Smiley’s People **** (1982, Alec Guinness, Eileen Atkins, Bill Paterson, Patrick Stewart) – Classic Movie Review 9660

Director Simon Langton’s 1982 TV mini-series Smiley’s People is the eagerly awaited sequel to the 1979 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, which this time has a surprisingly thin plot (at least for this running time of 339 minutes).

But it brings Alec Guinness back on top form in a further tour-de-force as John le Carré’s weary retired masterspy George Smiley, now embroiled in a plot to spring his old Soviet foe Karla (Patrick Stewart) from behind the Iron Curtain.

Smiley’s People is lovingly performed, smoothly directed, and filmed on apt and original locations, with a great cast to grab the attention and enough to think about along the way to a John le Carré downbeat conclusion.

Also in the vintage cast are Curt Jurgens [Curd Jürgens], Eileen Atkins, Barry Foster, Michael Gough, Anthony Bate, Vladek Sheybal, Bernard Hepton, Rosalie Crutchley, Bill Paterson, Maureen Lipman, Andy Bradford, Michael Byrne, Tusse Silberg, Germaine Delbat, Alan Rickman, Siân Phillips, Beryl Reid, Dudley Sutton, Ingrid Pitt, Michael Lonsdale [Michel Lonsdale], Mario Adorf, and Michael Elphick.

Smiley’s People is directed by Simon Langton, runs 339 minutes, is made by British Broadcasting Corporation and Paramount Pictures, is released by BBC, is written by John le Carré and John Hopkins, based on the novel by John le Carré, is shot by Kenneth MacMillan, is produced by Jonathan Powell, and is scored by Patrick Gowers.

It is filmed in six episodes, with no one but Guinness in all of them.

An approving John le Carré said: ‘Guinness fitted perfectly into the mentality of a spy.’

David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 1931 – 12 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré, was a British master novelist who reinvented spy novels.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9660

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