented by McLeod...

The CIA chief appeared more ruthless than any other character... He was willing to frame Scorpio on a false charge, to endanger his own agents needlessly and even to have Cross' wife murdered in an unsuccessfully burglary attempt...

There was even a hint of Nazi persecution, since one of Cross' wartime friends, Max (Shmul Rodensky), was killed during an interrogation conducted by a local Viennese thug who had laughed cleverly at the mention of Max's imprisonment in a concentration camp...

The problem of Cross's guilt or innocence concentrated on Scorpio, who knew enough to distrust McLeod yet is pushed to fulfill his assignment... In a nighttime scene shot in a huge enclosed botanical garden, Scorpio meets Cross and their dialog is a clever mixture of plot development and characterization... To the Frenchman's direct question whether he is a traitor or not, Cross tells Scorpio that he reminds him of a little girl in her white Communion dress looking for God, but that since Scorpio has the soul of a torturer his need is even greater... Cross denies being a double-agent and tells Scorpio that McLeod wanted him eliminated as well...

Scorpio's conversations gave the film its uniquely complex political coloration... Lancaster gave his character the air of a worldly wise cynic whose ties to the Russians were as mercenary as they were emotional..

With considerable assets in three separate bank accounts, Cross' dismissal of Zharkov's Communist blind faith had a firm basis... Yet, Cross had all the 1930's liberal hypotheses: The whistled "Internationale," the reference to Spain, the twenty-year friendship with Zharkov, his obvious affection for Max and Cross' contacts among Washington, D.C. area Blacks were all hints of his real political sympathies... His warnings to Scorpio were justified, and Cross's treason seemed minor compared to the CIA's criminal behavior... The traditional reference points (affection for his wife and friends) all proclaimed Cross' innocence, and in fact, the CIA stood more condemned in the film...

If it hadn't been for its irregular pacing, the juxtaposition of slow, talky scenes with far too gymnastic thriller consequences, 'Scorpio' might have been a domestic 'The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.' The spy film that did eventually serve this role appeared in 1975, in Sydney Pollack's 'Three Days of the Condor.'

***SPOILERS*** A lot like Michael Winner's previous thriller "The Mechanic" the film "Scoripo" has to do with an aging CIA assassin who's now regarded by his superiors as being both obsolete and expendable. There's also the suspicion that he's planing to flee to Moscow and reveal all the secrets of the agency, CIA, that can be very embarrassing to both his bosses in the US Government and his contacts and undercover agents in the USSR.

Cross, Burt Lancaster, has been in the dirty business of political assassinations since WWII. Now in his 50's Cross wants to retire and live out the rest of his life with his wife Sarah, Joanne Linville, in peace and quite without looking over his shoulder every time he's out on the streets.

With Cross' new boss McLoad, John Colicos, suspecting him of treason he sends out cat loving French hit-man Jean Laurier-Alain Delon-or code name Scorpio to do Cross in before, in McLoad opinion, he defects behind the Iron Curtain. It turns out that Laurier was Cross', who thought him every thing he knows about contract killings, protégé in the assassination business as well as being a good friend of his. Laurier is also curtain that Cross is clean and this antagonism towards him by McLoad is personal not professional in that Cross, a man who likes to do things his way, doesn't toady up to him like the rest of the agents he's in charge of.

Suspense filled thriller with Cross on the run as his options for staying alive dwindle down to next to zero. Laurier is very hesitant to knock off Cross in that he feels that, besides being a good friend of his, he's innocent of the charges that McLoad accuses him off. With him trapped in Vienna Cross goes to the only person who can possibly save his life long time friend and adversary Soviet Agent Zarkov, Paul Scofield.

McLoad uses the Cross/Zarkov relationship to try to convince Laurier that his friend Cross is actually a double agent worthy to be gunned down from his treachery to both the USA and Laurier's own country NATO member France. The movie's both thrilling and surprise ending has Laurie find out the truth behind Cross' actions and they have nothing at all to do with his attempted defection to the Soviet Union! But they do in fact have something to do with those that Laurie has been closely associating with! Someone who's a lot closer to Laurie then even he,in his wildest conspiracy paranoia, could possibly imagine!

Like in Winner's 1972 assassin thriller "The Mechanic" the film "Serpico" shows just how thankless the job of a paid assassin really is. In the end Laurier finally realizes that being in the business he's in he has no time for friend and family as well as romantic relationships. In that the only one you can really trust is yourself and, in Lauries case, the street cats that you adopt; and worst of all the agency's retirement plan sucks!

