Claire Bloom's face (reaction} along with the magnificent acting by the great Richard Burton is what makes this scene so remarkable. She is extremely beautiful, and her realization of the truth makes her face look scared, disappointed, and distraught. She finally to her horror realizes that she has been a fool and a useful idiot all that time. John LeCarre thought that she was way too beautiful, and her persona and speech were too upper-class for this role, and wanted Rita Tushingham for the role. However, we are lucky that her great talent overrode all of those doubts.
Happy 91st to Claire Bloom. They originally considered Rita Tushingham due to her working class cred, but Bloom did a good job. Also Richard wanted Liz for the part, but he didn't have casting control, though he did get his friends in other roles in the film. Burt Lancaster was originally considered as a possible actor for it too.
How many takes I wonder ? To capture that vitriolic intensity . Can't imagine asking him : er....sorry, Richard....could we just try that again ? Brilliant .! I listened to BBC Radio version with Brian Cox . Good, but nowhere near this. Not just the voice but the face.
I can think of no other actor who could convey in a character such genuine deep-seated disaffected anger and contempt for all those around him. Watch Richard Burton in the courtroom scene in "The Medusa Touch" as a further example. Or his portrail in "Night of the Iguana". And as for "Whose Afraid of Virgina Woolf?"...well I rest my case.
Oh hell, you can take just about any scene from this movie and it absolutely makes chills climb my spine.... And I read the book, the short, magnificent, brutal book before I saw the movie. And never have I seen an actor so deftly slide into a character role so convincingly, so completely. The book, all by itself, blew me away when I first read it. And today, whenever I think of the character of Leamas, it's not whatever mind's eye image I formed of him whenever I first read it that I see. It is, and forever shall be, Richard Burton in that devastating role.
Perfectly summed up. A devastating book that says everything it needs to about the Cold War in a tidy 200 pages or so. And the great director Martin Ritt perfectly captured the novel in this movie. Ritt said of Burton’s performance in this movie: something like “ i got the last good lay out of the old whore.”
This is what I love about this book. He doesn't glamourize either side. he shows that both of them know the most important rule of any type of war - you do what you have to do if you want to win
One of the funny things about this scene is that Burton was drinking so hard in those days that he couldn't remember his lines - he had cue cards pasted all over the inside of the car just out of sight of the camera.
Not true. He certainly isn’t reading in this scene but he does at the end of The Wild Geese when he confronts Matheson. Marlon Brando couldn’t be bothered to learn lines in Julius Caesar.
+JR9979 too good for a oscar a jewel beyond value for insiders. Some hard truths the public don't like hearing when you consider what won that year. Yes politics...
That was a middle-finger shown to Ian Fleming's James Bond cartoon character - "What the hell do you think spies are? Moral philosophers measuring everything they do against the word of God or Karl Marx? They're not! They're just a bunch of seedy, squalid bastards like me: little men, drunkards, queers, hen-pecked husbands, civil servants playing cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten little lives. Do you think they sit like monks in a cell, balancing right against wrong?"
@@alexanderpowell2097 You might be right; but people generally form opinion on James Bond based on his characterization in movies. To me James Bond is an anti-thesis to being a spy. This is based on many real spies on both sides of the iron curtain, I've read about.
I've been reading "the great game" by Frederick P. Hitz about the real life spy game & the myth. He says this scene/speach by Burton is one of the most accurate about all of it. Good book.
How can anyone ever tire of watching Ricard Burton?
Claire Bloom's face (reaction} along with the magnificent acting by the great Richard Burton is what makes this scene so remarkable. She is extremely beautiful, and her realization of the truth makes her face look scared, disappointed, and distraught. She finally to her horror realizes that she has been a fool and a useful idiot all that time. John LeCarre thought that she was way too beautiful, and her persona and speech were too upper-class for this role, and wanted Rita Tushingham for the role. However, we are lucky that her great talent overrode all of those doubts.
Leamus is a gray man. Air Hostesses can't classify him by age, accent, occupation.
What a soliloquy. Forget Spy v Spy in Mad Magazine. Mad Magazine lampooned this film.
This is one of the most honest explanations of what spies are made of i've ever seen.
Just the facts of life, ma'am. Thanks!
Como hemos sufrido todos con la historia qué subyace en este film.firme y sufrido desde la primera escena
A few million bodies on that path..
It Stank like a rhino house !!!
Just watched this again on TV,they cut part of this speech mentioning drunkards and queers, spoilt the importance and impact of what he was saying.
Burton forever Leamas in the same way that Guinness is forever Smiley. No remakes of either masterpiece willever be necessary...
Happy 91st to Claire Bloom. They originally considered Rita Tushingham due to her working class cred, but Bloom did a good job. Also Richard wanted Liz for the part, but he didn't have casting control, though he did get his friends in other roles in the film. Burt Lancaster was originally considered as a possible actor for it too.
