Taglines: The most incredible manhunt of them all!
Scorpio movie storyline. Cross is an old hand at the CIA, in charge of assassinating high-ranking foreign personalities who are an obstacle to the policies of the USA. He often teams up with Frenchman Jean Laurier, alias “Scorpio”, a gifted free-lance operative.
One day, the CIA orders Scorpio to eliminate Cross — and leaves him no choice but to obey. Scorpio is cold-blooded and very systematic; however, as a veteran agent, Cross knows many tricks. He can also rely upon a network of unusual personal contacts, some dating back to the troubled years preceding WWII. A lethal game of hide-and-seek is programmed, but what are the true motives of every single player?
Scorpio is a 1973 American spy film directed by Michael Winner and starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, Paul Scofield, John Colicos, Gayle Hunnicutt, J.D. Cannon, Joanne Linville, Mel Stewart, Vladek Sheybal, Mary Maude, Jack Colvin and Burke Byrnes. The film was released on April 19, 1973 by United Artists.
The film was based on a script by David Wintels which had been bought by Walter Mirisch, who had a deal with United Artists. Michael Winner came on board to direct but wanted a rewrite. Mirsch disagreed so Winner dropped out. Then United Artists decided to remove Mirisch from the project and gave control over to Winner (although Mirisch kept a producer credit.) It would be one of the last films made by Mirisch for United Artists.
Winner brought in his regular writer, Gerard Wilson to do a rewrite. Delon and Lancaster were cast in April 1972. Lancaster’s fee was $750,000 plus ten percent of the profits. Winner said he agreed to do the film because it was a more serious spy film in the vein of The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. “And it has a good plot,” he added. “Unexpected things happen.” He was also attracted to the theme “the problems of men who have opted out of normal society to make their own way.” He says many of his movies dealt with this.
Filming took place in Washington, Vienna and Paris. Filming began May 29, 1972 and went until mid August. The unit filmed at the Watergate Hotel and were staying there the night of the notorious break in. Despite a script which showed the CIA assassinating people and involved with various nefarious plots, Winner was given permission to shoot in the CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Scenes at Cross’s home were actually filmed at then CIA Director Richard Helm’s home in NW Washington D.C. Arnold Picker, Chairman of United Artists, was surprised that the CIA would allow such a thing and insisted that Winner show them a copy of the script before shooting began. He did so and approval was granted, making Scorpio the only movie ever shot on location at their Headquarters.
Lancaster later said the film was “nothing incisive, just a lot of action” and was “one of those things you do as part of your living, but you try to avoid doing them as much as you can.”
Scorpio (1973)
Directed by: Michael Winner
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, Paul Scofield, John Colicos, Gayle Hunnicutt, J.D. Cannon, Joanne Linville, Mel Stewart, Vladek Sheybal, Mary Maude, Jack Colvin, Burke Byrnes
Screenplay by: David W. Rintels, Gerald Wilson
Production Design by: James Crawford
Cinematography by: Robert Paynter
Film Editing by: Michael Winner
Art Direction by: Herbert Westbrook
Music by: Jerry Fielding
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: United Artists
Release Date: April 19, 1973
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