1957: the Height of the Cold War. The United States and the Soviet Union fear each other’s nuclear capabilities – and intentions. Both sides deploy spies – and hunt for them. Bridge of Spies 2016 starring Tom Hanks & Mark Rylance & Amy Ryan & Sebastian Koch & Alan Alda & Austin Stowell & Scott Shepherd & Billy Magnussen & Eve Hewson & Jillian Lebling et al, director Steven Spielberg, opening caption
Hanks: You don’t seem alarmed.
Rylance: Would it help? ibid.
I’m not afraid to die, Mr Donovan. Although it wouldn’t be my first choice. ibid.
Why is Control calling me back? The Spy Who Came in From the Cold 1966 starring Richard Burton & Claire Bloom & Oskar Werner & Peter van Eyck & Sam Wanamaker & Rupert Davies & Cyril Cusack & George Voskovec & Michael Hordern & Robert Hardy & Bernard Lee et al, director Martin Ritt, Leamas to driver
It’s like metal fatigue. We have to live without sympathy, don’t we. We can’t do that for ever. One can’t stay outdoors all the time. One needs to come in. In from the cold. ibid. Control to Leamas
Our work as I understand it is based on a single assumption that the West is never going to be the aggressor. Thus, we do disagreeable things, but we are defensive. Our policies are peaceful but our methods can’t afford to be less ruthless than those of the opposition. Can they? I’d say er since the war our methods, our techniques that is and those of the communists have become very much the same. Yes. I mean occasionally we have to do wicked things. Very wicked things indeed. ibid.
New employer: Is your handwriting legible?
Leamas: Except at weekends. ibid.
Communism, capitalism, it’s the innocents who get slaughtered. ibid. Leamas to Perry
That’s what the Party does for us – don’t you see – it organises our emotions. ibid. Nan Perry to Leamas
Bit by bit you’ll come across with the evidence that will kill Mundt. ibid. Control to Leamas
Fiedler, my dear Alec, is the lynchpin of our plan. ibid.
You’ve a paid defector on your hands – that’s me. ibid. Leamas to contact in Holland
She believed in free love – at the time it was all I could afford. ibid. Leamas to Fiedler
London couldn’t have run him [Mundt] without my knowing about it. ibid.
London sent you, didn’t they? ibid. Mundt to Leamas
You all know why we are here. This is not a trial but a tribunal convened especially by the presidium. ibid. chair of tribunal
For these charges we say there is no objective evidence and that Comrade Fiedler is intoxicated with dreams of power. ibid. Mundt’s advocate
I’ll tell you what you were never never to know. Mundt is London’s man – he is their agent. They bought him while he was in England. We’re witnessing the lousy end to a filthy lousy operation to save Mundt’s skin, to save him from a clever little Jew in Mundn’t own department who had begun to suspect the truth. ibid. Leamas to Nancy
There’s only one rule – expediency. ibid.
Who the hell do you think spies are? Moral philosophers measuring everything they do against the word of God or Karl Marx? They’re not. They’re just a bunch of seedy squalid bastards like me. Little men. Drunkards. Queers. Henpecked husbands. Civil servants. Playing cowboys and Indians to brighten their little lives. ibid.
So, you’re an enforcer? A Bittersweet Life 2005 starring Lee Byung-hun & Kim Yeong-cheol & Shin Min-ah & Hwang Jung-min & Kim Roi-ha & Jin Goo & Kee Ki-young & Oh Dal-su & Kim Hae-hon & Eric Mun& Jeon Gook-hwan et al, director Kim Jee-woon, her to him
You know who I’m calling, don’t you? Any last words? ibid. him to her
Life is about suffering – don’t you know that? ibid. villain to hero
Diplomacy … is the very map and marker of civilisation. The Constant Gardner 2005 starring Ralph Fiennes & Rachel Weisz & Danny Huston & Hubert Kounde & Archie Panjabi & Bill Nighy & Gerard McSorley & Pete Postlethwaite & Donald Sumpter & Richard McCabe et al, director Fernando Meirelles, Fiennes’ lecture
Stop now or get what your wife got. ibid. Fiennes’ note
This is the Persian Empire known today as Iran. For twenty-five hundred years this land was ruled by a series of kings, known as Shahs. In 1950 the people of Iran elected Mohammad Mosaddegh, the secular democrat, as prime minister ... But in 1953 the US and Great Britain engineered a coup d’etat that deposed Mosaddegh. Argo 2012 starring Alan Arkin & Ben Affleck & Bryan Cranston & John Goodman & Tate Donovan & Clea DuVall & Christopher Denham & Scoot McNairy & Kerry Bishe & Rory Cochran & Victor Garber, director opening commentary
The United States’ government has just sanctioned a science fiction movie. ibid. boss
The Iran Hostage Crisis ended on January 20 1981, when all remaining hostages were released. They spent 444 days in captivity. ibid.
The car’s waiting outside. You’ll walk between us saying nothing. North by Northwest 1959 starring Cary Grant & Eva Marie Saint & James Mason & Jessie Royce Landis & Leo G Carroll & Josephone Hutchinson & Philip Ober & Martin Landau & Adam Willims & Edwart Platt et al, director Alfred Hitchcock, Grant nabbed in hotel
Mrs Finlay: How long do you think he’ll stay alive?
Spymaster: That’s his problem. ibid.
You’re not a fake. You’re a genuine idiot. ibid. woman at art auction
The peace of what have been called the Serene Olympics has been shattered just before dawn this morning about five o’clock … Munich 2006 starring Eric Bana & Daniel Craig & Ciaran Hinds & Omar Metwally & Mathieu Kassovitz & Hanns Zischler & Ayelet Zurer & Geoffrey Rush & Mehdi Nebbou & Gila Almagor & Karim Saleh et al, director Steven Spielberg, ABC News
There were eleven hostages: two were killed in their rooms yesterday morning; nine were killed at the airport tonight. They’re all gone. ibid.
Did we mention how dangerous it is? ibid. Israeli army dude to Avner
You’re going to kill eleven men one by one. They are all in Europe now. ibid. spymaster
Who mourns for us? ibid. Palestinian woman
In seven months we have killed six of the eleven names; we’ve killed one replacement. ibid.