'SCORPIO' MEAN SPY TALE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01365R000300210004-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 29, 2004
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: April 19, 1973
• Content Type: NSPR

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Approved For Release 2005/01/13 : CIA-RDP88-01365RQQ0@21-9O4f0 y S
19 ~:PR 1973
`Scorpio' Tean Spy Tale
"Scorpio" is a spy movie that
tries to transcend the dutifully
ordinary twists of its plot and
tell a tale of a squalid world in
which nothing - not friendship
nor love nor life-has any value.
It Is so relentless in rendering
meanness that it leaves a bitter
aftertaste.
Director Michael Winner did a
nice anatomy of a professional
assassin in his 1972 film, "The =
Mechanic." And he did it simply
by showing the man at work, with
very little talking.
BUT IN "SCORPIO," the script
of David Rintels and Gerald Wil-
son is an obstacle course of expo-
sition over which the characters
pick their way With a carefulness
that slows down the pace so es-
sential to this genre of picture.
As the hired gun, Alain Delon
must spend so much time playing
with cats, arranging flowers a;nd
analyzing himself that it is a
wonder lie manages to catch up
with his prey,
HE POES in part because Burt
Lancaster, a CIA agent who has
been too lone; in the cold for the
liking of his superiors, takes as
much time out from running to
reminisce about the good old clays
when spies used tl-h3L7 eyes aiul
minds instead of computers.
Neither man, nor Paul Scofield
as a Russian a g e n t nor John
Colicos as the CIA chief, can
justify his essentially petty life
and their talk doesn't redeem
their shabbi ,css.
Even as he lies gut-_.hot, Lan-
caster delivers a death aria: "It's
not winning or losing that mat-
ters; it's that you keep on pla}>-
ing." lIe might have said "talk-
ing" and "Scorpio," at the Rivoli,
Eastside, Trans-Lux. 8th St. and
Red Carpet Theaters, might have
talked less. -Jerry Oster
"Scorpio", a United Artists
release in Color. Produced by
Walter 3lirisch and directed by
Michael Winner from a screen-
play by David W. Rintels and
Gerald Wilson based ml a story
by Rintels. Presented it; the
Rivoli, Eastside Cinema, Trans-
Lox 85th St. and Red Carpet
Theaters. Running time: 1
hour, 54 minutes. NIPAA rat-
ing: PG (All admitted-parent-
al guidance suggested).
THE CAST:
Cross Burt Lancaster
Laurier Alain Delon
2:harkov .__..--- Paul Scofield
McLeod John Colicos
Susan _ Gayle Hunnicutt
FiIchock J. D. Cannon
Sarah - Joanne Linville
Pick _ Melvin Stewart
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Approved For Release 2005/01/13 : CIA-RDP88-01365R000300210004-0