The Little Drummer Girl (1984)

An American Actress with a penchant for lying is forceably recruited by Mosad, the Israeli intelligence agency to trap a Palestinian bomber, by pretending to be the girlfriend of his dead brother.

Director:

George Roy Hill

Writers:

Loring Mandel (screenplay), John le Carré (novel)

Stars:

Diane Keaton, Yorgo Voyagis, Klaus Kinski

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Diane Keaton	...	Charlie
Yorgo Voyagis	...	Joseph
Klaus Kinski	...	Martin Kurtz
Sami Frey	...	Khalil
Michael Cristofer	...	Tayeh
Eli Danker	...	Litvak
Ben Levine	...	Dimitri
Jonathan Sagall	...	Teddy
Shlomit Hagoel	...	Rose
Juliano Mer-Khamis	...	Julio (as Juliano Mer)
Sabi Dorr	...	Ben
Doron Nesher	...	David
Smadar Brener	...	Toby
Shoshi Marciano	...	Rachel
Philipp Moog	...	Aaron

Storyline

A Palestinian bomber has killed an Israeli diplomat and his family and the Israeli plot to neutralise him becomes convoluted as they select an American Actress (Charlie) to impersonate the Bomber's brother's girlfriend after the Israeli's capture and kill the brother. Charlie is placed into a world where she begins being an actress, then becomes a spy, then is trained by the Palestinians as a guerrilla and finally is sent to deliver a bomb. She is chronically confused by how far she is really supposed to go in her impersonations and how much of herself she must give up. From the book by John Le Carre

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Plot Keywords:

spy | male nudity | torture | based on novel

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Taglines:

She will become their most deadly weapon. As long as they can make her fall in love.

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Genres:

Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 October 1984 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Garota do Tambor

Filming Locations:

Bavaria Filmstudios, Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, Bavaria, Germany

Box Office

Gross:

$7,800,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bavaria Film, Pan Arts, Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film and source novel's title, 'The Little Drummer Girl', is a play and variation on the title of the well-known popular Christmas song and hymn, 'The Little Drummer Boy' which was written in 1941 by 'Katherine Kennicott Davis'. The hymn was originally known as 'Carol of the Drum'.

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Quotes

Marty Kurtz: Where would you have us go Charlie? Maybe you would prefer us to take a piece of Central Africa or Uruguay? Not Egypt, thank you, we tried that once and it was not a success. Or back to the ghettos?

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Connections

Referenced in Cybill: The Little Drummer Girls (1996)

User Reviews

This is a twisty, winding road brimming with political intrigue.

This film is detailed and occasionally harsh, but told by a master storyteller. the director has modified the John LeCarre novel somewhat, but weaves a strong story. It's a little hard to follow if you don't know much about the world of Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but provides quite an education by its end.

It begins with the assassination (bombing) of an Israeli diplomat and family and then jumps to an American stage actress, Charlie (Diane Keaton), who's currently living in Britain. She is ideologically a supporter of the Palestinian cause. She has a problem with falling in love easily and sympathizing with her lover. You begin to see the wheels turning in Israeli intelligence as they research and try to react to this most recent terrorist bombing.

They skillfully recruit/seduce her by pretending to support the Palestinian movement. To be effective in their scheme, they need someone authentic. They try to get under her skin and into her personal psyche (why she is an actress, pain in her life). Klaus Kinski is superb as the head of the Israeli intelligence effort.

After feeling more confident, they put her work to infiltrate the Palestinian-backed terrorist camps to ultimately get to the almost impossible to find bomber Khalil. This involves serious physical/military training. She excels and is given more and more trusted tasks as the story progresses. The story takes many twists and is very detailed and realistic in it's portrayal of both sides. It gets a little heavy, but is fascinating to watch unfold even a second time.

I give it a solid recommendation.