The year was 1973. Burt Lancaster, Hollywood icon, Academy Award winner, was 60 years old. Discovered late in life, he had been in films for approximately 30 years, Later his biographers would write that, as he aged, Burt eschewed taking cheap roles in B-movies, and instead "exiled" himself to Europe. There he selectively took smaller roles in international movies that he found interesting. Scorpio, made in 73, is essentially a story about the relationship between two spies, an older and a younger, was directed by Michael Winner, himself a director with a record for both hits and flops. (Charles Bronson, for example, liked to work with Winner for his action films.) To play the younger spy, Alain Delon was cast. He too was known for his physical attributes, considered at one point one of the best-looking men on the planet. Delon had just recently played the iconic killer in Melville's unforgettable film noire – "extra noire" in this case - Samourai, and was therefore, on paper, the perfect bookend to counterpart Lancaster. Lancaster was at the stage in his astonishing career where most the mannerisms and stylings -- the big hair, the big grin, the swagger, the big gesture -- that had worked for him for so long were no longer age-appropriate. He had learned to work more subtly, and he learned well. There is a plot to Scorpio, yes indeed, but you needn't bother. It is basically about the relationship between two jungle cats when suddenly it becomes clear that the jungle is only big enough for one of them. And in fairness to the reader, let's be crystal clear that this is not Lancaster's best film (not even close!) or Winners', or even Delon's. Also, the film has a serious pacing issue, the first 2/3 is slow and plodding, whereas the last 1/3 reminds you of a transmission where the gears finally connect. In fact, a bizarre argument could be made that this is one of the few films ever made where the ending is better than the movie! No more spoilers here, bottom line, this is a non-exceptional film made just a little more interesting by the casting and the ambitions of the director. That said, if you REALLY want to see a film about two friends duking it out against a backdrop of Viennese scenery done up proper, in ribbons and bows, forget this film completely, and rent/buy/download/borrow THE THIRD MAN.

It's something of a miracle that director Michael Winner was granted access to the Central Intelligence Agency for his filming of 'Scorpio.' This 1972 spy thriller, made just after the height of Cold War tensions, sheds a nasty light on espionage and had crew members that weren't favorites of Washington. The film's script was co-written by David Rintels, who experienced problems entering the U.S. from Canada on grounds of suspected Communist leanings, and its score was composed by Jerry Fielding, who was blacklisted from Hollywood during the McCarthy era. In a matter of further coincidence that helped Scorpio's box office, its cast and crew were staying at the Watergate Hotel when Richard Nixon's recruits broke into Democratic Party Headquarters; supposedly, lead actors Burt Lancaster and Alain Delon were in the building when these gentlemen performed their deeds.

Controversies aside, 'Scorpio' was made after the peak of spy films but rates as an intriguing entry to the genre. It features a solid cast in Lancaster, Delon, and thespian Paul Scofield, while making fair use of Washington, Paris, and Vienna. 'Scorpio' is certainly not in the upper echelon of spy pictures, but it's a decent effort that moves against the grain of standard espionage. Its script by David Rintels (in his film debut) and Gerald Wilson erases our concept of good and evil, depicting the Cold War's underlying operations as a vast endgame where human life is of practically no value and loyalty is regarded as fatal weakness.

Lancaster plays Gerald Cross, an experienced CIA agent with various contacts in Europe and the Middle East. His superiors, including CIA head McLeod (John Colicos) believe that Cross is serving as a double agent between the U.S. and Soviet Bloc, padding his finances along the way. Sensing a threat to national security, the CIA forcibly hires Jean Laurier (Delon, codenamed 'Scorpio'), a French assassin who has provided services to the U.S. government. Laurier is logically best for the job, since it was Cross who trained him and to whom he revealed his ways of thinking. Cross realizes that he is under surveillance and flees to Europe, leaving behind his wife Sarah (Joanne Linville). He hides in Vienna with assistance from Serge Zharkov (Scofield), a KGB agent who befriended Cross while in Iraq.

'Scorpio' is a vast labyrinth of political infighting and backstabbing. Well-portrayed by Burt Lancaster, Cross is constantly on the move and hopes to reunite with his wife, but he's aware that time is inevitably running out. Laurier, aptly played by Delon, finds himself torn between friendship and his own survival; he knows that Cross must be killed, but stalls out of his respect for teacher and partner. Laurier is looking to flee the espionage world himself and even deals with betrayal from his fiancée Susan (Gayle Hunnicutt), who works as a courier. Not coincidentally, the CIA higher-ups are depicted as psychotics who won't hesitate to kill off women, children, and physically handicapped for the sake of 'national security.' 'Scorpio' is in the tradition of spy films where nobody wins and all sides are involved in an endless chain of murder.

