Scorpio (1973) - film review

CIA agent Cross is planning a quiet retirement with his wife.  Unfortunately, his boss, McLeod suspects him of being a double agent and has hired a fellow agent, Jean Laurier (code name “Scorpio”), to eliminate him.  Whilst visiting his Soviet counterpart, Zharkov, in Vienna, Cross learns that is wife has been killed by the CIA.  With nothing to lose, he returns to the United States to take his revenge…

Ten years after working together on Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard, Burt Lancaster and Alain Delon find themselves sharing the same studio once more in this grim spy thriller.  Despite top notch performances from both actors, the film feels flat and formulaic and has certainly not aged as well as some other notable thrillers of the 1970s.  Apart from a few memorable action sequences, Michael Winner’s direction generally lacks imagination, and resorts too often to stereotypical shorthand.  However, the film’s main Achilles heel is its bland, cliché-laden script, which includes some truly awful dialogue.  Trivia buffs should note that the film’s title is a reference to the star sign of the film’s two lead actors and its director – a hint perhaps that inspiration really was in dangerously short supply.

© James Travers 2006

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