This is probably more what James Bond (007) is really like.
BRUTAL
This is the best scene though ‘there’s a few million bodies on that path’ how big does a cause have to be before you kill your friends?
This film is just brutal. Absolute masterpiece.
The way he gets it off his chest to Liz, probably subconsciously he already know they are going to die pretty soon.
„Why did Mundt, let me go...?“ 😢 Oh, the how brutal the fate
f in the chat for Fidler, too smart for this world.
Telling it like it is, naked and exposed.
That huge, East German Communist band aid...
Outstanding movie and all the actors
How many takes I wonder ? To capture that vitriolic intensity . Can't imagine asking him : er....sorry, Richard....could we just try that again ? Brilliant .! I listened to BBC Radio version with Brian Cox . Good, but nowhere near this. Not just the voice but the face.
I can think of no other actor who could convey in a character such genuine deep-seated disaffected anger and contempt for all those around him. Watch Richard Burton in the courtroom scene in "The Medusa Touch" as a further example. Or his portrail in "Night of the Iguana". And as for "Whose Afraid of Virgina Woolf?"...well I rest my case.
This speech is from the bottom of a heart.
It's ironic that this movie actually passes the Bechdel Test.
You cut off the scene too soon.
Oh hell, you can take just about any scene from this movie and it absolutely makes chills climb my spine.... And I read the book, the short, magnificent, brutal book before I saw the movie. And never have I seen an actor so deftly slide into a character role so convincingly, so completely. The book, all by itself, blew me away when I first read it. And today, whenever I think of the character of Leamas, it's not whatever mind's eye image I formed of him whenever I first read it that I see. It is, and forever shall be, Richard Burton in that devastating role.
could not be said better
Hear hear
Perfectly summed up. A devastating book that says everything it needs to about the Cold War in a tidy 200 pages or so. And the great director Martin Ritt perfectly captured the novel in this movie. Ritt said of Burton’s performance in this movie: something like “ i got the last good lay out of the old whore.”
An Incredible film with Great Acting and brilliant script!!!! One of my all time fave movies!!! Saw it first when I was very young!
Goosebumps, Mr Burton's performance so real and smooth...
Sorry but the audio on this is way too low to appreciate it
JUST LOVE THIS SCENE . WHAT DO YOU THINK SPIES ARE ? THE PRICKING OF THE JAMES BOND FANTASY .
But he did not see the next part coming.
This is what I love about this book. He doesn't glamourize either side. he shows that both of them know the most important rule of any type of war - you do what you have to do if you want to win
Most memorable scene in the film or any other film.
One of the funny things about this scene is that Burton was drinking so hard in those days that he couldn't remember his lines - he had cue cards pasted all over the inside of the car just out of sight of the camera.
Not true. He certainly isn’t reading in this scene but he does at the end of The Wild Geese when he confronts Matheson. Marlon Brando couldn’t be bothered to learn lines in Julius Caesar.
That's Marlon Brando idiot.
that was for the movie "1984"
Fix the volume please. One of my favorite scenes of all time.
This reminds me so much of The Small Faces in their Ogdens Nut Gone Flake era.
Spies are just like us..not superheroes..but small people that need something to brighten their rotten little lives..that's what it means
should have won the Oscar for this.
+JR9979 too good for a oscar a jewel beyond value for insiders. Some hard truths the public don't like hearing when you consider what won that year. Yes politics...
one of the two top scenes of the film. the other being burton's scene with werner discussing the west.
That was a middle-finger shown to Ian Fleming's James Bond cartoon character - "What the hell do you think spies are? Moral philosophers measuring everything they do against the word of God or Karl Marx? They're not! They're just a bunch of seedy, squalid bastards like me: little men, drunkards, queers, hen-pecked husbands, civil servants playing cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten little lives. Do you think they sit like monks in a cell, balancing right against wrong?"
+Shiva Venkat What is he really telling her there?
+slayerette86m in summation - spies are scum!
@@alexanderpowell2097 You might be right; but people generally form opinion on James Bond based on his characterization in movies. To me James Bond is an anti-thesis to being a spy. This is based on many real spies on both sides of the iron curtain, I've read about.
oh ya shouldabeena classic.ya great ya f
excellent movie, Mr Burton one of the best
Best ever accent - Richard Burton.
i agree,!!
this is the real spy story,not the bond films.great acting,story,film.cheers all.
Oskar Werner stole the show..:)
Claire Bloom, what a beauty.. and Burton was one of the best actors of the past century. Great film.
They had a long and passionate affair from 1951 to 1959, she admits he was the great love of her life. She details it all in her first book.
@@HolgerRuneFan Actually in her second book. She doesn't talk much about her private life in the first book.
I've been reading "the great game" by Frederick P. Hitz about the real life spy game & the myth. He says this scene/speach by Burton is one of the most accurate about all of it. Good book.