The Russia House

"Barley" Scott Blair (Sean Connery) is an alcoholic book editor from a bargain-basement publishing house in Great Britain who'd rather be drinking in Lisbon than attending a book dealers' show in Russia. So he's surprised when a CIA agent (Mac McDonald) pulls him from his boozy holiday. It seems ...more

Based on the novel by master British spy novelist John Le Carre, The Russia House is as classy, smooth, and elegant as the jazz score Jerry Goldsmith wrote for it, which features the saxophone strains of Branford Marsalis. Director Fred Schepisi shot the film in several Russian cities which gives it a sumptuous palate and corresponds with the lush ironies and scope of Tom Stoppard's script. Schepisi and Stoppard draw parallels in the film between sex and spying, making you wonder exactly who is ...more