CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

zardoz-13 Director Michael Winner cast brawny Burt Lancaster as a veteran CIA agent on the lam in "Scorpio" and handsome French contract assassin Alain Delon cannot decide when he will kill him in this sinister international thriller. Despite some dreary, loquacious interludes, this espionage epic contains some energetic action scenes with Lancaster at his acrobatic best. Cross (Burt Lancaster of "Valdez Is Coming") recruits a former French Foreign Legion soldier, Jean Laurier (Alain Delon of "Purple Noon"), to assassinate a diplomat at Orly Airport in Paris while a young radical Arab terrorist distracts the authorities. As it turns out, Laurier had been paid by the CIA to ice Cross while the two men were in Paris. They fly back to Washington, D.C., where they part company on good terms. Cross goes home with his wife, Sarah (Joanne Linville of "Gable and Lombard"), but isn't surprised that the CIA are maintaining surveillance on his residence. Instead of walking back into CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia, Cross skips town, disguised as a priest and flies to Europe. Meantime, Laurier is arrested on a trumped-up heroin charge and rudely pistol whipped by a pugnacious D.C. Detective during his arrest. Just to make matters worse, the cops barged into Laurier's bedroom while he was snuggled up next to his beautiful girlfriend, English Literature instructor Susan (Gayle Hunnicutt of "The Wild Angels") who has been scheming to marry him. CIA official McLeod (John Colicos of "Raid on Rommel") offers Laurier a choice to walk away from a possible 30-year sentence if he cooperates and helps the Agency locate and then eliminate Cross. Ironically, despite the cutthroat tactics of both the CIA and Cross, Laurier appear reluctant to terminate his mentor with extreme prejudice because the man has provided him with so much information to protect himself from people like McLeod and his second-in-command Filchock (J.D. Cannon of "Cool Hand Luke") who desperately want Cross's head on a platter. Cross seeks unofficial asylum from a Soviet, Zharkov (Paul Scofield of "The Train"), who is an old friend. Meantime, McLeod fears that Cross has been selling out to the Soviets. Tensions come to a boil when McLeod's clumsy CIA gunmen kill Sarah, and Cross comes back to America with vengeance in his heart. Cross hires an acrobat to step in front of McLeod's car and the fearless fellow hurls himself on the hood brings the car to a sudden stop. While everybody is focused on helping the poor, unfortunate man who steps into the oncoming path of the vehicle, Cross steals on phantom up to the other side of the car without attracting attention and shoots McLeod dead in the back of his limo.Although he was getting pretty long in the tooth at the time, Burt Lancaster doesn't let us forget that he was once a nimble circus acrobat. He has some rigorous moments in "Scorpio" where it is abundantly clear that the Oscar-winning actor shunned the services of a stunt double. One instance involves him leaping from a high place to plunge across a huge drum in the bottom of a subway station under construction in Vienna. He bounces off the gigantic drum and tumbles to the floor next to in without injury. It is a cool stunt, and it is done all in one shot so you know that it was Burt the entire time. The international locations add zest to this tale of friendship and betrayal. Winner directs with his customary brusque style, and the mentoring melodrama that occurs here is reminiscent of Winner's earlier film "The Mechanic." Lenser Robert Paynter composes some of the tightest compositions that you will ever see. This is one of those spy thrillers where virtually everybody dies. Altogether, if you enjoy watching Lancaster, "Scorpio" won't sting you.

Catch-52 Lancaster, Delon, and Scofield are amazing in this complex, character-driven spy thriller. For some reason, Winner's direction has come in for a lot of criticism, but I thought it was superb (at least here; haven't seen any of his other works). The big action sequence is beautifully shot, edited, and staged -- I liked it far better than "The French Connection"; indeed, "Black Sunday" is the only '70s thriller I've seen with better action. It's just so realistic!The biggest flaw I can see is that the major action sequence is so exciting that all the stuff that comes after it can seem a bit dull and overextended by comparison. Still, it's good, thought-provoking material with a cynical Le Carre edge. Without spoiling the end, let's just say that whether or not you think it "works", it certainly has an emotional impact.The supporting cast (Joanne Linville, John Colicos, J.D. Cannon, Frederick Jaeger, Shmuel Rodensky, et al.) is quite good, and the script (co-written by famed TV producer David Rintels) is filled with quotable dialogue and subtle bits that illuminate the characters, as well as clever pieces of "spy business" that feel authentic (whether or not they are).Bottom line: One of the best films of its kind.

will-75 It is rare nowadays to get such a good plot as this one. This film is deleted in England so I bought an American copy via Amazon - I like it so much.I won`t go into the plot simply to say that this is first rate stuff with great atmosphere.10 out of 10.

Filmbuff-55 The thing about spys and espionage is that there is a differencebetween good guys and bad guys. Burt Lancaster portrays aging C.I.A agent Cross who wants to leave the C.I.A to spend more time with his wife (Joanne Linville). However he has been training another mentor Jean code name "Scorpio"(Alain Delon) who is just been learning the tricks of the trade as a C.I.A assasin. C.I.A boss (John Colicos) feels that Cross knows too much and that he should be killed. He soons asks Scorpio to do the job, but he refuses. Scorpio is later arrested on phony narcotics rap and is blackmailed to do the job of eliminating Cross, so he accepts it. Cross however catches on that he is being by the watched C.I.A and the game of cat and mouse between him and Scorpio begins. He later takes refuge in with on old colleague (Paul Scofield) in Venice. Yet the question remains. Who is doublecrossing who? Who will survive the game? Who is good and who is bad? This a great film. Burt Lancaster was 59 years old and he had the ability to perform his running scenes as he is being pursued by Delon and another C.I.A hitman. He is proven to be a good actor who attributed the physical-athletic attributes in the film. Alain Delon gives a marvelous performance the man forced to hunt down and kill Lancaster. I give this film 10 out of 10**********.