Espionage in Movies 2 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Never Say Never Again

"Never Say Never Again", directed by Irwin Kershner ("The Empire Strikes Back"), scored a major coup with the return of Sean Connery as Bond. The movie is a remake of "Thunderball", one of two Bond novels for which Ian Fleming did not own the movie rights. The title was based on Connery's famous quote after 1971's "Diamonds Are Forever" that he would "never again" play Bond -- a pledge he broke with this movie. As of 2008, it is the only Bond movie to use a title that did not appear in Fleming's writings.

In "Never Say Never Again", as in "Thunderball", Bond inadvertently stumbled into a key piece of information about a plot involving stolen nuclear weapons. The architects of the plot were a group of international terrorists called SPECTRE, led by the sinister Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Bond successfully recovered the weapons from SPECTRE Number 2 Largo with the help of Largo's mistress Domino (Kim Basinger). Afterward, Bond was implored by a British diplomat to return to British intelligence. In a parody of the events that led to the title, the last two lines of the movie were Bond replying, "Never again", and Domino responding "Never?"

"Octopussy" was the title of a Bond short story by Fleming that took place during WWII. "From a View to a Kill" was a Bond short story by Fleming dealing with Bond catching an assassin targeting NATO. "Warhead" was the original title of the script that became "Thunderball."

Answer: He had been brainwashed

In "The Manchurian Candidate", Shaw was captured during the Korean War and taken to Manchuria, where he was brainwashed to respond to post-hypnotic suggestions triggered by the queen of diamonds. Marco was also brainwashed there, to report that Shaw was a hero, which is how Shaw won the Medal of Honor.

The Communists thought that brainwashing Shaw would give them an additional level of control over their spy, Mrs. Shaw Iselin. In the Communist plan, Shaw's stepfather Iselin, a vice-presidential candidate, would be elected president (thus, he was the "Manchurian Candidate" of the title). Mrs. Shaw Iselin had Shaw kill both the woman he loved and her father while under hypnosis. Shaw was then supposed to assassinate the presidential candidate running with Iselin, leading to Iselin's election.

However, Marco freed Shaw from the hypnotic trigger, and Shaw instead killed his mother, Iselin and himself.

Answer: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

"The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" has repeatedly been voted the best spy novel of all time, including in a 2006 "Publisher's Weekly" survey. Author John le Carre wanted to illustrate that spies on both sides of the Cold War used the same tactics. Leamas was enthusiastic about his mission because Fiedler was as good as ex-Nazi Mundt was evil. He was stunned to learn at the end that Mundt was actually a British double agent and that the real purpose of his mission was to cause Fiedler's death.

All of the possible answers, including the correct one, were spy movies based on the George Smiley series of novels by le Carre.

Answer: The Quiet American

Graham Greene, a former member of British intelligence service MI6, wrote the novel "The Quiet American" to reflect his dislike of Western espionage activities in developing countries like Vietnam. Lansdale persuaded Oscar-winning writer and director Joseph L. Mankiewicz to revise the story and remove the anti-American overtones, because it was widely believed that the amoral American agent Pyle was modeled on Lansdale. Greene repeatedly denied that Pyle was based on Lansdale, but the truth is unclear, even half a century later.

Answer: The IPCRESS File

"The IPCRESS File" was produced by Harry Saltzman, who also co-produced all of the early James Bond movies. Harry Palmer was the anti-Bond, a lower-class Cockney ex-street thief. Unlike Bond, Palmer was not an aristocrat, a womanizer or blessed with advanced technology. All Palmer had was his own intelligence (illustrated by figuring out that "IPCRESS" was an acronym for the brainwashing procedure described above).

In effect, the three Harry Palmer movies (including two sequels) were spy versions of the social realism movies that Saltzman had previously produced, such as "Look Back in Anger" and "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning."

Answer: Three Days of the Condor

Most of the action in "Three Days of the Condor" took place during daylight, which emphasized that there was no safe time of day in the espionage world. Turner (codename "Condor") first escaped death solely because he had gone out an unauthorized exit to pick up lunch. Later, Turner's CIA section leader used one of his friends to set a "death trap" for him. He kidnapped Kathy to escape from that trap but eventually persuaded her to help him determine who was trying to kill him and why. As Turner kept avoiding death and kept coming closer to the Americans behind the plot, he earned the respect of Joubert and the distrust of the CIA. Joubert (after killing the person behind the plot) advised Turner to become a freelance spy based in Europe, like himself, or else the CIA would kill him.

All of the possible answers, including the correct one, were spy movies written by Lorenzo Semple, Jr.

Answer: Vacuum cleaners

Because Wormold's vacuum cleaner business was only moderately successful, he needed the money earned from filing frequent intelligence reports. So he fabricated them. One of the British agents actually noted that Wormold's drawing of a secret missile installation resembled a vacuum cleaner. However, both sides in the Cold War, plus the Batista regime in Cuba, wrongly concluded that the reports were accurate. In the end, when Wormold admitted his deception, British intelligence chose to honor him as a hero to avoid negative publicity.

This movie was one of the few to be filmed on location in Cuba after Castro came to power in January 1959. Its mix of humor and drama proved to be a hard sell to audiences at the time, although its reputation has risen over the years (similar to Buster Keaton's silent classic "The General", discussed in quiz 1).

Answer: Brice told the police that Yuri was having an affair with Susan

The CIA had created the myth of "Yuri" for its own cynical political ends; it did not believe that there really was a Yuri. Brice, however, managed to get the local police to believe his theory that Yuri was both the murderer and the person with whom Susan was having an affair. Farrell had to hide from witnesses who had seen him with Susan while unraveling the cover-up. He barely managed to break Brice's alibi before his own arrest.

But "No Way Out" (unlike "The Big Clock", the 1940s book and movie on which it was based) had a major twist at the end: Farrell was actually Yuri. He had been placed in the U.S. by the KGB while still a child. Brice's desperate theory turned out to be half-correct, although no one but the KGB knew it.

Answer: La Femme Nikita

"La Femme Nikita" (also known just as "Nikita") introduced the world to French star Jean Reno, in the small part of Victor, the "cleaner", who had to help with Nikita's last job but failed to survive it. It was remade into the inferior U.S. film "Point of No Return" with Bridget Fonda, Anne Bancroft, Gabriel Byrne and Harvey Keitel in these four roles.

Then, as "La Femme Nikita" again, it was turned in a U.S. TV series that ran for four seasons.

Answer: Carlos

Harry repeatedly called Simon "Carlos", the real-life Venezuelan international terrorist (also known as "Carlos the Jackal") who was captured in the Sudan shortly after the release of "True Lies". The movie was written and directed by James Cameron ("Titanic"), who closely adapted the movie from a 1991 French film entitled "La Totale!" -- except with a lot bigger special effects budget. Among other stunts, "True Lies" included a motorcycle leap from the roof of a building into a swimming pool across the street, a nuclear exposion in the Florida Keys, the destruction of part of the Overseas Highway (U.S. 1), and a helicopter-versus-Harrier confrontation in Miami.