Bullet to Beijing

Amazon.com

Poor cold war spy Harry Palmer. After 20 years in exile, he's been resurrected in a lackluster Showtime cable movie. Michael Caine, as brittle and droll as ever, is the main reason to see this fourth flick based on Len Deighton's hapless, and now forcibly retired, secret agent. Harry's been made redundant, and is none too happy about it. When a freelance job falls in his lap, he gratefully accepts the work. The assignment involves a Russian millionaire, nuclear weapons, nasty North Koreans, and a fairly exciting train ride. There are a few decent gags about the spy business, and Jason Connery (Sean's son) shows some merit, but the overly complicated plot is cliché and lacks finesse. If you want to see Caine at his finest, check out The Ipcress File, the first and most exciting of the Harry Palmer espionage thrillers. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Customer Reviews:

George Mihalka should have got..........2004-02-13

...the bullet before compromising Michael Caine into this. But, what else could you expect from trash made for TV (sorry for the redundancy).

This is one sad movie.......2002-08-17

This movie is little more than a parody of the espionage genre. Ridiculous and extremely confusing plot, stereotypical characters, pitiful screenplay, poorly filmed ... I could go on and on but what would be the use? An example of the pathetic story: Michael Caine and Jason Connery are tossed off a train in the middle of Siberia. After five minutes of walking along the train track they suddenly find themselves in an airport outside a teeming city, where they get the last two seats on an airplane. Then, the airplane runs out of gas and serenely lands in a cow pasture where all the passengers grumpily exit the plane. This was just one of a series of scenes that were not only mindless but unexciting.

This movie was so bad it defies belief! Spend your money elsewhere!

underrated, enjoyable and a sting in the tail.......2002-06-01

A believable glimpse into the self-serving British beauracracy and the modern Russia.
Caine is Caine - superb. The younger Connery is obviously going places.
An informative romp through Russia with subtle nuances and ultimate treachery in store.
Well worth the few pennies for an excellent product.

It's good to have Harry Palmer back!.......2002-02-28

In which a British agent is forcibly retired, comes out of retirement, nearly sleeps with a young Russian agent, does some espionage on a train, meets Burt Kwouk, and saves the world.

The first three Harry Palmer films were very much products of their times in that they were made during the 'cold war' and had much of their action set in Swinging London. They also benefitted from a young Michael Caine establishing himself as a screen star. The new films had to change approach. London now seems to be full of nothing but traffic, the cold war is supposedly over, and Caine's age meant that it became incongruous to have him in exactly the same role he played thirty years earlier.

This situation has been tackled before. Callan, James Bond, and Smiley have all come out of retirement, Glasnost has been tackled well in the later James Bonds, and the emphasis on London is seldom seen these days in British films.
So to some extent Harry Palmer's comeback is a cross between Never Say Never Again and GoldenEye and it all seems a bit familiar. Nevertheless Caine's watchability and charm keep the film moving and the rather slow opening soon gives way to classy chases, set pieces, and so on, all laced with the cynicism and intelligence that characterised the first three movies. The score by Rick Wakeman is good, being based on traditional Russian music, but in places it's inappropriate and undermines the action.

It's a bit of a shame these films weren't made in the 1970s or 1980s as the transition would have been easier, but all in all, it's good to see him back.

This version has extra footage.......2001-09-12

For those looking for what I thought of this film, I earlier wrote a review of the VHS edition, which was released by Paramount and runs 105 minutes. This DVD version is 122 minutes and my copy says it is from Lions Gate, not Front Row.
I don't particularly like this film, nor this version of the Harry Palmer character (incidently, even though it suggests otherwise, this has nothing to do with anything written by Len Deighton). I know it's a bit like that old joke where someone complains about how terrible food in a restauramt is, and then also complains that the portions are too small. But if you like this film, or are a Michael Caine completist, I thought it my duty to share the information about the additional footage.

Bullet to Beijing (Beijing express) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Spain ]

Average customer rating:

Bullet to Beijing (Beijing express) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Spain ]
Director: George Mihalka
Manufacturer: Filmax
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000FMLBQ0

Product Description

Spain released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. LANGUAGES: English (Dolby Digital 2.0), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0), Spanish (Subtitles), SYNOPSIS: When long-time British agent Harry Palmer loses his job because the Cold War is over, he's promptly approached by a Russian bossman, Alex. In St. Petersburg Alex tells Harry of his plan for Russia's future, which is threatened because a deadly biochemical weapon called the Red Death has been stolen from him. He'll pay Harry handsomely to retrieve it. An ex-spy friend tips Harry off that it's being sent to Beijing by train, aboard which we begin to learn whose side everyone's really on. SPECIAL FEATURES: Scene Access, Interactive Menu,

DVD:

DVD

DVD