"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" is definitely the thinking person's spy movie. There's all of two short action sequences in the entire 6+ hour affair, and the thrills come from much more cerebral problems than henchmen using hats as weapons or sharks with frigging laser beams or whatever mainstream spy movies cook up.
It's easy to use this miniseries to bash James Bond, so I won't do much of that, other than to say "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" is what you've been looking for if you've wanted a more adult spy movie. This is the story of George Smiley, the ousted spymaster who jumps at the opportunity to clear his name by investigating a suspected mole in his old organization.
This capsule summary struck me as a bit tedious when I read it, just a James Bond sort of fantasy scenario without all the fun of beautiful women and fast cars, right? It is, however, based quite overtly on an actual British intelligence mole scandal, down to the code name of the mole. While undoubtedly the story is fictionalized and may not particularly reflect the way intelligence agencies actually operate, but unlike most everything else in the genre, it's at least plausible.
The series stars Alec Guinness and his work here definitely holds the movie together.
It's easy to use this miniseries to bash James Bond, so I won't do much of that, other than to say "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" is what you've been looking for if you've wanted a more adult spy movie. This is the story of George Smiley, the ousted spymaster who jumps at the opportunity to clear his name by investigating a suspected mole in his old organization.
This capsule summary struck me as a bit tedious when I read it, just a James Bond sort of fantasy scenario without all the fun of beautiful women and fast cars, right? It is, however, based quite overtly on an actual British intelligence mole scandal, down to the code name of the mole. While undoubtedly the story is fictionalized and may not particularly reflect the way intelligence agencies actually operate, but unlike most everything else in the genre, it's at least plausible.
The series stars Alec Guinness and his work here definitely holds the movie together.