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

This movie was made and first released only about a year after its source novel of the same name by John le Carré was first published in 1983.

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Quotes

Charlie: God damn it, I believe in things. I believe in helping end the suffering.

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Connections

Referenced in The Most Dangerous Woman Alive (1989)

User Reviews

Klaus Kinski shines and is worth price of admission alone.

The director is weak, the original story is great. What can I say, I'm an avid le Carre fan! To paraphrase Sidney Bruhl (Michael Caine in Deathrap, 1982) it's a story so good a bad director can't f**k it up. Check out the other comments, I agree with them. Klaus Kinski is great, he chews the scenery, and the supporting cast are all mini-gems. I was trying to decide if I liked Yorgo Voyagis, and I do. He may be too still for some people, but I believe Diane when she falls in love with him. And he has haunted eyes when he has to do bad things which are necessary for the Cause. Diane Keaton is so miscast. She's too old, she can't be an American doing St. Joan in England! She's good, but she can't be Charlie, she just can't. Maybe Helena Bonham-Carter, or Vanessa Redgrave when she was young, oh heck, there must be hundreds of english actresses slavering for this role at that time.

Nevertheless, I love the movie despite Diane Keaton (she does a good job, it's just I can't buy her in the role!).