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The Fourth Protocol

6.4

4,796

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Original title

The Fourth Protocol

Year

1987

Running time

119 min.

Country

United Kingdom

Director

John Mackenzie

Screenwriter

Frederick Forsyth, George Axelrod. Novel: Frederick Forsyth

Cast

Music

Lalo Schifrin, Francis Shaw

Cinematography

Phil Meheux

Producer

Lorimar Television

Genre

Mystery | Spy Film. Cold War

Movie Groups

Frederick Forsyth Adaptations

Synopsis

Caine plays a senior British administrator who is part of the intelligence establishment. When his findings offend his superiors he is reassigned to a customs post. While there he finds odd things showing up, which might well be parts of a small nuclear device. A Russian agent has been sent to England with instructions to assemble the device just prior to the British election next to an American Air Base in order to throw the election to Labor and get Britain out of NATO.

Critics' reviews

"What is missing is any real tension or psychological detail that might lend plausibility to all the hocus-pocus about East-West political and military intrigue."

Time Out
"The Fourth Protocol is first-rate because it not only is a thriller, but it also pays attention to its characters and shows how their actions grow out of their personalities (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of four)"

Roger Ebert: Chicago Sun-Times
"An engrossing and thoroughly enjoyable adaptation of the bestselling spy thriller by Frederick Forsyth"

Rita Kempley: The Washington Post
"Although the film rarely develops as much sustained tension as the adaptation of Forsyth's "The Day of the Jackal," The Fourth Protocol does have Caine"

Gene Siskel: Chicago Tribune
"The Fourth Protocol, based on a Frederick Forsyth thriller, ought to be gripping, but it is merely diffuse, mechanical and overlong."

David Ansen: Newsweek
"A coolly efficient thriller with an octopus of a plot."

Janet Maslin: The New York Times

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User history

The Fourth Protocol

1987

John Mackenzie

6.4

(4,796)