TAILOR OF PANAMA, THE (director/writer: John Boorman; screenwriters: John le Carré/Andrew Davies/based on the book by Mr. le Carré; cinematographer: Philippe Rousselot; editor: Ron Davis; cast: Pierce Brosnan (Andy Osnard), Geoffrey Rush (Harry Pendel), Jamie Lee Curtis (Louisa Pendel), Leonor Varela (Marta), Brendan Gleeson (Mickie Abraxas), Harold Pinter (Uncle Benny), Catherine McCormack (Francesca), Leonor Varela (Marta), Lola Boorman (Sarah, Harry's daughter), Daniel Radcliffe (Mark, Harry's son-he will be the actor to play Harry Potter), Martin Ferrero (Teddy), John Fortune (Ambassador Maltby), David Hayman (Luxmore), Jon Polito (Ramon), Dylan Baker (American General), Mark Margolis (Rafi Domingo); Runtime: 120; Columbia Pictures; 2001-USA/Ireland)
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
An amusing and sophisticated espionage thriller, only slightly flawed by some of its contrivances. This British spy spoof is about a colorful tailor who gets off on being respected by the prominent people he surrounds himself with, who is a storyteller with a shady past. The self-exiled tailor lives in Panama by the decree of his Uncle Benny (Harold Pinter). He reluctantly becomes a spy for an unscrupulous British agent. The British agent is Andy Osnard (Pierce Brosnan), who is coming off a sex scandal in his last botched assignment. He's a disgraced M.I.-6 agent exiled to Panama City to cool his heels. But Andy is a go-getter, a schemer and an opportunist without scruples. He's one of those handsome womanizer types (he's not exactly James Bond in this role, but plays a parody of that role), who only looks out for himself and is quite adept at leaving others in the lurch after seducing them. The drug trafficking and gun-running climate of Panama will prove to be a place just right for him to fit into.
Arriving in Panama the first thing he does is look up the fidgety tailor Harry Pendel (Geoffrey Rush), a half-Jewish cockney ex-convict who reinvented himself as the Saville Row tailor who makes up a tale that he was partners with the WASP Brathwaite. He learned the craft in prison and after serving his time, his beloved Uncle Benny set him up in business far away from him. Here he sells old-fashioned custom-made suits at steep prices, working out of a shop decorated with leather club chairs where he serves class and Scotch to his pampered wealthy clientele. He always speaks with utter praise for his late partner, the revered Brathwaite; even though, Brathwaite never existed for him. The oil painting that hangs on Harry's fitting-room wall that is supposed to be a portrait of Brathwaite is actually a portrait of Harry's late Uncle Benny, an East End rag man, whose dreamlike face appears at troubled times to offer Harry advice on how to deal with his current state of being. Harry lives a bourgeois life in his suburban villa, driving his luxurious Land Rover around town, and enjoys being a doting father to his two kids and a loving husband to a wife he adores.
Andy knows all this already and also knows that the tailor owes $50,000 on a farm he bought where he mortgaged his business and home, and now the loan is being called in by the bank. His American wife, Louisa (Jamie Lee Curtis), the respected daughter of an engineer who worked on the canal, doesn't know Harry's dark secret from the past or how he has put their two children Sarah and Mark in financial danger because of his rash actions. But Harry has an offer from Andy he can't refuse. If he sells Andy info about what's going on in Panama the loan will be paid back by the Brits, as the Brits like the Americans are worried about the canal now that it has been handed back to Panama. They are worried that those in power shouldn't sell this very valuable trade route to another country. And, since the tailor's wife is the high-powered executive assistant to the Canal director, Andy gets him to spy on her. Harry can't resist this temptation to tell tall stories and soon he's telling Andy what he wants to hear. Andy knows that he's making this up, but pays him anyway because it fits in with the scheme he's cooking up.
Geoffrey Rush is the timid man trapped in the post-Noriega Panamanian intrigues, and Pierce Brosnan is the seducer without morals. They play one another off in a most refreshingly joyous way, as for a while is hard to tell who has the upper hand. Under John Boorman's (Deliverance/Hope and Glory) competent direction, the film has air to breathe for its smart storytelling tale and parody. It is based on the popular 1996 novel by John John le Carré, who also was the screenwriter and the executive producer, making sure his work was translated onto the screen in a reasonable facsimile from the book. Which he said it was.
The supporting actors of note that lent a hand in making this spy story edgy: were Chilean actress Leonor Varela's role as Harry's receptionist, whose one side of the face is scarred because of the beating Noriega's henchmen gave her. Noriega is the puppet the CIA head man Bush put in power, but when his criminal activities and dealings in drugs became too great for even President Bush, he was forcibly removed from power in an invasion of the country. The country is now supposedly a democracy, but as Boorman wryly points out these are the sames faces running the country who were with Noriega. Brendan Gleeson plays the wino, a one time rebel against Noriega, who is now too weak after spending some jail time to be anything but a broken down man. Harry's tale to Andy is that he's head of the 'silent opposition.' He says that this freedom-fighting organization, headed by Gleeson, is planning to take back control of the Panama Canal from the corrupt government. The joke is how readily the Americans buy into this unreliable info without thoroughly checking it out, and how this quickly turns into an international disagreement between Panama and the U.S.. Catherine McCormack is part of the British Embassy staff, who succumbs to Andy's sexual charms.
This farce works out fairly well. The script is tight. The directing is impeccable, the acting finely tuned, and the mood it sets is for a thinking man's picture to develop amidst all the comedy. Boorman gets his digs in on what is going on down Panama way, now that Noriega is in jail. The digs I liked best were: 'You know what the poor call those?' pointing to the city's skyline, 'Cocaine towers! And the 85 banks? Launderettes!' This is not an ordinary commercial formula film, but it's more like Harry's handmade suits rather than those suits bought off the rack.
REVIEWED ON 6/3/2001 GRADE: B+
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
ozus@sover.net
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ
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