Bullet to Beijing *** (1995, Michael Caine, Jason Connery, Mia Sara) – Classic Movie Review 9838

Michael Caine returns as Len Deighton’s fictional spy Harry Palmer in the enjoyable 1995 made-for-TV action thriller Bullet to Beijing, following his Sixties hits The Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin and Billion Dollar Brain. Refreshing the formula, it is busy and entertaining, with a few surprises.

It is directed by George Mihalka, written and executive produced by Harry Alan Towers (under the pseudonym Peter Welbeck) and scored by Rick Wakeman.

This time Harry (now ex-MI5) gets a phone call offering a mysterious job opportunity and flies to St Petersburg, where he is met by Nikolai (Jason Connery), who tells him he will pay Harry $250,000 to find a stolen deadly binary biological weapon called Alorex.

Michael Sarrazin returns to the screen as unemployed CIA ex-spy Craig Warner, among the folks who are on a train, the Bullet to Beijing, along with ex-KGB Colonel Gradsky (Lev Prygunov), his men, Nikolai and Natasha (Mia Sara). Michael Gambon plays Russian bossman Alex.

The main cast are: Michael Caine as Harry Palmer, Jason Connery as Nikolai Petrov, Mia Sara as Natasha, Michael Gambon as Alex, John Dunn-Hill as Louis, Lev Prygunov as Colonel Gradsky. Michael Sarrazin as Craig Warner, Burt Kwouk as Kim Soo, Patrick Allen as Colonel Wilson, and Sue Lloyd as Jean.

The sequel Midnight in St Petersburg (1996) was filmed back-to-back but released a year later.

Mia Sara and Jason Connery married in March 1996, and had a son (Dashiell Quinn Connery), but divorced in 2002. In 2010, Sara married Brian Henson, oldest son of Muppets creator Jim Henson.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9838

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