The Amateur is a 1981 Canadian crime/thriller film directed by Charles Jarrott with a screenplay by Robert Littell, which he then adapted into a novel of the same name. It stars John Savage and Christopher Plummer.
The Amateur | |
---|---|
![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Charles Jarrott |
Written by |
|
Produced by |
|
Starring | |
Cinematography | John Coquillon |
Edited by | Stephan Fanfara |
Music by | Kenneth Wannberg |
Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 112 minutes |
Country | Canada |
Language | English |
Budget | US$10 million[1] |
Box office | $6,892,098[2] |
When his fiancée is murdered by terrorists, a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) cryptographer named Charles Heller blackmails his superiors into sending him on a field assignment into Czechoslovakia to assassinate those responsible. Just as he enters the field, the CIA locates the stolen material he had been using to blackmail the agency, eliminating their need to cooperate with him. So he is behind the Iron Curtain, inadequately trained, and without support.
He nonetheless reaches his safe house, meets his local contact, Elisabeth, and kills two members of the terrorist band. He discovers the location of their ringleader, Schräger, the man who had killed his fiancé, but attracts the attention of the local security forces, who begin following him.
At the site where he expects his final showdown with Schräger he is ambushed by his CIA trainer, Anderson, who explains that Schräger is a double agent working for the CIA who had killed his fiancé under orders to establish his bona fidescode: lat promoted to code: la by murdering an American. He insists that Heller explain his own rogue status to Schräger so that the terrorist, who believes Heller was sent by the CIA to kill him, will continue to work with the Americans.
A senior agent of the local security service, Lakos, overhears all this.
Schräger arrives, kills Anderson in a shootout, and is killed by Heller. Lakos, who has come to respect Heller, helps him and Elisabeth escape back to the west in exchange for his promise to write a book embarrassing the CIA.
1982 nominations from the Genie Awards:
Films directed by Charles Jarrott | |
---|---|
|
![]() | This article related to a Canadian film of the 1980s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
![]() | This article about a crime thriller film is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |