Product Description

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 02/06/2007 Run time: 114 minutes Rating: R

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33095 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2007-02-06
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Chinese, English, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 109 minutes

Amazon.com
Tailors are the secret-keepers of the power elite; customize fine apparel for the rich and powerful, and you'll hear things only whispered in the halls of government. Such is the sly conceit of The Tailor of Panama, coadapted by John le Carré from his own novel, and directed by John Boorman with a delicious spin on the traditions of the spy genre. As British MI-6 agent Andy Osnard, Pierce Brosnan qualifies as James Bond's black-sheep sibling, viewing women only in terms of sexual conquest and conducting spy business by his own flexible set of rules. Banished to Panama to pay for recent indiscretions, Andy connects with Harry Pendel (Geoffrey Rush), a British ex-convict who's built a lucrative cover as tailor to Panama's highest officials. With the coveted Panama canal now under local control, Andy's arrived to see what Harry knows about the canal's pending multinational sale.

As Andy observes, Panama is "Casablanca without heroes," and that's precisely how Boorman depicts it: a melting pot of greed, ambition, and backroom maneuvering, where Andy can bed an embassy official (Catherine McCormack) while squeezing information from Harry, who concocts a phony "silent opposition" that puts British and American forces on full alert. Harry's wife (Jamie Lee Curtis) is pulled into the scenario by Andy's ruthless scheming, and The Tailor of Panama reveals how a simple fabrication can provoke trigger-happy forces around the globe. Part comedy and part political horror thriller--with a tragic supporting role for Brendan Gleason, from Boorman's The General--this is old-fashioned spy stuff made new by le Carré's inventive plotting and keen ear for the dialogue of rogues. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
A messy adaptation of the John le Carré novel, directed by John Boorman. As Andy Osnard, Pierce Brosnan plays an anti-Bond: the spy who loves nobody except himself. He is sent to Panama, where he recruits a local tailor, Harry Pendel (Geoffrey Rush)-who, like so many le Carré creations, has constructed the story of himself to escape from a shameful, secret past. On the evidence of Harry's tips, Osnard urges London and Washington to back a democratic coup to the tune of several million dollars. Almost no one in this picture is free of corruption, moral, sexual, or financial; the only virtuous character, Harry's wife, Louisa (Jamie Lee Curtis), is barely allowed room to breathe. Boorman wants to turn the novel's rueful satire into something sharp and sweaty, but the tone veers all over the place, and the plot feels like reckless fantasy. With Catherine McCormack as the target of Osnard's lust and Harold Pinter as Harry's uncle Benny; indeed, the film's view of Central American politics could hardly be more Pinterish. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Fantastic!
The best way to describe this movie is James Bond gone bad...I absolutely love this movie. Probably one of the most underrated movies in the last 10 years. Put together an all-star cast with a twisting story line and the exotic, beautiful, and dangerous backdrop of Panama and you have a great movie. If Saville Row means nothing to you and you aren't intrigued by the seedy world of espionage, look elsewhere for entertainment. If this does spark your interest, sit back and enjoy some of the best lines in cinema ("It was just tight--from lack of use").

Woven Out of Whole Cloth
I've watched and enjoyed "The Taylor of Panama" several times now. It seems to represent co-producer John Le Carré's homage to Graham Greene, Ian Fleming, and a spoof on the spy genre-film in general (It even includes a humorous pot-shot at "Casablanca.").

Geoffrey Rush turns in a moving performance as Harry Pendel, the tailor, whose fantasy life makes him all too vulnerable for the enticements and blackmail of the seedy would-be, but never-actually-was, James Bond--Andrew Osnard, a burnt-out MI-Sixer, banished to Panama as punishment for peccadilloes in foreign postings [Pierce Brosnan does an engaging satire on his cinematic Bond aplomb.]. Between the fantasies of Pendel (whose dead but not-so-silent partner is portrayed by Harold Pinter) the situation soon gets out of hand and almost ruins Pendel's marriage (His wife is played by Jamie Lee Curtis.); it destroys his loyal Panamanian friends, and almost starts a war. And while Osnard and most of his colleagues prove to be as corruptible as they are mendacious, the tailor finally comes clean with his wife and mends his marriage.

Behind the satire is one of Le Carré's favorite topics, the willingness of Intelligence services to believe what they want (in this case the presence of a "silent opposition" to the local government), and, in the name of expediency, to spin the most tenuous threads into colorful yarns that they then weave into plausible fabrics and preposterous fabrications. Le Carré therefore seems to be suggesting that the various intelligence services with their vested interests are all accomplished tailors.

The art of storytelling
Pierce Brosnan plays a British spy in this film but in a closer-to-reality scenario. No gadgets, no powerful weapons, no Aston Martin's. Okay, he gets to drive a BMW for about 5 minutes, but without the surface-to-air missiles. And fine, he still gets the ladies... Despite the lack of intense action the story is intriguing and clever. Everyone has their own interests in mind and it's amazing and sometimes funny to see what they will say and do to get things to work in their favor. Definitely an entertaining film. The Blu-Ray version is an improvement over the DVD version, but I have seen better quality video in other Blu-Ray releases.