IMDb RATING
6.4/10
5.2K
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During the Cold War, the CIA orders free-lance operative Scorpio to assassinate his former CIA mentor Cross and a deadly cat-and-mouse game ensues.During the Cold War, the CIA orders free-lance operative Scorpio to assassinate his former CIA mentor Cross and a deadly cat-and-mouse game ensues.During the Cold War, the CIA orders free-lance operative Scorpio to assassinate his former CIA mentor Cross and a deadly cat-and-mouse game ensues.
Mel Stewart
- Pick
- (as Melvin Stewart)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIt is rumored that Burt Lancaster had in his contract that his gymnastic equipment be shipped, set up and struck at each location so he could work out to keep in shape.
- GoofsLancaster disarms two agents by putting his car into reverse and slamming into their car in a narrow alley. Then he pulls forward and does it again. But on his second pass, there's a shot of the back of his car completely undamaged before it makes the second hit. (In that final shot, the car is damaged as it should be.)
- ConnectionsFeatured in Boulevard! A Hollywood Story (2021)
Featured review
Paranoia film that's pretty typical of the early 70s
In the 1960s, disenchantment among the Western populations led to the hippie movement and a new questioning of authority. Combining this with the Watergate scandal and you set the context for movies like SCORPIO and THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR. Both films view our own government with great suspicion--particularly the CIA. Such films probably would NOT have been accepted by the public just a decade earlier, but in the 70s paranoia of this type was fashionable. So was the moral relativism that implied that the US and Soviet governments were pretty much the same.
In some ways, the plot to SCORPIO is pretty interesting--a CIA agent (Burt Lancaster) is perceived to be a double agent and is ordered to be killed. Oddly, Alain Delon, a Frenchman, is given this task but Lancaster seems too slippery and skilled to be easily taken. Unfortunately, after a while the film both becomes rather dull and is rather hard to believe. As one reviewer pointed out, the way that Lancaster and Scofield knew each other didn't really make sense, as an American serving with the Spanish Republicans would have been seen as an extreme leftist--not exactly a person you'd expect to later be in the CIA. Of course, this DID help the moral relativism being pushed in the film.
Aside from watching the acrobatic Lancaster do his own stunts and Scofield overact (in a fun way), this is a very low energy film--and you'd not expect this would be the case for an espionage thriller. It just seemed very detached and uninvolving. Overall, it's a passable film, but not one you should go out of your way to see.
In some ways, the plot to SCORPIO is pretty interesting--a CIA agent (Burt Lancaster) is perceived to be a double agent and is ordered to be killed. Oddly, Alain Delon, a Frenchman, is given this task but Lancaster seems too slippery and skilled to be easily taken. Unfortunately, after a while the film both becomes rather dull and is rather hard to believe. As one reviewer pointed out, the way that Lancaster and Scofield knew each other didn't really make sense, as an American serving with the Spanish Republicans would have been seen as an extreme leftist--not exactly a person you'd expect to later be in the CIA. Of course, this DID help the moral relativism being pushed in the film.
Aside from watching the acrobatic Lancaster do his own stunts and Scofield overact (in a fun way), this is a very low energy film--and you'd not expect this would be the case for an espionage thriller. It just seemed very detached and uninvolving. Overall, it's a passable film, but not one you should go out of your way to see.
helpful•2112
- planktonrules
- Apr 5, 2008
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- Dangerfield
- Filming locations
- Palmenhaus Schönbrunn - Schonbrunn Palace Palm House, Schönbrunn Palace Park, Vienna, Austria(Laurier tries to trap Cross in a greehouse)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $4,000,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 54 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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