''Scorpio'' is a 1973 American

spy film The spy film, also known as the spy thriller, is a genre of film that deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way (such as the adaptations of John le Carré) or as a basis for fantasy (such as many James Bond films) ...

directed by

Michael Winner Robert Michael Winner (30 October 1935 – 21 January 2013) was a British filmmaker, writer, and media personality. He is known for directing numerous action, thriller, and black comedy films in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, including several c ...

and written by David W. Rintels and Gerald Wilson. It stars Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, and

Paul Scofield David Paul Scofield (21 January 1922 – 19 March 2008) was a British actor. During a six-decade career, Scofield achieved the US Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Academy Award, Emmy, and Tony for his work. He won the three awards in a seve ...

. Delon plays the title character, a hitman hired by the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

to assassinate his mentor (Lancaster), a former agent suspected of treason. The film's score was composed by

Jerry Fielding Jerry Fielding (born Joshua Itzhak Feldman; June 17, 1922 – February 17, 1980)Redman, Nick"Fielding, Jerry" Jackson, Kenneth T.; Markoe, Karen E.; Markoe, Arnold (1995). ''Dictionary of American Biography; Supplement 10: 1976–1980''. New ...

Plot

Cross is an experienced, but retiring

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

(CIA) agent and assassin who is training freelance hitman Jean Laurier, alias Scorpio, to replace him. Cross is teaching him as much about protecting himself from his patrons and never trusting anyone as how to get away clean. The CIA tells Scorpio to kill Cross for suspected treason and collaboration with the Soviets, but Cross gets to him first and pays him a large sum of money. Scorpio travels back to the US with Cross, where Cross visits his wife and Laurier visits his sister and girlfriend, who are roommates. The CIA continue to pressure Scorpio into assassinating Cross, but he proves reluctant until the CIA break into his apartment and frame Laurier with a narcotics charge. His only choice is to take the job and terminate Cross. Understanding that the CIA wants him out, Cross flees to Vienna in disguise and reunites with his Soviet opposite and friend, Sergei Zharkov who provides him a safehouse. Scorpio follows Cross' trail to Vienna. Cross intends to bring his wife out from the US and get out of the spy business. Despite blown covers and many failed CIA attempts to ambush him, Cross manages to stay one step ahead of his pursuers. In a failed break-in at Cross's home, CIA agents shoot and kill his wife Sarah, causing Cross to return to America. He rejects protection from Zharkov, whose agency wants to know secrets he knows as a senior field agent. Zharkov helps Cross to cover his tracks and reach America. Cross evades capture by the CIA and manages to kill McLeod, the agency director responsible for his wife's death. CIA wants Cross' head on a platter and contracts Scorpio again. The new CIA director and Scorpio's handler Filchock shows him evidence that Cross might have collaborated in the past with other foreign agents and was able to make a hefty sum from it. Following surveillance video of a potential meet up between Cross's wife and accomplice at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

, Scorpio sees his girlfriend walking out as well and comes to realization that she is working with Cross. Enraged by this, Scorpio corners Cross and Susan and kills his girlfriend instantly without remorse. Cross says she was a Czech courier and he is just a middleman between their agency for staying in the game and did not betray Scorpio. Scorpio finishes off Cross after hearing his last words of wisdom. Moments later, Scorpio is also shot by a mysterious assailant, as Cross had earlier predicted.

Cast

* Burt Lancaster as Cross * Alain Delon as Jean Laurier / Scorpio *

as Sergei Zharkov *

John Colicos John Colicos (December 10, 1928 – March 6, 2000) was a Canadian actor. He performed on stage and television in the United States and Canada. Career Colicos was born in Toronto, Ontario, to a Greek father and a Canadian mother. In 1957 he app ...

as McLeod *

Gayle Hunnicutt Gayle Jenkins, Lady Jenkins (''née'' Hunnicutt; born February 6, 1943) is an American retired film, television and stage actress. She has made more than 30 film appearances. Early life and education The daughter of Colonel Sam Lloyd Hunnicut ...

as Susan * J.D. Cannon as Filchock *

Joanne Linville Beverly Joanne Linville (January 15, 1928 – June 20, 2021) was an American actress. She later taught at the Stella Adler Academy, Los Angeles. She is best known as a Romulan Commander on ''Star Trek: The Original Series''. Biography Early li ...

as Sarah Cross *

Mel Stewart Milton "Mel" Stewart (September 19, 1929 – February 24, 2002) was an American character actor, television director, and musician who appeared in numerous films and television shows from the 1960s to the 1990s. He is best known for playing Hen ...

as Pick *

Vladek Sheybal Vladek Sheybal (born Władysław Rudolf Zbigniew Sheybal; 12 March 1923 – 16 October 1992) was a Polish character actor, singer and director of both television and stage productions. He was well known for his portrayal of the chess grandmast ...

as Zemetkin * Mary Maude as Anne *

Jack Colvin Jack Colvin (October 13, 1934 – December 1, 2005) was an American character actor of theatre, film and TV. He is best known for the role of the tabloid reporter Jack McGee in ''The Incredible Hulk'' television franchise (1977–82). Ear ...

as Paul Milney *

James Sikking James Barrie Sikking (born March 5, 1934) is a former American actor, most known for his role as Lt. Howard Hunter on the 1980s TV series ''Hill Street Blues''. Early years Sikking was born in Los Angeles on March 5, 1934 to Andy and Sue (né ...

