Franklin Schaffner directed Double Man, a moderately engaging British spy film, loosely based on Henry S. Maxfield’s critically acclaimed 1958 novel “Legacy of a Spy.”
| The Double Man | |
|---|---|
.jpg) |
|
Much of the action takes place in the Austrian Alps.
The film stars Yul Brynner as a CIA agent investigating his son’s fatal “accident.” He then slowly is convinced something else is happening and discovers a fiendish Russian plan.
During the Cold War a Russian intelligence officer tells an army general he has a plan to infiltrate the upper ranks of the American CIA. He assures the army general it cannot fail. The general approves the plan, but is skeptical and warns the intelligence officer of the fatal consequences should anything go wrong.
In Washington, top CIA official Dan Slater (Yul Brynner) receives a cable informing him that his teenaged son has been killed while skiing in the Austrian Alps. But he is suspicious of the official report that it was an accident, and flies over to investigate. He is mindful that things may have been arranged by his enemies to lure him into the open.
At the base of the ski resort where the son died, Slater meets up with Frank Wheatley (Clive Revill), a friend and ex-colleague who years earlier had tired of the paranoid approach to life demanded of intelligence agents. They discuss the case, with Wheatley arguing against Slater’s suspicious instincts. As they move through town, they are surreptitiously watched by the Russian intelligence officer, who tells his two burly subordinates that his plan is unfolding perfectly.
One of the last pieces of the plan calls for the real Dan Slater to be killed and his body secretly disposed of. Slater, handcuffed and gagged but fully conscious, is put in a car that is to drive him out of town, never to be seen again. However, the car gets held up by a raucous group of slow-moving partiers on their way to a nighttime ski run. When the driver steps out to shout at the partiers to move aside, Slater escapes. He eludes the immediate pursuit and search for him, but the Russian intelligence officer spots him dashing into the middle of the group of ski revelers on their way to the cable car station.
Slater, with the three Russian agents following, go up the mountain in the cable car. Slater has not yet ripped off his gag, and does nothing to reveal himself to the partiers.
Wheatley has had doubts about Slater’s violent attack of Gina, and visits her. The two of them chat and then seek out the double (still thinking he is Slater) who is waiting with the CIA agent to take the next train out of town. When Wheatley mentions he has some doubts about Slater’s attackers, the double, knowing the real Slater would have done so, insists on going with Wheatley to check on the loose ends.
Wheatley, the double and the agent make their way to unmanned cable car station halfway up the mountain. The real Slater has been hiding there from the Russian pursuers.
It sets the stage for the final confrontation between Slater and the double, with Wheatley, the only armed man, having to choose who the real Dan Slater is.
Cast
Yul Brynner as Dan Slater / Kalmar
Britt Ekland as Gina
Clive Revill as Frank Wheatley
Anton Diffring as Berthold
Moira Lister as Mrs. Carrington
Lloyd Nolan as Edwards
George Mikell as Max
Brandon Brady as Gregori
Julia Arnall as Anna
David Bauer as Miller
Ronald Radd as General
Kenneth J. Warren as Police Chief
David Healy as Halstead
Carl Jaffe as Police Surgeon
Douglas Muir as Wilfred
