best movie i've ever seen.

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Alhough not a Len Deighton work,"The Whistle - Blower" shares his view of the Intelligence Service as a continuation of the Class War by other means. Former Fleet Air Arm pilot Michael Caine is a patriotic Lower Middle Class Englishman proud that his son is a linguist working at GCHQ.When the young man dies under mysterious circumstances he soon becomes aware of an MI5/CIA link to his demise.As he makes his own investigations he comes up against a cunning and ruthless enemy - his son's former employers.High - ranking MI5 officers(which of course - it being the UK - means upper class Oxbridge men) conspire to protect one of their own by any means necessary. Nigel Havers,looking like a cross between Hank Marvin and Hugh Grant,is too old to convince as Mr Caine's son.With his worn sports jacket and leather - patched elbows,horn - rimmed glasses and floppy hair he is almost a caricature of the conscience - stricken intellectual.No matter how good his Russian he would have been shown the door at GCHQ within a month,one glimpse at his room and a cursory glance at his bookshelves would have convinced his paranoid "masters"that here was a man who was idealogically unsound. Mr Barry Foster is outstanding as Mr Caine's former colleague and retired spook who is brought back to the fold to muddy the waters. The scene where Mr Caine gets him drunk whilst pretending to be drunk himself is the highspot of the film.As it unfolds,Mr Caine gets more and more cold - eyed but still plays the part of a drunk to perfection. Sir John Gielgud is another caricature as the aristo mole being protected by the machinations of posh James Fox and Gordon Jackson. He is an arrant snob,patronising,condescending,arrogant and self - serving;an easy man to hate. The whole tone of the film is redolent of "The Ipcress File",a similarity not lessened by the sharing of its anti - American sentiments,its fear/contempt of the high - born,the two major cast members it has in common and the "Potemkin Village" segment of the plot. Even the colour print is similar.Perhaps Mr Caine saw his part as that of a middle aged,worn out Harry Palmer,with still just a spark of the old stroppiness.Certainly he has his voice pitched just right as the aspirant south of England business man,never quite sure whether to aim at Mitcham or Mayfair. As a cautionary tale about the abuse of governmental power "The Whistle Blower" has been overtaken by events,but admirers of Mr Caine will find a lot in it to like.

Michael Caine has been involved in some stinkers in his career (let's face it every actor has to pay the bills); he has also made plenty of very good films and also plenty of films like 'The Whistle-Blower': an above average and very watchable drama of the second-rank. In fact it's Caine's solid acting (mostly low-key though he does get to fly off the handle in his own inimitable style a couple of times) which invests the film with believable emotion and elevates it above it's many clichés. The supporting cast is strong too; a cynical, amoral, self-serving and oft sinister intelligence industry is portrayed ably by Gordon Jackson, James Fox and John Gielgud.It's a shame that the demands of marketing mean that a film is often plugged as something it isn't. In this case 'The Whistle-Blower' is not a thriller (in fact the one and only 'action' scene - a car crash -is pretty rubbish and looks a bit tacked on), and it is only superficially a story about cold-war espionage (there are plenty of references to Anthony Blunt et al, but it's no 'Smiley's People'). Essentially it's a drama about loss; a man's loss of faith (in this case in his country) and, of his son. I'd point any harsh detractors of this film to the scene where, soon after learning of his sons death, Jones (Caine) attempts to discuss what happened with his son's neighbour and colleague, Rose (Dinah Stabb), and I challenge them not to be moved and at the same time chilled by the exchange.Yes, this film does have plenty of flaws. Cinematically it is pretty dull and dated; it has a bit of that naff 1970's/80's home-counties feel to it (though in some ways one could argue I suppose that this style aids in the depiction of the stolid, grey, snobby, repressed British establishment of the story... an establishment trying to cope with it's diminished, subservient place in the world while keeping up the public pretence that Britannia still rules the waves). It's full of clichés and undeveloped characters, and the screen-play has plenty of downs as well as ups; but credit where credit is due, it is at times thought provoking and engaging. It shouldn't be put down for trying to cram a lot of things in and so appearing sometimes a bit unsubtle as a result (as I said previously it's no 'Smileys People'). I felt compelled to follow Jones' journey through a cynical, venal and uncaring world, and in that fundamental manner, for me, the film is a success.

It's well documented -not least by the man himself - that Michael Caine finds it hard to say 'no' to any offer that comes in over the transom and as if to illustrate this an English Daily newspaper is giving away no less than 14 'Best Of Breeds' that today would go straight to DVD. The good news is that readers are obliged to collect the other 13 from applicable outlets, the bad news is that this, the first, was actually inserted in the newspaper in question. How bad is it? Let me count the ways. Several English actors who should know better but clearly have bills to pay are wheeled out to go through the motions of what may be best described as a Cool rather than Cold War episode - thriller is far too grand a description - in which Nigel Havers gets too pushy for his own good, 'falls' off a roof and leaves father Caine to get at any truth that might be floating around. Dire.

This 1986 spy thriller is a realistic thriller. Michael Caine gives a great performance as Frank, the father of a son that has died during mysterious circumstances. Frank embarks on his own investigation into his son´s death only to discover a British society that not is what it seems to be, under the surface. His investigation leads to the government and what they would do to protect it´s secret activities. The whistle blower is told in a slow yet thrilling pace. The plot is good, even though it is hard to follow from time to time, and the acting great. The production is very simple which makes the film realistic. The whistle blower is one of Caine´s better spy thrillers and is recommended for anyone into the spy genre. 7/10