The Quiller Memorandum
Starring: George Segal, Alec Guinness, Max von Sydow
Director: Michael Anderson
The film: Perhaps less well known than other similarly realistic mid-1960s spy thrillers, notably The Ipcress File and The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, The Quiller Memorandum holds its own against either, thanks to a strong script and a surprisingly engaging performance by George Segal (King Rat, Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf).
Segal plays the title character, an American agent who, for reasons unexplained in the film, is working for the British secret service in Berlin on a mission to root out the leaders of a neo-Nazi movement, which is gaining strength in the city. Its top man is played by Swedish heavyweight Max von Sydow (The Virgin Spring, The Seventh Seal), whose capture of Segal's love interest (Senta Berger) sets up the film's last half hour.
Quiller is just as down-to-earth a character as Michael Caine's Harry Palmer, with similarly dry wit, and even less in the way of gadgetry. He doesn't even carry a gun.