The Ipcress File
This classic Cold War thriller about Western scientists being
brainwashed is a bold and gritty contrast to the lightweight
spoofery of Ipcress contemporaries such as Matt Helm and Our
Man Flint.
Compared to these spies, Caine's Harry Palmer makes an unlikely
expert in espionage; Cockney, bespectacled, and perhaps a little
too familiar with breaking-and-entering, he cooks (spaghetti of
course) for his female conquests and, above all, doesn't take any
shit from his plummy superiors.
Palmer is introduced to the hilariously inscrutable bureaucracy
of the British Secret Service, while trying to find out who is
behind a "brain drain" of top scientists.
The stroppy spy returned in two impressive sequels; Funeral
In Berlin (1966) and Billion Dollar Brain (1967), as
well as the less impressive Bullet to Beijing in 1995.
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