The Tailor of Panama (2001)
Genre: Drama / Thriller
Duration: 109 minuten
Country:
United States / Ireland
Directed by: John Boorman
Stars: Pierce Brosnan, Geoffrey Rush and Jamie Lee Curtis
IMDb score:
6,1 (32.715)
Releasedate: 30 March 2001
The Tailor of Panama plot
"In a place this treacherous, what a good spy needs is a spy of his own."
British spy Andy Osnard is sent to Panama to cool down, to investigate what the president is planning there with the Panama Canal. Once there, he seeks out a local tailor, Harry Pendel, who is in contact with many high-ranking politicians because of his profession, in an attempt to squeeze information out of him. Pendel decides to make up all kinds of information to satisfy Osnard.
Actors and actresses
Andrew "Andy" Osnard
Harold "Harry" Pendel
Louisa Pendel
Marta
Michelangelo "Mickie" Abraxas
Uncle Benny
Francesca Deane
Mark Pendel
Sarah Pendel
Luxmore
Reviews & comments
BoordAppel
-
- 14274 messages
- 3300 votes
Bizarre average here. Very nice film with a good and quite original story. Quite complicated because of the many characters but in the end it is all easy to understand. Funny at times and very well acted. Special mention to Gleeson, didn't recognize him at all.
4*
Translated from Dutch · View original
Sergio Leone
-
- 4461 messages
- 3144 votes
Reasonable.
As a parody of the spy thriller, The Tailor Of Panama is quite successful. The whole set-up is too idiotic for words and with the caricatural characters flickered in it, this looks quite pleasant.
But towards the end - how could it be otherwise - the film loses its sharpness. The finale is an anticlimax.
It won't be the cast, though. Geoffrey Rush is perfectly cast and Pierce Brosnan also pulls his plan. His role here is unbelievably cheesy - he puts down that hatch with gusto - but is also asshole and he misses that biting anyway.
Panama is a nice location and it is used sufficiently. Furthermore, there is nothing to be found here in terms of ingenuity or great cinema. However, the lover of the lighter satire will appreciate this.
3
Translated from Dutch · View original
Roger Thornhill
-
- 6195 messages
- 2546 votes
A very strong plot that only really comes to life thanks to the brilliant acting of the two protagonists. Pierce Brosnan steals the show with his amoral and arrogant undercover agent who unscrupulously presses men and talks women into bed; Le Carré clearly enjoys putting dialogue into his mouth as cynically as possible, but it is equally wonderful how Pierce Brosnan's acting never asks for sympathy for his depraved character. And Geoffrey Rush is one step behind (and sometimes ahead of) that, stacking fiction upon fiction and not blinking anywhere until he realizes what a swamp he's been in. Humor abounds (the scene where Osnard and the ambassador negotiate the price!), and when we met in the brothel I sat in my chair shaking with laughter as much as Brosnan and Rush on the waterbed. The only downside is the unbelievable casting of Brendan Gleeson as a Central American, but I forgive this jet-black humorous film for that. A delightful surprise.
Interesting question: To what extent does Osnard really believe in the stories Pendel tells him, and to what extent does he know from the start (or soon after) that this is all nonsense and is he only using them to give himself credit and to iron the millions and leave Pendel behind with the black pete? Perhaps the book will shed some light on that?
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