Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

writers_reign This is perhaps best described as Swinging Sixties preserved in amber past its sell-by date. The presence of Lilli Palmer sold it to me and whilst she's the best thing in it by a mile she is also so NOT Swinging Sixties and floats above it serenely. Romantic leads Dirk Bogarde and Susannah York have all the chemistry of Moishe Dayan and Golda Meir and it's no better with Bogarde and his mistress (soon to be discarded in favour of York) Janet Munro. The only female besides Palmer who seems to have a clue is Margaret Johnston as a sort of den mother. Johnny Gielgud is on hand to lend a bit of class and Nigel Davenport totally lacks credibility as Head of inept security. Apart from that it's a gem.

haristas This is a good film to watch if you like British films from the era and especially ones with Dirk Bogarde. It's made with some style but the script is a problem. Though it starts out intriguingly, in the end this espionage film is rather much ado about nothing. The main point of interest in this rarely seen movie now is the equally rarely heard Jerry Goldsmith score, which I rather like. I believe it got an LP release back in 1968, but has never been issued on CD. Perhaps one of the reasons for that, as I've recently read, is that Goldsmith didn't have a good experience doing the score and never had much to say about it or simply didn't want to discuss it at all. Unfortunate, because the score, though minor Goldsmith, does have merit. I hope someday to read just what Goldsmith's problems were with it.

tichsuch Sebastian is one of those movies you see once and remember for a long time. I saw it back in the seventies, and didn't get to enjoy it again until I caught it on TV in the nineties. Still, I remembered its groovy sixties-London atmosphere, its intellectually stimulating plot about codebreaking, Susannah York's breezy, mini-skirted, somewhat flighty Rebecca who is actually quite smart, Bogarde's coldly academic Sebastian with passion seething underneath, and Jerry Goldsmith's right-on soundtrack.Like a lighter LeCarre story, you get Cold War tension, but with a post-war British self-deprecating viewpoint. They may not be the Empire they once were, but they do have a bit of expertise in cryptography that the Yanks would be willing to compensate them for. Donald Sutherland plays an NSA type at Fylingdale Moor who turns Sebastian on (literally) to the latest intercepts from a Russian satellite. He's immediately impressed when Sebastian hears the embedded signal that carries classified data piggy-back with the normal Sputnik beeps. Mixed in with this main West versus East plot is the late-sixties go-go scene, with Sebastian's former paramour a pop singer a little past her prime, with his right-hand girl a bit of a leftist sympathizer, and with his new girlfriend, Rebecca, a pre-hippy free spirit determined to pry him out of his Oxford Don shell. Susannah York's Rebecca is fun-loving but has a flame-hot temper that reacts explosively to Sebastian's unemotional pomposity. Her true depth is shone later when she quietly removes herself to care for her baby, without the assistance of its father, Sebastian, who has dropped out of her life. I feel it's the best role of York's uneven career.What really takes the movie a step above, is Jerry Goldsmith's score. His instrumental "First Day at Work" catches just the right combination of urban excitement and spritly spirit that accompanies Rebecca and a bevy of beautiful and brainy girls as they make their way in to begin their work as cryptanalysts working in Sebastian's high-tech sweatshop. While the rest of the soundtrack is not up to his Blue Max or Wind and the Lion standards, this one tune alone puts Goldsmith's soundtrack above most movie music.I would put this one in my list of top 100 movies for its cast, its atmosphere, its music, and its re-watchability. I hope it comes out on DVD soon.

Tirelli The Coolest Of Them All...I have strong reasons to believe that is one of the best movies ever made, for it has achieved an accomplishment that was never achieved by any other so - called classics of the late 60s, like 'Blow-Up!' or even the hideously uneven 'Casino Royale'. It succeeds in exposing London's hypnotic late60s atmosphere as well as telling us, viewers, an interesting and rewarding story. It basically consists on the love story between Sebastian, a counter-intelligence agent that works on deciphering codes for England that recruits to work for him - while recruiting girls for his office, he encounters flashy, fashionable, London chick Becky Howard - played to perfection by Susannah York - who becomes one of his employees as well as his lover. She finds terribly hard to keep up with his cold, uninteresting, unappealing life-style, and of not at all being a priority to the man she loves. She leaves him - and it's his turn to find how difficult life is without her. He beguins to fail on his job, to the point of almost been killed by an enemy agent. He decides to leave his pride and go after her - only to find her living alone with a baby, who turns out to be his! He asks her to come back and events lead to a jolly happy ending.Trust me, this is the most exciting journey into 60s popculture that ever was. The coolest of them all, only topped by the also wonderful 'The President's Analyst', featuring great performances by both leads and for co-starring seniors as Lilli Palmer and Sir John Gielgud, and a beguiling soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith - Listen closely to the tune 'Comes The Night', sung by Anita Harris. Do not, I repeat, do not, miss this one! Yours Truly - Ismar