''Red King, White Knight'' is a 1989 American

political thriller A political thriller is a thriller that is set against the backdrop of a political power struggle; high stakes and suspense are the core of the story. The genre often forces the audiences to consider and understand the importance of politics. Th ...

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

directed by

Geoff Murphy Geoffrey Peter Murphy (12 October 1938 – 3 December 2018) was a New Zealand filmmaker, producer, director, and screenwriter best known for his work during the renaissance of New Zealand cinema that began in the second half of the 1970s. His ...

and written by Ron Hutchinson. The film stars

Tom Skerritt Thomas Roy Skerritt (born August 25, 1933) is an American actor and director, who has appeared in over 170 film and television productions since 1962. The beginning of his film career coincided with the New Hollywood movement, with a breakthroug ...

as Bill Stoner, a retired

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

operative who is sent to eastern Europe to determine the truth of a

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

plot to assassinate Soviet leader

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

. It also stars

Helen Mirren Dame Helen Mirren (; born Ilyena Lydia Vasilievna Mironov; 26 July 1945) is an English actor. With a career spanning over six decades of Helen Mirren on screen and stage, screen and stage, List of awards and nominations received by Helen Mirre ...

as Stoner's former girlfriend Anna,

Max von Sydow Max von Sydow (; born Carl Adolf von Sydow; 10 April 1929 – 8 March 2020) was a Swedish and French actor. He had a 70-year career in European and American cinema, television, and theatre, appearing in more than 150 films and several television ...

as his old retired KGB adversary Szaz, and Tom Bell as the KGB plot organiser Tulayev. At the

42nd Primetime Emmy Awards The 42nd Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 16, 1990. The ceremony was broadcast on Fox from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California. Two networks, The Family Channel and The Disney Channel, received their firs ...

, von Sydow was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special for his role in the film.

Plot

The

is informed of an IRA

assassin Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

being hired by the

to kill the reformist

Soviet General Secretary The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. was the leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). From 1924 until the country's dissolution in 1991, the officeholder was the recognize ...

and enlists Stoner, an agent retired for several years, to go to the Soviet

satellite state A satellite state or dependent state is a country that is formally independent but under heavy political, economic, and military influence or control from another country. The term was coined by analogy to planetary objects orbiting a larger ob ...

and check the reliability of Vlasek, the plot informant. Stoner, an ex-alcoholic with financial troubles, is not told of the assassination plot but agrees to go despite

grieving Grief is the response to the loss of something deemed important, particularly to the death of a person to whom or animal to which a bond or affection was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, grief also ha ...

the

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

of his wife there 10 years earlier. Stoner only learns of the plot and runs into difficulty when Vlasek is killed trying to leave the country with him. He stays to verify the plot but his problems are then complicated by the renewal of an affair with Anna, a Russian he knew 10 years earlier, as he shelters with her and tries to convince her to defect. In the meantime, a committee of U.S. policymakers struggle over whether or not to inform the Soviet leadership about the KGB's plan, and the plot leader Tulayev enlists retired KGB agent Szaz to identify and hunt down Stoner.

Cast

as Stoner *

as Szaz *

as Anna * Tom Bell as Tulayev *

Neil Dudgeon Neil Dudgeon (born 2 January 1961) is an English actor who, since 2010, has played DCI John Barnaby in the ITV drama series ''Midsomer Murders''. He replaced John Nettles in the lead role in 2011. Early life and education Dudgeon is the son o ...

as Vlasek * Gavan O'Herlihy as Clancy *

Barry Corbin Leonard Barrie Corbin (born October 16, 1940) is an American actor. He is best known for his starring role as Maurice Minnifield on the television series ''Northern Exposure'' (1990–1995), which earned him two consecutive Primetime Emmy Award ...

as Bentick *

Clarke Peters Peter Clarke (born April 7, 1952), known professionally as Clarke Peters, is an American actor, writer, and director, who has spent much of his adult life in the United Kingdom. He is best known for his roles as Lester Freamon in the television ...

as Jones *

Kerry Shale Kerry Shale (born 4 June 1952) is a Canadian actor based in London, England. His BBC Radio 4 comedy-drama ''The Kubrick Test'' was broadcast in 2020. He is the co-host of ''Is It Rolling, Bob? Talking Dylan'', a podcast about Bob Dylan ...

as Viktor * Lou Hirsch as Baetz * Phil Arthurs as Mikhail Gorbachev

Release

''Red King, White Knight'' premiered on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

on November 25, 1989.

References

External links

* 1989 films 1989 television films 1980s political thriller films 1980s spy thriller films American political thriller films American spy thriller films Films about assassinations Films about the Central Intelligence Agency Films about the KGB Films directed by Geoff Murphy Films produced by John Kemeny Films scored by John Scott (composer) Films set in Moscow Films set in the Soviet Union Films shot in Budapest Films shot in Washington, D.C. HBO Films films Cold War spy films Spy television films American thriller television films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films English-language spy thriller films English-language political thriller films {{US-tv-thriller-film-stub