The Spy Who Came in From the Cold

Based on the novel by John Le Carre, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold stars Richard Burton as a dispirited, end-of-tether British secret agent. He comes in from "the cold" (meaning he is pulled out of field operations) to act as a undercover man behind the Iron Curtain. To make his staged defection ...more

Among the dark, revisionist espionage films to crop up in the mid-1960s as an antidote to the James Bond phenomenon was The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, an existential examination of the spy world which has lost little of its impact, even since the end of the Cold War. Richard Burton provides the movie's emotional center; he's perfect for the role of the disaffected, burnt-out secret agent. The striking, somber art direction and cinematography and Martin Ritt's terse direction lend weight to ...more