For my money, John LeCarre is one of the best writers of the twentieth century. He has a gift for dialogue, for suspense, and for creating mystery. In my opinion, though, his greatest fault is that his work is very inconsistant -- one book might be great, and the next, not-so-great.
Of all his books, I think that "The Tailor of Panama" has to be my least favorite. Its based on Graham Greanne's novel "Our Man In Havanna," and it is meant to be a tragi-comedy.
It is the story of Harry Pendel, a tailor who is a hopeless story-teller and an ex-convict recruited by a British spy named Andy Osnard to be the head of a spy network in Panama. The whole thing turns out to be a massive con-game with Harry lying to Andy about the so-called silent opposition in Panama, and the two of them raking in money from England. However, things turn sour when England and America act on Harry's "intelligence" and he loses everything he holds dear to him.
The movie fails on a variety of different levels. First of all, Pierce Brosnon is far too much of a pretty boy to play the role of Andy Osnard, who, in the books, is portrayed as fat, not-particularly handsome, but possessing a certain animal sexuality. The director tries to convey this by having him sweat alot, and walk around with his shirt tails out but it doesn't work. Also, casting Jamie Lee Curtis as Harry's wife (who was supposed to be half-Panamanian) was another absurd piece of casting. Although both Brosnon and Curtis are good in their roles, they just don't seem to fit.
Secondly, the ending of the book is VERY different from the ending of the movie. The ending of the book is tragic, but hopeful. Harry loses everything but goes off into the world seeking a kind of redemption. The climax of the book is very important to the story, in that everything has been building to this one moment. It is depressing as all get out, and since it also didn't jibe with recorded history (I think), they changed the ending to the movie to something much more up beat. In doing so, they made most of the movie irrelevant, since it was building towards something that never happens.
Since this got a very limited release when it first came out, I went out of my way to see it. I expected to be depressed, but not as bored as I had become after the first fifteen minutes. Had the theatre been less crowded, I would have walked out. It was an immensely unsatisfying movie.
Of all his books, I think that "The Tailor of Panama" has to be my least favorite. Its based on Graham Greanne's novel "Our Man In Havanna," and it is meant to be a tragi-comedy.
It is the story of Harry Pendel, a tailor who is a hopeless story-teller and an ex-convict recruited by a British spy named Andy Osnard to be the head of a spy network in Panama. The whole thing turns out to be a massive con-game with Harry lying to Andy about the so-called silent opposition in Panama, and the two of them raking in money from England. However, things turn sour when England and America act on Harry's "intelligence" and he loses everything he holds dear to him.
The movie fails on a variety of different levels. First of all, Pierce Brosnon is far too much of a pretty boy to play the role of Andy Osnard, who, in the books, is portrayed as fat, not-particularly handsome, but possessing a certain animal sexuality. The director tries to convey this by having him sweat alot, and walk around with his shirt tails out but it doesn't work. Also, casting Jamie Lee Curtis as Harry's wife (who was supposed to be half-Panamanian) was another absurd piece of casting. Although both Brosnon and Curtis are good in their roles, they just don't seem to fit.
Secondly, the ending of the book is VERY different from the ending of the movie. The ending of the book is tragic, but hopeful. Harry loses everything but goes off into the world seeking a kind of redemption. The climax of the book is very important to the story, in that everything has been building to this one moment. It is depressing as all get out, and since it also didn't jibe with recorded history (I think), they changed the ending to the movie to something much more up beat. In doing so, they made most of the movie irrelevant, since it was building towards something that never happens.
Since this got a very limited release when it first came out, I went out of my way to see it. I expected to be depressed, but not as bored as I had become after the first fifteen minutes. Had the theatre been less crowded, I would have walked out. It was an immensely unsatisfying movie.