I’d forgotten about that film, now I have Total Recall , the horror - though also not Michael Winners worst movie.
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Yeah it’s a shame; the idea of bringing back Palmer was a fun one but he didn’t even feel like the same guy. And they were trashy.
I feel like someone will reboot and bring back Palmer someday. I wouldn’t mind it.
It’s odd that Horse Under Water wasn’t tackled; was probably considered too old fashioned for a Palmer revival.
I did try reading it when I heard it was considered for the fourth movie that never happened, but I found it very boring indeed! 
There was another Deighton adaptation in the 70’s with a character who could have been Palmer (but wasn’t): was it called Spy Story?
It’s weird how both sequels involve Harry meeting, and working with, an old friend who turns out to be trying to manipulate him and turns against him. I do rather like his consistent trait of going along with people trying to use him but secretly outwitting them along the way- Caine’s impassiveness just worked so well for that. He’s kind of like the secret agent version of Columbo in a way!
It has to be said that the Harry Palmer from the screen and the nameless character in Deighton’s books are somewhat different: much of the film version was cooked up as a direct reaction to Bond’s poshness, the supposed chip on the shoulder because of his working class background or being forced into the service for blackmarketeering are absent in the books and the character Deighton originally depicts is more the garden variety of civil servant you would find in any government department. Deighton even lets his hero report the first adventure directly to a minister. The Palmer Caine played in the films wouldn’t be left alone with a minister in the same building.
They both are small scale medium grade civil servants, saving for a down payment for a car and probably trying to get the expenses for an Aquascutum out of accounting or deduce it from the tax return. But the film version, Caine’s version, depends entirely on his depiction while the book version remains a strangely removed man for a first person narrator.
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Aaron Taylor Johnson talking Tenet.
Clever tactics of Nolan, tease and denial on an Internet scale. Nothing of substance save for Taylor-Johnson being extremely excited.
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This is not Tenet related, or indeed new, but is Nolan
For @secretagentfan and @MrKiddWint
And others who share their concerns about modern cinema…
I present the only two directors allowed to make large budget, entirely original, films on a regular basis in the 21st Century, having a conversation about a film, that is just 8 actors in a room, for 2 hours (side note: Actors CRAVE that kind of story. Gives us lots of dialogue and other characters to bounce off) I have many notes on how this demonstrates the difference between the two, and how there is no “correct” image of a perfect director to both audience in studio, but they’re pretentious and talking shop, so i’ll leave them to spare the eye rolls.
EDIT: Tarantino says something early that…let’s say hasn’t aged well.
You’ll know exactly which one when you hear it…
EDIT 2 (because I posted it before I watched it): When Tarantino says “I got over it” regarding an early Hateful 8, Tim Roth says the leak as “Jackson, Madson and me talking him down”
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Thanks–I look forward to watching.
Note: Tarantino has said that over time he moved from Godard to Mankiewicz (though I will point out that Godard was deeply influenced by Mankiewicz, and the debt is still apparent in his work). I remember that in interviews around THE HATEFUL EIGHT he displayed the script of ALL ABOUT EVE, saying it was the best written script ever and his model.
I often think that in one way, directors like Mankiewicz, Preminger, Hitchcock, etc. had more freedom within the confines of the studio system than directors today, whether their budgets are large or small. Not having any boundaries to circumvent, today’s directors can express without limit (and often without the creativity which limits inspire).
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It’s why I tagged you; these are the only two who have had those opportunities in 2019
Thanks for that video.
I probably have to explain my perspective on Tarantino, though. In my early twenties, during my time at the university, I lived and breathed movies. And with Tarantino´s first two films I was swept along on the wave of admiration for him since “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction” so clearly brought something unpredictable and fresh to US cinema while also nodding towards all the classics of pop culture that came before.
But when I got older I liked his movies less and less. My opinion formed that his supposedly great dialogue was - like the rest of his style - self-obsessed, over indulgent and emotionally empty.
While I still found something to like in almost every film of his I also got turned off by his increasing attitude of being THE MASTER, the one who knew everything and had to be bowed to. And I really, really did not like his opinion on violence in movies. It was, IMO, always the same over-the-top love for brutality which never ever did anything else but titilate the lowest urges of his audience.
Hearing him talk has always been difficult for me. He is so self-important, talking anybody’s ear off like that guy at the party who nervously laughs at his own jokes while motormouthing about his fanboy obsessions. And when he now talks about THE HATEFUL EIGHT, which I really hated and consider a total misfire, he displays a total lack of his ability to judge his own work. Instead he wants to make others believe that he knew exactly what he was doing. Which he did not, IMO. He just did not have anybody tell him: no, go back to the drawing board.
So, no - I don´t like him and I have stopped caring about his movies. He is an overhyped guy who believes in that hype and expects anyone else to. Too many do.
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I sort of see what you’re getting at about QT. In my late teens/early twenties I lived and breathed Tarantino. But as I’ve got older I do sort of step back a bit and see the indulgence in his movies.
I thought the Hateful Eight was very boring and borderline unwatchable, but I really think OUATIH was truly great. He takes his time in his films and a QT film hitting the cinema is always an EVENT for me, similar to Bond. No one bothers to make proper movies like QT anymore- I think I am suffering from superhero movie fatigue at the moment, vapid cookie-cutter stuff with no depth. So when OUATIH came out I loved it, breathed it all in.
Nolan, of course is a powerhouse of a director. Inception, The Prestige and Interstellar are all truly exceptional. He reminds me of how QT used to make me feel, and now a new Bond movie still does. Tenet, I’m sure, will be something special.
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I an not a total fan of Nolan but I love how low key he is. And he has made much more interesting, daring and courageous films than Tarantino, on a much broader scale of themes. Tarantino basically is a remixer with one good song (co-written by Avary), Nolan is a singer-songwriter who produces all his albums himself.
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Great way of looking at it.
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Tenet’s trailer was put in for submission to be rated again on the 19th of September. An internet release may be incoming.
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Hah! I love that this really just teases and is so different from all the “GET THE SPECTACLE IN EVERY SHOT, EDIT IT TO MILLISECOND SNIPPETS, THROW EVERYTHING AT THE VIEWER NOWWWW!”.
I would love EON to give us a teaser that also dared to be that different.
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Not so much of a trailer as an arty moodboard for an ad campaign.
As a teaser it’s great. However, though i’m all for knowing little going into the auditorium I think Tenet will need something a little more substantial nearer release to get people buying tickets.
Bond, on the other hand needs no introduction imo. For most a full trailer may not be necessary to convince them to buy a ticket.
But there’ll alway be a few who are undecided / not that bothered. For those few extra $ there will always be a full trailer nearer release.
Spectre’s teaser to some extent ?
Should contextualise that this ad was made to be put about a year before the film is out. Anymore and things in the film will feel old by the time you actually see them in the film, but I get why WB didn’t argue the cinema only stance of this teaser.
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