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The Amateur (1981 film)

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The Amateur
Theatrical release poster
Directed byCharles Jarrott
Screenplay by
Based onThe Amateur
by Robert Littell
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJohn Coquillon
Edited byStephan Fanfara
Music byKen Wannberg
Production
companies
  • Balkan Productions
  • Tiberius Film Productions
Distributed byPan-Canadian Film Distributors (Canada)
20th Century Fox (international)
Release date
  • December 11, 1981 (1981-12-11)
Running time
112 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish
BudgetUS$10 million[1]
Box officeUS$6.9 million[2]

The Amateur is a 1981 Canadian spy thriller film directed by Charles Jarrott, and written by Robert Littell and Diana Maddox, based on Littell's 1981 novel of the same name. It stars John Savage, Christopher Plummer, Marthe Keller, Arthur Hill, Nicholas Campbell, George Coe, John Marley and Ed Lauter. The film is about a CIA analyst (Savage) who goes rogue to avenge the murder of his wife.

The film was released by Pan-Canadian Film Distributors on December 11, 1981. It was nominated for several Genie Awards in 1982, including for Best Motion Picture. Another film adaptation of the novel was released in 2025.

Plot

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When his fiancée is murdered by terrorists, a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) cryptographer named Charles Heller blackmails his superiors into sending him on a field assignment into Czechoslovakia to assassinate those responsible. Just as he enters the field, the CIA locates the stolen material he had been using to blackmail the agency, eliminating their need to cooperate with him. So he is behind the Iron Curtain, inadequately trained, and without support.

He nonetheless reaches his safe house, meets his local contact, Elisabeth, and kills two members of the terrorist band. He discovers the location of their ringleader, Schräger, the man who had killed his fiancée, but attracts the attention of the local security forces, who begin following him.

At the site where he expects his final showdown with Schräger he is ambushed by his CIA trainer, Anderson, who explains that Schräger is a double agent working for the CIA who had killed his fiancée under orders to establish his bona fides by murdering an American. He insists that Heller explain his own rogue status to Schräger so that the terrorist, who believes Heller was sent by the CIA to kill him, will continue to work with the Americans.

A senior agent of the local security service, Lakos, overhears all this.

Schräger arrives, kills Anderson in a shootout, and is killed by Heller. Lakos, who has come to respect Heller, helps him and Elisabeth escape back to the west in exchange for his promise to write a book embarrassing the CIA.

Cast

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Production

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The film was shot from December 1980 through February 1981 in Toronto, Ontario doubling for Washington, D.C., Prague, and Vienna, Austria with additional second unit work done on location in Vienna.[3] The CIA Training Farm depicted in the film was in fact the Toronto Zoo.[3]

Filming locations

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Critical reception

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In a review for The New York Times, Janet Maslin was positive in her assessment writing, "As cold-war thrillers go, this is an efficient and enjoyable one, with a good cast, a clever if overburdened plot, and a stylish brand of mayhem."[4]

In a review for the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave the film two stars out of four and wrote, "After earning our attention with its understated, powerful opening, the movie develops into a routine, even laughable, spy thriller".[5]

Accolades

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1982 nominations from the Genie Awards:

Remake

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Development on a new adaptation of the Robert Littell novel was first announced in November 2006, with Hugh Jackman attached to star, and Evan Katz writing the screenplay.[6] In February 2023, Hutch Parker and Dan Wilson were announced to be producing the project for 20th Century Studios with James Hawes attached as director and Rami Malek in the lead role.[7] Malek was also listed as an executive producer on the project.[8] In May, Rachel Brosnahan, Caitriona Balfe, Adrian Martinez, Laurence Fishburne, Holt McCallany and Julianne Nicholson were added to the cast.[9][10][11]

Principal photography began in London in June 2023. Filming locations are scheduled for around the south-east of England, as well as France and Turkey.[12] Filming was suspended in July due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.[13] Filming resumed by December 2023.[14][15] It was later confirmed that Takehiro Hira was also cast.[16] In October 2024, it was determined by the Writers Guild of America that Ken Nolan and Gary Spinelli would receive screenplay credit, while Katz, Scott Z. Burns, Stephen Chin, Scott Frank, Hawes, Littell, Diana Maddox, and Patrick Ness contributed additional literary material.[17]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History, Scarecrow Press, 1989 p259
  2. ^ Box Office Mojo
  3. ^ a b Grey, Humphrey (September 1981). "The Amateur". Cinema Canada. Retrieved March 28, 2025.
  4. ^ Gates, Anita (April 17, 1982). "'THE AMATEUR,' COLD WAR HUNT". The New York Times. New York City. Archived from the original on October 19, 2022.
  5. ^ Ebert, Roger (January 1, 1982). "The Amateur". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved March 28, 2025.
  6. ^ Green, Willow (November 8, 2006). "Hugh Jackman Is The Amateur". Empire. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  7. ^ Kroll, Justin (February 16, 2023). "Rami Malek To Star In Thriller Amateur With 'Slow Horses' Director James Hawes Helming For 20th Century". Deadline Hollywood.
  8. ^ Humphrey, Julia (February 17, 2023). "Rami Malek To Lead Thriller Amateur From 'Slow Horses' Director James Hawes". Collider.
  9. ^ Grobar, Matt (May 5, 2023). "Adrian Martinez Joins Rami Malek In 20th Century Studios Thriller Amateur". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  10. ^ Kroll, Justin; Grobar, Matt (May 19, 2023). "Rachel Brosnahan, Caitríona Balfe And Laurence Fishburne Join Rami Malek In Thriller Amateur For 20th Century". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  11. ^ Grobar, Matt (May 26, 2023). "Holt McCallany & Julianne Nicholson Join Rami Malek In 20th Thriller Amateur". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
  12. ^ Rajput, Priyanca (June 5, 2023). "Rami Malek's thriller Amateur filming in London". KFTV. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  13. ^ Gonzalez, Umberto (July 14, 2023). "Here Are All The Movies Affected by the SAG-AFTRA Strike From Deadpool 3 to Mission: Impossible 8 (Photos)". TheWrap. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  14. ^ Kanter, Jake (2023-11-17). "Rami Malek's 20th Century Thriller Amateur Among First Studio Shoots To Get Rolling In UK After Strikes". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  15. ^ Calnan, Ellie (December 13, 2023). "2023 film and high-end TV productions shooting in the UK: latest updates". Screen Daily. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
  16. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (March 18, 2024). "'Shōgun's Takehiro Hira And Akira Emoto Join Brendan Fraser's 'Rental Family' At Searchlight". Deadline. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  17. ^ "The Amateur". Writers Guild of America West. October 4, 2024. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
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