as Harris * Burke Byrnes as Morrison *

William Smithers William Smithers (born July 10, 1927) is an American actor, perhaps best known for his recurring role as Jeremy Wendell in the television series ''Dallas''. He appeared in the series in 1981 and from 1984 to 1989. Early life and career Smith ...

as Mitchell *

Shmuel Rodensky Shmuel Rodensky ( he, שמואל רודנסקי, 10 December 1902 – 16 July 1989) was a Russian-born Israeli actor whose stage, film, and television career in Israel and West Germany spanned six decades. He immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 19 ...

as Lang *

Celeste Yarnall Celeste Jeanne Yarnall (July 26, 1944 – October 7, 2018) was an American actress primarily of the 1960s and 1970s. She started her career on television before moving to feature film roles. Career A native of Long Beach, California, Yarnall w ...

as Helen Thomas *

Sandor Elès József Sándor Éles (15 June 1936 – 10 September 2002), sometimes credited simply as Sándor Éles, was a Hungarian actor. He was best known latterly for TV and film work. Born in Tatabánya, 60 km from Budapest, Éles was orphaned dur ...

as Malkin *

Frederick Jaeger Manfred Frederick Jaeger (9 May 1928 – 18 June 2004) was a German-born British film, television, theatre and radio character actor. Biography Jaeger was born in Berlin, Germany, but moved to England following Adolf Hitler's rise to power. H ...

as Novins *

George Mikell George Mikell (born Jurgis Mikelaitis; 4 April 1929 – 12 May 2020) was a Lithuanian-Australian actor and writer best known for his performances as Schutzstaffel (SS) officers in '' The Guns of Navarone'' (1961) and '' The Great Escape'' (196 ...

as Dor *

Robert Emhardt Robert Emhardt (July 24, 1914 – December 26, 1994) was an American character actor who worked on stage, in film and on television. Emhardt was frequently cast as a villain, often a crooked businessman or corrupt politician. Early years E ...

as Man in Hotel

Production

The film was based on a script by David Wintels which had been bought by

Walter Mirisch Walter Mortimer Mirisch (born November 8, 1921) is an American film producer. He is president and executive head of production of The Mirisch Corporation, an independent film production company, which he formed in 1957 with his brother Marvin ...

, who had a deal with United Artists. Michael Winner came on board to direct but wanted a rewrite. Mirsch disagreed so Winner dropped out. Then United Artists decided to remove Mirisch from the project and gave control over to Winner (although Mirisch kept a producer credit.) It would be one of the last films made by Mirisch for United Artists. Winner brought in his regular writer, Gerard Wilson, to do a rewrite. Delon and Lancaster were cast in April 1972. Lancaster's fee was $750,000 plus ten percent of the profits. Winner said he agreed to do the film because it was a more serious spy film in the vein of ''The Spy Who Came in From the Cold''. "And it has a good plot," he added. "Unexpected things happen." He was also attracted to the theme "the problems of men who have opted out of normal society to make their own way." He says many of his movies dealt with this. Filming took place in Washington, Vienna and Paris. Filming began May 29, 1972 and went until mid August. The unit filmed at the Watergate Hotel and were staying there the night of the notorious break in. Despite a script which showed the CIA assassinating people and involved with various nefarious plots, Winner was given permission to shoot in the CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Scenes at Cross's home were actually filmed at then CIA Director

Richard Helms Richard McGarrah Helms (March 30, 1913 – October 23, 2002) was an American government official and diplomat who served as Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) from 1966 to 1973. Helms began intelligence work with the Office of Strategic Ser ...

's home in NW Washington D.C. Arnold Picker, Chairman of United Artists, was surprised that the CIA would allow such a thing and insisted that Winner show them a copy of the script before shooting began. He did so and approval was granted, making ''Scorpio'' the first movie ever shot on location at their Headquarters. Lancaster later said the film was "nothing incisive, just a lot of action" and was "one of those things you do as part of your living, but you try to avoid doing them as much as you can."

Release

The film was given an X rating in England but this was overturned on appeal.

Critical reception

Reviewing ''Scorpio'' for '' Time Out'' magazine, Geoff Andrew took a negative view of the film: "Winner directs with typically crass abandon, wasting a solid performance from Lancaster". On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds a 59% rating from 22 reviews with the consensus: "Burt Lancaster and Alain Delon add some much-needed weight, but ''Scorpio'' doesn't offer much that spy thriller fans haven't already seen before."

DVD and Blu-ray releases

''Scorpio'' was released on DVD by MGM Home Entertainment on April 1, 2003 as a Region 1 widescreen DVD. A Limited Edition (3,000 units) was released by Twilight Time on November 10, 2015 as a Region A Blu-ray. It features an audio commentary by film historians Lem Dobbs, Julie Kirgo, and Nick Redman.

References

External links

*
Scorpio
at Letterbox DVD
Review of film
at Roger Ebert

at Cinema Retro {{DEFAULTSORT:Scorpio (Film) 1973 films 1970s English-language films 1970s action thriller films 1970s spy films American action thriller films American spy films Cold War spy films Films about contract killing Films about the Central Intelligence Agency Films directed by Michael Winner Films produced by Walter Mirisch Films scored by Jerry Fielding Films set in Vienna Films shot in Vienna United Artists films 1970s American films