Lancaster is a strong presence and eye-opening in numerous action scenes, especially a construction site chase between Cross and Laurier. Unfortunately, Delon's low-key performance suffers because of this; although Delon is steady, he is drastically offset by Lancaster and a thick accent sometimes leaves him hard to understand. Paul Scofield is likable and charismatic, playing a 'rehabilitated' agent who served years in a labor camp but has not lost faith in the USSR's decrepit ideologies. The supporting cast, including John Colicos, brings a large amount of energy to their roles.

Michael Winner recorded 'Scorpio' about two years before 'Death Wish,' which made his name as a director. 'Scorpio' has fairly plain direction and uses fewer of the camera movements and bizarre angles that would saturate Winner's later oeuvre. This is certainly one of his better films, although it is lacking in the technical department. Scorpio's dialogue track is sometimes out of kilter with the on-screen actors and there are continuity mistakes like an auto driven by Lancaster that becomes intact after smashing into a carload of federal agents! I sometimes ask if Winner made these goofs as a joke, but it does hamper the film's authenticity. Winner cannot be faulted for sticking with cinematographer Robert Paynter ('Hannibal Brooks,' 'Superman II') and composer Jerry Fielding. Paynter's images are always clean and efficient, while Fielding offers a versatile score that comes together in the finale.

MGM latched onto Scorpio's Watergate connection when releasing its DVD in 2000. The case includes a four-page booklet with trivia on Scorpio's production. Lancaster, incidentally, didn't consider his role beyond a usual project. The disc presents 'Scorpio' in widescreen with optional French dubbing and subtitles in both French and English. 'Scorpio' has fair visual quality; colors are discernible, but there is continuous grain and speckling. Narrow black bars are used, leaving 'Scorpio' just shy of an open matte presentation. The audio is Dolby-enhanced mono, with non-English accents sometimes (and unavoidably) muddying the dialogue. Scorpio's theatrical trailer is the only DVD extra.

'Scorpio' is dated, but dated in a good way. The film was made years before production companies replaced acting and scriptwriting with huge effects and 'icons' who merely take up room on screen. 'Scorpio' is cleverly written and relies on the durability of Lancaster, Delon, and Scofield to keep things in gear. There is always a better spy film to watch - 'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold' is one such example - but 'Scorpio' still belongs in the category of highly watchable thrillers and has a large nostalgia value in its cast.

*** out of 4

Roving Reviewer - www.geocities.com/paul_johnr

Alas, this one turns out to be a muddled, rambling and confused spy "thriller", despite its interesting cast and some great action sequences filmed against some really fascinating locations. Director Michael Winner is certainly at his best in the action spots (although it should be made clear to intending patrons that some of these sequences have a brutality that they may find offensive).

Another problem with the script is that its anti-CIA theme with its collection of disillusioned spies is now somewhat old hat.

Maybe the cycle of successful movies started by "The Ipcress File" and "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold" has now well and truly run its course. We have been exposed to spies who came in, spies who stayed out, spies who pretended to come in, spies who came in but then changed their minds, spies who played both sides, and spies who didn't intend to come in but were forced to do so.

Enough is enough!

Once an assignment is over, kill those who know too much. That is the code these people live and die by. Burt Lancaster and Alain Delon star in this thriller about Burt on the run because he's a loose end, living on borrowed time. Delon was supposed to finish him off at the time of the mission's end, but there was some "honor of thieves" between them. But Alain is told to terminate him anyway. So this cat-and-mouse tale goes. I can't understand why it has such an low mean, when this was an exceptional film with outstanding performances by Burt and Alain. The only problem I had with it was that it dragged a bit in the middle when he was drunk with friend Paul Scofield, when he was hiding out at his place. The film's pace could have been tighter without that. And also it's very hard in a movie to not come across as corny or forced, whenever someone has some last words as they lay dying. This film has such an awkward moment, because of that; maybe they could have just died. The scene may have been more dramatic without anything being said. Maybe I'm being picky, but other than that, this must-see espionage film, costarring Gayle Hunnicutt, really delivers the goods. I would watch this again and that's the true test of a film like this, when you know how it turns out - who lives and dies - and you still would see it again. Watch Scorpio for yourself and witness Lancaster vs. Delon.