Movie Type: Political Thriller, Unglamorized Spy Film
Themes: Terrorism, Traitorous Spies/Double Agents
Main Cast: Diane Keaton, Yorgo Voyagis, Klaus Kinski, Sami Frey, Michael Cristofer
Release Year: 1984
Country: US
Run Time: 130 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Based on John Le Carré's novel by the same name, this story about Charlie (Diane Keaton) a female double agent working between the Palestinians and Israelis, loses some of the excitement and in-depth characterization engendered by the long novel -- mainly because the novel is hard to capture in a two-hour filmed format. But the action itself carries viewers along as Charlie ends up leaving England and her job as an actress in a Brit repertory company to meet Kurtz (Klaus Kinski) in Greece who recruits her as a spy. Charlie later has to handle her own emotions when she gets romantically involved with her Israeli contact (Yorgo Voyagis), though events move her quickly along to a Palestinian military camp near Beirut. Once she has passed herself off as a reliable Palestinian agent and completed her military training at the camp, she goes to Germany to hunt down a Palestinian terrorist (Sami Frey). Filled with a multitude of characters and locations, not to mention camera shots, the intensity of this story is dissipated somewhat by literally and figuratively covering a lot of territory, though the thread of the story itself is never lost. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
Review
Espionage thrillers are not as easy to make as they seem. Their success generally lies in keeping the audience off-balance, in setting up twists and turns that come close to losing the audience but that at the last minute pull the audience back in. In order for this to work, all of the ingredients have to be just right -- a carefully-plotted screenplay can be damaged by a bad director, the wrong actor, or even poor set design or unimaginative cinematography. The Little Drummer Girl is a good thriller that could have been much better, had the elements been a little more aligned. The script is good, with the requisite thrills and hard-edged dialogue. But George Roy Hill's direction is just adequate, never making the material as exciting as it should be. More problematic is Diane Keaton, who does an acceptable job but is essentially miscast. Without the proper actress anchoring the film, it loses a great deal of believability. Fortunately, the rest of the cast is good, with Klaus Kinski exceptional, and the basic story is engrossing. Drummer Girl never shines, but it glimmers enough to make it worth watching. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
David Suchet - Mesterbein; Thorley Walters - Ned Quilley; Eli Danker - Litvak; Anna Massey - Chairlady; Dana Wheeler-Nicholson - Katrin; Robert Pereno - Rossino; Moti Shirin - Michel; Smadar Brener - Toby; Peter Capell - Schwili; Rowena Cooper - Miss Bach; Shimon Finkel - Prof. Minkel; Julian Firth - Young Man; Shlomit Hagoel - Rose; Sebastian Graham Jones - Director; Avi Keidar - Raoul; René Kolldehoff - Inspector; Jeff Lester - American; Ben Levine - Dimitri; Ori Levy - Lenny; Shosh Marciano - Rachel; Irene Marot - Pam; Juliano Mer - Julio; Albert Moses - Green Grocer; Elisabeth Neumann-Viertel - Mrs. Minkel; Bill Nighy - Al; Danni Roth - Oded; Jonathan Sagall - Teddy; Dor Zweigenbom - Udi; Doron Nesher - David; Noam Almaz - Gabriel; Dieter Augustin - Freiburg City Official; Michael Graham Cox - Donald/Soldier; Johnny Arbid; Rolf Becker - Red Cross; Gawn Grainger - Actor; Heinz Weiss - Red Cross; Yossi Werzansky - Ben Ami; Philipp Moog - Aaron
Credit
Mike Karapiperis - Art Director, Ariel Roshko - Art Director, Geoffrey Tozer - Art Director, Rochelle Zaltzman - Costume Designer, Kristi Zea - Costume Designer, Ille Sievers - Costume Designer, Don French - First Assistant Director, George Roy Hill - Director, Michael Moore - Second Unit Director, William H. Reynolds - Editor, Dave Grusin - Composer (Music Score), Sylvester Levay - Songwriter, Henry Bumstead - Production Designer, Wolfgang Treu - Cinematographer, Robert L. Crawford - Producer, Daniel Patrick Kelley - Producer, Loring Mandel - Screenwriter, John Le Carré - Screenwriter, John Le Carré - Book Author
