Lesser-known spy movie review – The Executioner starring George Peppard. (1970). Reviewed by Michael Huie for Spybrary.
As the 1960s —the absolute heyday of the spy film— ended, American director Sam Wanamaker gave us this almost forgotten gem from 1970.
MIchael Huie
The Executioner is firmly in the more realistic le Carré/Deighton school of spying, although not on the level of The IPCRESS File or The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. Rather, it’s a solid mole-hunt story with a supporting cast that’s a veritable Who’s Who of 60’s spy-film character actors.
The film begins with its strongest sequence. It opens with a massacre. There’s no atmospheric John Barry title music. Instead, a car horn blares from the pressure of the body of a dead man. A few other bodies dot the landscape of an expensive Mediterranean villa. A man with an automatic weapon takes in the carnage as George Peppard emerges from it all carrying a wounded Joan Collins. That first scene hooks you.
From there we flashback in time and meet John Shay (Peppard), an MI-6 agent whose Czech network has been eliminated one by one. Shay’s convinced his people were betrayed by someone in London. When he arrives back in the UK there’s a lovely scene at an English garden party where we meet most of the major characters, many of whom are playing cricket on the lawn.
The Executioner isn’t really interested in Harry Palmeresque class warfare, however. Shay’s Oxbridge superiors are quick to dismiss his concerns. Naturally, he takes matters into his own hands and begins to investigate. With the illegal help of his girlfriend, who’s an MI6 clerk, Shay soon has a suspect. When the powers-that-be scoff again Shay goes rogue, and the fun begins. Pretty soon we are on a collision course with the bloody villa we saw in the first scene.
Plot-wise The Executioner breaks no new ground. Its strength lies in the believability of its storyline, some sharp dialogue and an experienced cast. Helping Peppard carry the load is George Baker (Sir Hilary Bray from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service), Charles Gray (You Only Live Twice, and Blofeld in Diamonds are Forever), Oscar Homolka (the wonderful Colonel Stok in Funeral in Berlin and The Billion Dollar Brain) and the always delightful Judy Geeson (the tepid Hammerhead and the disappointing The Eagle Has Landed).
Peppard is probably best known to American audiences for TV’s The A-Team, but he had a strong film career in the 60s making his mark with Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the World War I epic The Blue Max. The obsessed Shay is a perfect role for him. Peppard has just the right amount of grit and world-weariness. Thankfully, the script takes pains to explain why someone who sounds as American as Peppard works for MI-6.
The story has the requisite amount of globe hopping, moving with purpose from London to Athens and Corfu for the final bloody confrontation. It believably depicts a Cold War world from grungy Eastern European safe houses to glamorous hotels in the shadow of the Acropolis.
Don’t let the title fool you. The Executioner isn’t another film about a cold-hearted professional assassin. In fact, I’m not sure where the title comes from. Perhaps it’s so subtle it eluded me on first watch. The American director, Sam Wanamaker, is best known for two completely separate reasons. He spearheaded the drive to build a recreation of Shakespeare’s Globe on the banks of the Thames in London. He’s also a character in Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 film Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood. Wanamaker directs the TV Western show Lancer depicted in the film, and in a scene cut from the film tells Leonardo di Caprio’s character Rick Dalton he’d be perfect for his next project, which is a spy film. Poor Rick must’ve lost out to Peppard.
The Executioner doesn’t belong in any discussion of the great spy movies of the 60s and 70s, but it’s a smart, serious film with clever storytelling, wonderful actors and strong visuals. Alas, it doesn’t appear to be streaming when this was written, but it is available on DVD and on Blu-ray as part of a George Peppard box set from the boutique label Imprint. It’s worth seeking out, if the price is right.
At time of going to pixel, The Executioner is available on YouTube.
Review submitted by Michael Huie for Spybrary.
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