MovieChat Forums > Funeral in Berlin (1967) Discussion > Looking for a British Movie......

Looking for a British Movie......


Hi all ---

I'm looking for an older movie, and wonder if anyone could help me with a title.

I remember seeing a Brit secret agent movie on TV back in the early 70s --- it started out with someone paying a visit to what looked like a civil servant. In order to avoid his customers, the civil servant had to sneak out of his office. Later, there's an intense battle between a man in a car and another guy with a shotgun --- the driver ends up running over the gunman. Finally, at the end of the movie, the "civil servant" returns to his office to begin his job again.

Does any of this ring a bell with anyone ? Don't have access to "Funeral in Berlin" --- is this part of its plot ?

Many thanks in advance !

"J'ai l'oeil AMÉRICAIN !"

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....my research has led me to believe that the movie I'm looking for is a "Callan" flick.....

J'ai l'oeil AMÉRICAIN !

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All I can help with is that it's not Funeral in Berlin.

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All I can help with is that it's not Funeral in Berlin.
Thanks Mike --- sorry for the delay !

J'ai l'œil AMÉRICAIN !

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Sounds like the Callan movie, with Edward Woodward. It was a film version of "A Magnum for Schneider," the drama from Armchair Theater, which served as a pilot for the Callan tv series.

The film expands the story a bit and has a lot of similarity to the Harry Palmer series. I first saw Callan on USA cable, back in the mid to late 80s, while on holiday break from college. At first, I thought it was another Palmer film, with a different lead. Like Palmer (in the films, anyway), David Callan is a criminal who is forced to work for an intelligence agency, to stay out of prison. There are doublecrosses and Callan doesn't particularly like the work he does; but, he is very good at it.

Fortunately, Ah keep mah feathers numbered for just such an emergency!

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Hi grendelkhan --- Thanks very much. I just recently checked out a Callan movie on youtube, and I didn't find any standoff between a shotgun - toting gunman & a car. I know some Callan movies got made for TV --- was more than one Callan movie made for theatrical release ?

All in all, there certainly do seem to be a number of "semi-bleak" Brit "man alone against the system" flicks that came out of the late '60s & early '70s --- Callan / Harry Palmer / Get Carter / a couple John le Carré's / any number of other bleak Brit flicks I've missed.

Thanks !

J'ai l'œil AMÉRICAIN !

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There was one theatrical Callan movie. The only thing close to a tv movie was a reunion special, called "Wet Job," in which Callan is pulled back in for one more job, after being away from the work for a long period. He drags Lonely into things, as well. Lonely has actually come up in the world, while Callan has also found love. It was pretty decent, though not quite up to the best of the series.

The theatrical movie was part of a trend in Britsh tv, of that era. There were several theatrical motion pictures made, based on popular tv series and starring the cast. As well as Callan, there was one for Are You Being Served?, The Sweeney, Rising Damp, 'Till Death Do Us Part, and Steptoe and Son. There were probably others of which I am unaware.

Fortunately, Ah keep mah feathers numbered for just such an emergency!

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Thanks for clarifying the Callan movie situation, grendelkhan --- will try to bring up the reunion special, and see if it was the movie I saw some 40 years ago !!

J'ai l'œil AMÉRICAIN !

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It was a bleak period, in the UK, for many. Rising inflation, labor strife, decline in industry, and similar events. In that, it matched a lot of events in the US, which had similar issues.

Fortunately, Ah keep mah feathers numbered for just such an emergency!

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It was a bleak period, in the UK, for many. Rising inflation, labor strife, decline in industry, and similar events. In that, it matched a lot of events in the US, which had similar issues.
Definitely --- and in the U.S., the Vietnam conflict caused us to question our place & effect in the world, while England had problems in Northern Africa, N. Ireland, & the Middle East, helping to "set the sun" on the Empire ---

You'd think the movies would have been more lighthearted, as they often were in the Depression, and at times during WW2, but I guess movie-makers and audiences had grown a bit more knowing & cynical in the intervening years !

J'ai l'œil AMÉRICAIN !

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Well, not that long before you had a major evolution in British cinema, with the "young angry man" films, like The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, This Sporting Life, and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. The Beatles films changed that a bit; but, some of those directors continued in that vein, like Lindsay Anderson, with If... It kind of matched things around the world, as there were similar movements in France, Italy and other major filmmaking centers. 1968 was an impactful year for a lot of the globe, with the post-war generation coming of age and entering onto the world stage. You had a lot of young rebels who were out to change all kinds of media, from music to cinema, fine art to comic books, literature, stage and television. The early 70s was kind of a carryover of that movement.

Fortunately, Ah keep mah feathers numbered for just such an emergency!

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