Qt3 Movie Podcast: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Posted by on December 12, 2011 in Movie Podcasts

Join us for secrets, betrayal, suspicion, and hidden identities. And that’s just the podcast! We also discuss Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which two of us loved and one of us was all “meh” about. This results in a discussion so, uh, in-depth that the 3×3 doesn’t start until the 1:37 mark. At which point we figuratively jump into the pool and talk about our favorite swimming pool scene, as well as some other swimming pool scenes.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason-McMaster/607680289 Jason McMaster

    I really want to see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. 

  • Anonymous

    Given the glacial release schedule and that you live in, I think, North Dakota or Nova Scotia or something, you should be able to see it sometime in late 2013.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason-McMaster/607680289 Jason McMaster

    I bought an Apple TV lately so I’ve been just waiting for video release and renting, but I do loves me some Gary Oldman, so this is a tough one to resist.

  • Kelly Wand

    Why are only British spies awesome?  All we get’s Felix Leiter.

  • Christien Murawski

    How dare you, Kelly! We have Valerie Plame!

    Or, rather, we had Valerie Plame. Until Dick—oh nevermind.

  • Superslug

    Benedict Cummerbatch was in a miniseries called Sherlock. He played the title character and Bilbo played watson. I really enjoyed it. Does anyone know how to remove the underlines that IMDB put here?

  • http://profiles.google.com/zhou.zfang Zhou Fang

    What about the pool scene at the end of Being John Malkovich? I thought that was pretty good.

  • Anonymous

    Ah, yes, I knew I’d heard of him somewhere before. It was TV! Now I have to see that. Thanks for the reminder, Mr. Slug.

  • Bunny

    Kelly Wand, you are the best thing on the podcast! I love listening to you. Can’t wait to heard what you will say on Monday.

  • Arthur Dougherty

    Spoilers ahead… from the QT3 podcast thread.

    Listening to the podcast now and wondering I I’m reading into things or not. I think with the land lady at the safe house, she would be an employee of the circus. No way she’s just a civilian. I think that’s why smiley just asks her questions and doesn’t feel a threat from her. With the blonde girl execution, remember Tom hardy made up the detail about her knowing the mole just to get attention from circus to get her out because he fell for her. Unfortunate coincidence for her. But that’s why she gets kidnapped. And mark strong not knowing her confirms to Karla that she doesn’t know anything about the mole. Possible loose end closed. Finally I think mark strong is a second double agent recruited by his friend at that Christmas party, which is why he is crying (strong) at the party when he and firth exchange their look. And why firth looks sad during that look. The killing at the end isn’t revenge in my mind, it’s strong sad that he has to kill his friend to close a possible loose end. And I feel firth recruits his friend when he learns about control setting up the Budapest trip because someone needs to figure out if the blonde girl is a real threat.

    I can’t really tell where the Christmas party is in relation to Strong getting the order to go to Budapest.  Not sure if it’s there in the film and I missed it or not, but I really feel that somehow Strong was turned just like his friend.

  • Anonymous

    Arthur, I don’t think Ricky Tarr invented that the blonde girl knew who the mole was. I think that was all genuine. The secret she was holding back from the circus until she had been defected was the identity of the mole. But I had wondered the same thing. I suspect it’s explicit in the book.

    As for Jim Prideaux being a second double agent, that’s a pretty serious allegation! I’m not saying you’re wrong, but wouldn’t there be more internal support? Why would the Russian torture him if he were a double agent? Because if the Russians didn’t torture him, you’re adding a whole new level of narrative to the movie, where it presents things that didn’t actually happen. That said, your interpretation would make Prideaux’s decision in the end more clear.

  • Ben Halliburton

    I wondered at the end if this was another example of Karla using people’s personal relations against them. As Smiley points out, it was an uncharacteristic gesture from Karla to let Prideaux return at all. Maybe his torture was meant to put in place a contingency plan that would remove Bill Haydon once he was revealed and thus no longer useful. That would make Prideaux an unwitting double agent, in a way.

    That doesn’t explain the look Bill and Prideaux shared at the Christmas party, but I suspect it’s accounted for in the dialogue. Smiley said that Prideaux suspected Bill.

  • http://twitter.com/chadkoh Chad Kohalyk

    The TV series was excellent, and I liked this movie a lot as well. For those of you into spy stuff, and action sequences involving shuffling papers, have you seen The Sandbaggers? A brilliant cold war era spy series.