Synopsis
Sly and dry intelligence agent Harry Palmer is tasked with investigating British Intelligence security, and is soon enmeshed in a world of double-dealing, kidnap and murder when he finds a traitor operating at the heart of the secret service.
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Cast
- Michael CaineHarry Palmer
- Nigel GreenMajor Dalby
- Guy DolemanColonel Ross
- Sue LloydJean
- Gordon JacksonCarswell
- Aubrey RichardsRadcliffe
- Frank GatliffBluejay
- Thomas BaptisteBarney
- Oliver MacGreevyHousemartin
- Freda BamfordAlice
Recommendations
- 100
Empire
Harry Palmer, charismatic but grounded in reality, is the perfect popular bridge between the spectacular escapades of Bond and the cold, harsh milieu of Deighton's embittered, betrayed spies. - 88
Slant Magazine
In the end, The Ipcress File abandons its more low-key, nuts-and-bolts depiction of spycraft, and as such morphs from the pure antithesis of a 007 romp into something far closer to a self-serious send-up. - 80
The Guardian
Caine's star-quality and absolute ease in front of the camera are fully formed. - 80
BBC
This eerie (and nowadays somewhat kitsch) spectacle aside, helmer Stanley J Furie opts for spycraft nitty-gritty over suspense. However, he doesn't skimp on style: with the action lensed from an array of low, skewed angles, even a trip to the supermarket rouses the retina. - 70
Time Out
Director Sidney J Furie’s indulgence of the queer manners of an army-based British spy culture remains seductive, as does Caine’s rash character, a mild flirt who is proud of his cooking skills (a superior calls him ‘insubordinate… insolent… a trickster… perhaps with criminal properties…’). More quaint is the film’s dated science. - 70
The New York Times
The Ipcress File is as classy a spy film as you could ask to see. - 60
Variety
Pic does not build up to the type of suspense usually demanded of such thrillers. - 60
Los Angeles Times
The film now seems less urbane and innovative, more coldly flashy and bluntly affected -- full of sound and Furie, signifying little. [2 June 1987, p.Cal-1]
