I love this movie so much

Purely Joyful Movie!

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Laurence Harvey is assigned to kill a KGB agent who's killed several British agents. But, when he's informed of the man's codename, he panics—because it's actually his codename. He's a double agent! He spends the rest of the movie trying to protect his identity and escape back to Russia without any of his British co-workers suspecting his disloyalty. Along the way, he meets free-spirit Mia Farrow and has a passionless affair with her.I like Laurence Harvey, and I love Mia Farrow, but I was bored to tears with this movie. I could lay blame on the script, pace, or acting, but it's probably a combination of all three. I didn't understand the characters, the pace was uneven, and the acting felt tired. Laurence Harvey never acted like he was truly afraid to be discovered, and if his only motivation was to make it out of the country alive, why even bother with Mia Farrow? It made him even more unlikable to me, since he obviously had no feelings for her. If you have any interest in seeing this movie, pop in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold or any James Bond flick instead.

Laurence Harvey plays a Russian-born spy based in London who is now working for both countries as a double-agent; he's assigned by the British to kill his alter-ego, and hopes to find a target to assume his alias. Opening with a wonderful credits sequence, "A Dandy in Aspic" looks initially to be an enjoyably old-fashioned Cold War excursion with such familiar elements as CIA operatives and the KGB. Unfortunately, though screenwriter Derek Marlowe adapted his own novel, the key ingredients of such a spy-drama appear to have gone missing; the film is all talky exposition and little pay-off. Mia Farrow continually pops up unannounced as Harvey's love-interest, probably in the faint hope we'll assume she's sneakily involved somehow. There are so many camera set-ups, verboten conversations, and obtuse face-offs that the overall effect is both exhausting and stultifying. Harvey took over the direction of the film after original director-producer Anthony Mann passed away unexpectedly. This must account for the funereal pacing and the cloudy character interaction, though the plot itself wasn't exactly timely--not even for 1968. Farrow (just prior to "Rosemary's Baby") adds quite a bit of gamine magic to the proceedings as an amateur photographer who appears to be following Harvey wherever he goes; it isn't much of a role, but Mia's beauty and youthful charm go a long way towards making the picture tolerable. Other assets: Quincy Jones' low-keyed score and the fine cinematography by Christopher Challis and Austin Dempster. ** from ****

I found the dull, pointless A Dandy in Aspic a most disappointing movie when I saw it back in 1968. Alas, it proves equally time-wasting in its excellent Sony DVD version. Despite the credits, the film was not directed by Anthony Mann but by the far less talented Laurence Harvey (who gives a slack performance to boot). Mann died of heart attack in Berlin on 29 April 1967 after directing only a few location shots. Harvey gallantly picked up the reins, finished the German scenes and then did all the British location and studio shots, accounting for at least 99% of the film, which premiered in April, 1968, almost a year after Mann's death. True, Harvey was saddled with an impossible script. I assume the way that the totally extraneous Mia Farrow character keeps popping up in all sorts of really way-out places was supposed to be funny, and the totally far-fetched plot was perhaps intended as cynical satire; but Harvey plays all these ridiculous scenes (both as actor and director) dead serious with a banal over-use of close-ups and super-slow dialogue. Of the main stars, only Tom Courtenay manages to convey a hint of true characterization, although it's left solely to Lionel Stander, in a small, fleeting role, to convey just the right atmosphere of jocose, ruthless menace.

I loved Laurence Harvey in THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE. This is also a good performance. The spy stuff and his relationship with the character played by Tom Courtenay are interesting. Also interesting is the young Peter Cook in a "straight" role ( well sort of). Harvey brought such an air of sadness and despair to this kind of role ( much like his doomed brainwashed pawn in MC). I recall a scene where he is asked about his mother's death ( I believe) and he cannot remember how he felt. The life and emotion were drained out of him to create the perfect double agent. This kind of film was popular in the 60's as an antidote to James Bond and his clones. Others include THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD and THE DEADLY AFFAIR. The great Anthony Mann started this film and was replaced by Harvey when Mann died.