MOVIEmeter
Top 5000
Up 69 this week

The Good Shepherd (2006)

6.7
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 6.7/10 from 70,781 users   Metascore: 61/100
Reviews: 468 user | 193 critic | 33 from Metacritic.com

The tumultuous early history of the Central Intelligence Agency is viewed through the prism of one man's life.

Director:

Writer:

Watch Trailer
0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 974 titles created 10 Mar 2012
 
a list of 707 titles created 03 May 2011
 
a list of 10000 titles created 3 months ago
 
a list of 137 titles created 8 months ago
 
a list of 449 titles created 4 months ago
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: The Good Shepherd (2006)

The Good Shepherd (2006) on IMDb 6.7/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of The Good Shepherd.
Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 6 nominations. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Syriana (2005)
Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7/10 X  

A politically-charged epic about the state of the oil industry in the hands of those personally involved and affected by it.

Director: Stephen Gaghan
Stars: Kayvan Novak, George Clooney, Matt Damon
Crime | Drama | Mystery
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.9/10 X  

Journalist Mikael Blomkvist is aided in his search for a woman who has been missing for forty years by Lisbeth Salander, a young computer hacker.

Director: David Fincher
Stars: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer
The Debt I (2010)
Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.8/10 X  

1965, three Mossad agents cross into East Berlin to apprehend a notorious Nazi war criminal. Thirty years later, the secrets the agents share come back to haunt them.

Director: John Madden
Stars: Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, Ciarán Hinds
Taxi Driver (1976)
Crime | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.5/10 X  

A mentally unstable Viet Nam war veteran works as a night-time taxi driver in New York City where the perceived decadence and sleaze feeds his urge for violent action, attempting to save a preadolescent prostitute in the process.

Director: Martin Scorsese
Stars: Albert Brooks, Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster
The Firm (1993)
Drama | Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.7/10 X  

A young lawyer joins a prestigous law firm only to discover that it has a sinister dark side.

Director: Sydney Pollack
Stars: Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Gene Hackman
Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X  

A veteran high school teacher befriends a younger art teacher, who is having an affair with one of her 15-year-old students. However, her intentions with this new "friend" also go well beyond platonic friendship.

Director: Richard Eyre
Stars: Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett, Tom Georgeson
Runaway Jury (2003)
Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7/10 X  

A juror on the inside and a woman on the outside manipulate a court trial involving a major gun manufacturer.

Director: Gary Fleder
Stars: John Cusack, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman
Black Swan (2010)
Drama | Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.1/10 X  

A ballet dancer wins the lead in "Swan Lake" and is perfect for the role of the delicate White Swan - Princess Odette - but slowly loses her mind as she becomes more and more like Odile, the Black Swan.

Director: Darren Aronofsky
Stars: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel
Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.2/10 X  

In Washington, D.C., a female reporter faces a possible jail sentence for outing a CIA agent and refusing to reveal her source.

Director: Rod Lurie
Stars: Kate Beckinsale, Matt Dillon, Angela Bassett
Drama | Fantasy
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X  

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born with a superior olfactory sense, creates the world's finest perfume. His work, however, takes a dark turn as he searches for the ultimate scent.

Director: Tom Tykwer
Stars: Ben Whishaw, Francesc Albiol, Dustin Hoffman
Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.8/10 X  

An employee of a one-hour photo lab becomes obsessed with a young suburban family.

Director: Mark Romanek
Stars: Robin Williams, Connie Nielsen, Michael Vartan
Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

The movie is based on the infamous "Stanford Prison Experiment" conducted in 1971. A makeshift prison is set up in a research lab, complete with cells, bars and surveillance cameras. For ... See full summary »

Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Stars: Moritz Bleibtreu, Christian Berkel, Oliver Stokowski
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Edit

Storyline

Laconic and self-contained, Edward Wilson heads CIA covert operations during the Bay of Pigs. The agency suspects that Castro was tipped, so Wilson looks for the leak. As he investigates, he recalls, in a series of flashbacks, his father's death, student days at Yale (poetry; Skull and Bones), recruitment into the fledgling OSS, truncated affairs, a shotgun marriage, cutting his teeth on spy craft in London, distance from his son, the emergence of the Cold War, and relationships with agency, British, and Soviet counterparts. We watch his idealism give way to something else: disclosing the nature of that something else is at the heart of the film's narration as he closes in on the leak. Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Plot Keywords:

cold war | student | o.s.s. | cia | bay of pigs | See more »

Taglines:

All our dirty secrets start here. See more »


Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violence, sexuality and language | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

| | | |

Release Date:

22 December 2006 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

El buen pastor  »

Box Office

Budget:

$90,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£629,863 (UK) (23 February 2007)

Gross:

£1,709,530 (UK) (9 March 2007)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

| (cut)

Sound Mix:

| |

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

The violinist providing the solo soundtrack near the end of the movie was Lindsay Deutsch, from Los Angeles. See more »

Goofs

It is about sunset-time when 6 year-old Edward runs into his parent's room and hides in the closet. They must have talked hours, since when Edward is leaving the room, it is the dead of the night outside. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Miriam: You are safe here with me.
See more »

Crazy Credits

The end credits feature the dedication "In memory of Gretchen Rau". See more »

Connections

Referenced in Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight (2010) See more »

Soundtracks

"Blue Skies"
Written by Irving Berlin
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

 
Know In Advance This Is Not An Action Film, And Then Sit Back & Enjoy It
15 April 2007 | by (United States) – See all my reviews

I had a huge advantage before watching this on DVD. I was told by a good friend that it was extremely slow, and be prepared to be bored out of "my mind." Well, I wasn't bored, maybe because I now expected a slower, non-action-packed CIA-type film....and I wasn't disappointed. Actually, I liked it, mainly because of the cinematography. This is stunning in its photography. Kudos to Director Robert De Niro and Director of Photography Robert Richardson for their work in here.

I also appreciated the low profanity in here. After watching "The Departed," this far-cleaner film was a treat for the ears, too. Yes, there are a handful of 'f-words," but not much else including no blasphemy.

But, I agree that this is a very slow film and it helps to know that in advance. It's also one you have to follow closely and time periods shift back and forth, mainly from 1961 back to the early 1940s.

The story winds up presenting an interesting question which is posed to Matt Damon's character, "Edward Wilson." He plays an extremely loyal CIA man, a guy who is straight-arrow and one whose priority is country-first. The dilemma occurs at the end when he must choose between what's best for his son or his country.

It's a thought-out, interesting story that takes a few sides to the left of center more than the right, but is not really a movie with any heavy-handed political agenda, mainly pointing out what it takes to be a successful "spy" and that this unemotional detachment can be rough on some people and their families.

Damon heads an all-star cast that includes Angeline Jolie (who looks spectacular as a woman in the early 1940s), Billy Crudup, Alec Baldwin, William Hurt, Timothy Hutton and many others.

This movie, I suspect, will either put you to sleep or fascinate you.


61 of 88 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
Has anyone seen similar films to this? all_eyes_on_xanadu
'The Most Boring, Tedious, Solemn, Self-Important Film Ever Made' vbader67-2
the rest of you are just visiting subotai1
couldn't watch it; should I try again? CChopper
Ulysses book dorota-4
TYING SHOELACES? WHAT THAT? esteban2
Discuss The Good Shepherd (2006) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page