{"id":8170,"date":"2024-11-11T23:52:17","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T04:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=8170"},"modified":"2024-11-11T23:52:17","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T04:52:17","slug":"the-amateur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/11\/11\/the-amateur\/","title":{"rendered":"The Amateur"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Amateur <\/strong>(1981)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 20th Century Fox\/Action-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0RT: 111 minutes\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, violence, brief nudity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Charles Jarrott\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Robert Littell and Diana Maddock\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Kenneth Wannberg\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: John Coquillon\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: February 12, 1982 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: John Savage, Christopher Plummer, Marthe Keller, Arthur Hill, Ed Lauter, Nicholas Campbell, George Coe, John Marley, Jan Rubes, Lynne Griffin.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $6.8M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating:<\/strong> ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0Remember when Hollywood used to make spy movies with believable heroes who used their intelligence along with their guns to complete their missions? The movie spies of old, including James Bond, weren\u2019t entirely focused on mayhem. Nowadays, secret agents are unstoppable killing machines with superhuman skills- e.g Jason Bourne. They tend to be directed in a dizzying quick-cut style designed to hold the interest of those with short attention spans. I like the Bourne movies- well, the first three anyway- but I also enjoy old school espionage.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Amateur<\/strong>, a riveting action-thriller directed by Charles Jarrott (Condorman), went largely unnoticed when it hit US theaters in February \u201982. The reviews weren\u2019t very kind either. I disagree. It\u2019s a good movie. John Savage (Hair) stars as Charles Heller, a CIA cryptographer whose girlfriend (Griffin, Black Christmas) is killed by terrorists\u00a0during a hostage situation at the American embassy in Munich. His superiors tell him there\u2019s nothing they can do about it for vague reasons. Understandably angry, he gathers information on CIA misdoings and uses it to blackmail his bosses into training him as a field agent so he can kill the terrorists himself.<\/p>\n

\u00a0They send him to a training camp while they attempt to locate the information he has on them. They manage to find the material just as he is crossing the border into Czechoslovakia with his trainer-control officer Anderson (Lauter, Death Wish 3). Now that Heller no longer presents a threat, they order him killed. He\u2019s targeted by both the CIA and KGB as he attempts to track down his girlfriend\u2019s killers. The only person he can trust is Elizabeth (Keller, Marathon Man), a Czech woman who works with the CIA.<\/p>\n

\u00a0There’s a lot of action and suspense in The Amateur<\/strong> with the inexperienced agent, used to sitting in front of a computer, seeking revenge. It’s true it moves at a slower pace than most of today’s action vehicles, but isn\u2019t it nice not be to bombarded with explosions, car chases and wild shoot-outs? \u00a0Not that there\u2019s anything wrong with any of these things. Jarrott, working from a screenplay by Robert Littell and Diana Maddock, takes the time to develop an actual plot and build suspense. In fact, he gives us a lot of plot and suspense in cross-cutting between Heller sneaking into Czechoslovakia (through a secret tunnel) and the CIA suits trying to figure out where he hid the incriminating information. He also throws in a few clich\u00e9s like the switched-hat trick when an assassin tries to take Heller out. It\u2019s silly but whatever.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The cast of The Amateur<\/strong> is<\/strong> top-notch. Savage is believable enough as a distraught computer geek forced into action. Sure, his character does some dumb things like going places where he\u2019s sure to be found and calling attention to himself at the worst times. He\u2019s not exactly a crack agent. Christopher Plummer (The Sound of Music) co-stars as Professor Lakos, the head of Czech intelligence and expert on Francis Bacon, also a subject of interest to Heller. He makes a fine adversary because you’re never quite sure what he’s thinking. Does he want to stop Heller or help him? Keller, who doesn\u2019t show up until an hour in, is good as Heller\u2019s contact. Nicholas Campbell (The Dead Zone) delivers an icy performance as the leader of the terrorist gang. He\u2019s the guy who pulled the trigger. What are the chances Heller will save him for last? Lauter, one of my favorite character actors, is always a nice addition to any cast. He\u2019s such a bastard in this movie.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The action scenes are well done. The Amateur<\/strong> really picks up when the killing starts. The best kill scene is when one of the bad guys gets blown up in an indoor swimming pool. There\u2019s also an exciting chase at a lecture hall. Best of all, Heller is one crafty guy. Let\u2019s just say he has a good final trick up his sleeve.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Amateur <\/strong>is one of those movies that people have either forgotten or never heard of. I remember it because I\u2019m the Movie Guy. I also remember it because it\u2019s good. It\u2019s smart without being too complex. It\u2019s exciting without overwhelming the viewer\u2019s senses. It\u2019s an entertaining Canadian-made action-thriller that occasionally lapses into silliness, but never sinks into stupidity. It really deserves more recognition than it gets.\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Amateur (1981)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 20th Century Fox\/Action-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0RT: 111 minutes\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, violence, brief nudity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Charles Jarrott\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Robert Littell and Diana Maddock\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Kenneth Wannberg\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: John Coquillon\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: February 12, 1982 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: John Savage, Christopher Plummer, Marthe Keller, Arthur Hill, Ed Lauter, Nicholas Campbell, George Coe, John Marley, Jan Rubes, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8360,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hidden-treasures","category-suspense-thrillers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/The-Amateur-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8170"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8362,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8170\/revisions\/8362"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}