The Whistle Blower [DVD]

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Product Description ------------------- O® winner* Michael Caine gives a riveting performance (The Hollywood Reporter) as an ordinary man caught in a web of corruption and murder in a gripping, tautly handled [and]highly charged (Variety) espionage thriller. James Fox, Nigel Havers, Felicity Dean and SirJohn Gielgud co-star in this 'suspenseful and intelligent (The Wall Street Journal) political drama that will keep you guessing until the very last frame. English patriot and army vet Frank (Caine) is only mildly concerned when his son Bob, who works for the British Secret Service, says dirty dealings are afoot at the agency. But then Bob is murdered under mysterious circumstances. And Frank's inquiries thrust him in the middle of a rat's nest of government deceit that reaches up through the ranks to a traitorous (Gielgud) whose secret could now cost Frank his own life as well!*1999: Supporting Actor, The Cider House Rules; 1986: Supporting Actor, Hannah and Her Sisters .com ---- In this 1987 espionage thriller, Michael Caine is Frank Jones, a businessman and patriotic war veteran whose son Bob (Nigel Havers) is a Russian linguist who works at the intelligence-gathering Government Communications Headquarters. A few days after Bob expresses doubts to his her about aspects of his work, report to Frank that his son has died in a fall, and a verdict of accidental death is recorded. However, in the midst of his grief, Frank is puzzled by the circumstances of his son's death and decides to conduct his own investigation. In so doing he finds himself pitted against an utterly unscrupulous Secret Service prepared to stop at nothing, including murder, to cover up their operations. Set during a time when concerns about GCHQ were at their height and the Cold War had yet to thaw, many of the film's concerns seem, years subsequently, to be thankfully dated. Moreover, it's hard to believe that the bumbling British Secret Service would actually be capable of organizing a convivial soiree in a brewery, let alone orchestrating the sort of skullduggery they perpetrate here. Still, with a cast that features all the usual British suspects (Sir John Gielgud, James Fox, Gordon Jackson), there's no doubting the pedigree of The Whistle Blower, which, despite its ostensibly uncomfortable message, actually makes for very agreeable comfort viewing. --David Stubbs