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| Scorpio | 
 enlarge | Director: Michael Winner
Actors: Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, Paul Scofield, John Colicos, Gayle Hunnicutt
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $2.99
You Save: $11.99 (80%)
New (52) Used (21) from $1.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 26772
Format: Color, Dvd-video, Letterboxed, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 114
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
DVD Layers: 1
DVD Sides: 1
Picture Format: Letterbox
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 5 x 0.6
MPN: 907998
ISBN: 0792843398
UPC: 027616799821
EAN: 9780792843399
ASIN: B000035P5Y
Theatrical Release Date: April 19, 1973
Release Date: January 18, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
The prime minister of Eritrea is assassinated by political opponents, setting off a chain of events with global repercussions in the intelligence community. Burt Lancaster plays Cross, a CIA operative who dates back to the agency's earliest days as the OSS. Scorpio (Alain Delon) is a protege of Cross, and one of Cross's best friends in a netherworld where everyone's allegiances, personal and political, are in question. Higher-ups within the intelligence agency decide that Cross knows too much and is better off eliminated; at first, Scorpio refuses the job until the CIA frames him on a phony narcotics bust and coerces him into the assignment. The two men play a game of global cat-and-mouse as Cross consorts with his Russian counterparts--fellow aging dinosaurs in a young man's game. Cross's links with the Russians go back to the days of the Spanish Civil War and the time when Cross was given the ironic label of "premature anti-Fascist" by the House Unamerican Activities Committee. The incredibly convoluted plot is rife with double-crosses and reverse double-crosses, in an environment in which nothing is quite as it seems and no one is to be trusted. Director Michael Winner infuses enough energy and excitement into the film's many action segments to make Scorpio worthy of comparison to John Frankenheimer's best political thrillers. Winner also throws in several curveballs, such as the zither music during a meeting in a Vienna cafe (shades of The Third Man) and the preposterous device of disguising Lancaster as an African American priest. Though not quite a classic, Scorpio is still an underrated espionage thriller that was well attuned to the political cynicism of the time. Best line: "I want Cross, and I want him burned!" --Jerry Renshaw
Description
Burt Lancaster (Field of Dreams), Alain Delon (Once a Thief) and Paul Scofield (King Lear) star in this masterful spy thriller filmed on location in Washington, Paris and Vienna.With its intense action, breathtaking suspense and fabulous supporting cast that includes John Colicos (The Postman Always Rings Twice) and Gayle Hunnicutt (Running Scared), Scorpio is a bold and powerful modern classic. Lancaster is Agent Cross, a C.I.A. operative with a shocking secret; Delon is Scorpio, a French assassin with a hard-earned reputation for always getting his man. Both are experts in their fieldbrave, intelligent, and lethal. And when they're thrust together by personal ambitions and political forces beyond their control, each man finds himself fighting for his life amidst the brutal realities of the Cold War.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 A Rare Masterpiece For The Spy Genre. February 26, 2000
12 out of 15 found this review helpful
Burt Lancaster plays an aging CIA agent who's finally had enough of the spy life and wants to quit the business so he can spend more time with his family. But his trecherous Bosses don't want him to quit so they assign Alain Delon A.K.A SCORPIO to eliimate him. Fantastic script Delon's performance in the film is one of his best even if his english is sometimes off a bit. the highlight of the film is the chase sequence between Lancaster & Delon throughout the Streets and Alleyways Of Venice. It's a captivating spy film done with the right amount of action and suspense. Most Of Today's spy films don't even come to this masterpiece. And even if they could they would still fail. This film was a true gem for it's time and cannot and will not ever be replaced or duplicated.
 a "must see" for Delon fans August 21, 2002
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Though the plot is somewhat muddled, locations change at a dizzying speed between Washington, Vienna, and Paris, has some improbable situations, and occasionally stilted dialogue, it's highly entertaining, and has an excellent cast, especially Alain Delon.
He's fabulous as "code name: Scorpio", conveying so much meaning with the subtlest of gestures. He's also superb in the action scenes, so lithe and fast, and seems to be doing all his own stunt work...and he certainly must be one of the most spectacularly gorgeous actors to have ever graced the screen.
To top it off, Scorpio has a sensitive side: He likes flowers, and most of all, cats...enough to make a woman's heart flutter !Lancaster is very good as Cross, the spy who wants to get "out of the game", Paul Scofield is great as always as his Russian cohort, and Joanne Linville lovely as Cross' wife.
The cinematography (Robert Paytner) is exceptional, and Jerry Fielding's marvelous score is atmospheric and at times almost symphonic. You may have to see it several times to make any sense of the plot, but this is a very watchable film, has a lot going for it in many ways, and it has to be Delon's finest English speaking performance, which is a good enough reason to make this one a keeper.
Solid 70s Espionage/Crime Movie February 15, 2002
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
Not in the same league as The Day of the Jackal, The Manchurian Candidate or French Connection. It was still an enjoyable movie. Lots of great "on location" scenes, good action, excellent suspense with lots of double-crosses.Burt Lancaster's friendship with his cold war nemesis in Vienna was a neat part of the story - two cold warriors who became trusted friends after years of playing cat and mouse together.
SOLID THRILLER OF THE 70's July 25, 2004
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
Ten years after their encounter in Luchino Visconti's THE LEOPARD, Burt Lancaster and Alain Delon starred together in Michael Winner's SCORPIO, a solid spy thriller released in 1973. And the alchemy between the fine French actor and the imposing American star worked one more time.
SCORPIO is a good example of this peculiar period that produced such masterpieces as Pollack's THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR or Pakula's THE PARALLAX VIEW and KLUTE, all paranoiac movies featuring government subgroups which are able to kill innocent people with an harrowing impunity.
But Michael Winner isn't an author of the same caliber of Sydney Pollack, John Huston or Alan J. Pakula, hence SCORPIO is nothing more than a good spy thriller which doesn't offer additional food to the mind of the curious movie lover.
A DVD zone stars of the past.
 What was this film about? May 29, 2000
1 out of 42 found this review helpful
I saw this film twice, and I STILL don't know what it was about. Plot is so convoluted, with so many minor characters and twists and turns. I guess some people think this is "clever cat-and-mouse," but after two viewings over the course of several years, I still had no clear idea who the characters were, or why they did what they did.There's something about me and Burt Lancaster films. I found his MIDNIGHT MAN equally confusing, and his ATLANTIC CITY tedious and pointless. I can't think of a single Burt Lancaster film that I even liked.
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