Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

"We are not so very different, you and I. We've both spent our lives looking for the weaknesses in one another."

In 1973, British Intelligence, also called the Circus, has a mole.  The head of the agency, Control (Hurt), believes the mole is one of his top agents.  After Jim Prideaux (Strong) is shot in Hungary, while on assignment, Control and his top agent George Smiley (Oldman) are relieved of duty.

A year later, Smiley is called back into service to investigate the mole in the Circus.  He follows Control's evidence, which narrows the list to 4 men: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Poorman.  Tinker is Percy Alleline (Jones), the new head of the Circus, who has a secret.  Tailor is Bill Haydon (Firth), a witty womanizer.  Soldier is Roy Bland (Hinds) and Poorman is Toby Esterhase (Dencik).  All four are involved in a top secret project called Operation Witchcraft, gaining value information from a secret Soviet spy.  Can Smiley and his team find the mole?


I have never read John le Carre's novel "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" or seen the 1979 BBC mini-series starring Alec Guinness... but I genuinely wanted to see this film when it premiered.  Perhaps it was the promise of a strong British cast of characters, or maybe it was the chance to see Gary Oldman in a stand-out performance... regardless, I this was one of the Oscar nominated films that I couldn't wait to see.

The cast is incredible... a nice mix of well-known Hollywood stars (Colin Firth, Oldman, Mark Strong), upcoming stars (Tom Hardy), character actors (Ciaran Hinds, John Hurt), and BBC actors (Benedict Cumberbatch from "Sherlock").

The story is strong and keeps you guessing.  An excellent film... and Oldman deserved his Oscar nomination.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) 127 minutes
Rating: R for violence, some sexuality/nudity and language.
Director: Tomas Alfredson
Starry: Gary Oldman as George Smiley
Colin Firth as Bill Haydon
Tom Hardy as Ricki Tarr
Mark Strong as Jim Prideaux
Ciaran Hinds as Roy Bland
John Hurt as Control
Simon McBurney as Oliver Lacon
Svetlana Khodchenkova as Irina
Benedict Cumberbatch as Peter Guillam
Toby Jones as Percy Alleline
David Dencik as Toby Esterhase
Kathy Burke as Connie Sachs
Stephen Graham as Jerry Westerby