Scorpio | 
| 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: $2.95
You Save: $12.03 (80%)
New (48) Used (21) from $1.82
Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 27119
Format: Color, Dvd-video, Letterboxed, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
DVD Layers: 1
DVD Sides: 1
Picture Format: Letterbox
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 114 Minutes
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
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new sealed DVD. 1st class shipping.
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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 2 more reviews...
 Unbelievably Cheesy January 7, 2009
Michael J Edelman (Huntington Woods, MI USA)
Poor Burt Lancaster slogs his way through a muddle of a plot, with unintentionally hilarious dialogue and a supporting cast of mostly minor European and second-string American TV actors. Alain Delon shows up to show that his career wasn't doing to well then, either. There's no point in trying to follow all the confused plot elements, but it can be fun to watch in the same way that you can enjoy an Ed Wood film. Fine for Sunday afternoon TV viewing when the weather has you stuck indoors and you've read everything in the house twice.
 Beats me October 18, 2007
blockhed (UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I wonder how many times I'll have to watch this film before I finally understand what happened? I've read the other reviews for clues, so I have a vague, very vague, idea of what was what, but I freely admit I'm still bewildered. Most of the dialogue seemed impenetrable, spoken in a code without a key, and the many locale changes made me dizzy. What exactly were the girls doing? What was it that was being shuffled around in envelopes? Who was taking those handy photographs all the time? Why didn't the two main characters shoot each other when they first had the chance? The story reminded me of ring-a-ring-a-roses --- bang, bang --- we all fall down. There was a lot going on all the time, so I sat out the nearly two hours, hoping for answers. I was still hoping when it ended. Most of the time I kept thinking that quite a bit of extra weight was being lugged around by the great Burt Lancaster at this time of his life, and yet he still seemed quite athletic. I'll watch it again, some time, but I'm not optimistic that the pieces will fall into place. Perhaps some kind reviewer will spell it all out for me at a later date. (2 days later). Well, I've watched it twice now, and it's actually much simpler than I first thought. I must have been half asleep the first time. Perhaps I was registering the key points more alertly, or else I was on the look-out for them. I might have given it another star if I'd been more awake, but it still seemed to ramble round the houses rather lengthily. The message would appear to be that the Cold War, at the time the film was made, was being managed by a bunch of bureaucrats with no beliefs in anything much except how to get promoted within whatever system they found themselves. People who were sticking spokes in their wheels tended to get whacked. The other message was that if you're going to be a traitor, or a hit man, don't get emotionally involved with your lady friends.
 SOLID THRILLER OF THE 70's July 25, 2004
wdanthemanw (Geneva, Switzerland)
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.
 a "must see" for Delon fans August 21, 2002
Alejandra Vernon (Long Beach, California)
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.
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