The Tailor of Panama
The Tailor of Panama is a 2001 spy thriller film directed by John Boorman from a screenplay he co-wrote with John le Carré and Andrew Davies. Based on le Carré's 1996 novel of the same name, it stars Pierce Brosnan and Geoffrey Rush. Rush portrays the title character, a former convict turned tailor who is strong-armed by an amoral MI6 agent (Brosnan) into spying on the Panamanian government. Jamie Lee Curtis, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine McCormack, Leonor Varela and Harold Pinter co-star, along with Daniel Radcliffe in his film debut.
Plot
Andy Osnard is an MI6 agent reassigned to Panama after having an affair in Madrid with the foreign minister's mistress. His superior warns him of the corruption present in Panama, but Osnard views that as an opportunity. Consulting a list of British expatriates residing in Panama, he meets Harry Pendel, the tailor to many of the country's elite. Pendel, a gifted storyteller, passes himself off as being formerly of Savile Row, but is in fact an ex-con who used to run scams with his late uncle Benny. Pendel's American wife Louisa, the assistant to the administrator of the Panama Canal Authority, is unaware of his criminal record. While Harry is a superb tailor, he is a bad businessman; his tailor shop is constantly in debt, and he owes $50,000 of Louisa's money to the bank for a failed farming business.
More details
| author | Andrew Davies John Boorman John le Carré |
|---|---|
| contentLocation | Panama |
| director | John Boorman |
| editor | Ron Davis |
| genre | drama thriller |
| keywords | alcoholic beijing criminal past criminal record elite escalate expatriate fall farm gift government official madrid manuel noriega mi6 panama canal panama canal authority panama city pentagon people\'s republic of china president of panama savile row secret intelligence service sleep taiwan than the wash |
| musicBy | Shaun Davey |
| producer | John Boorman Kevan Barker |
| productionCompany | AFI Catalog of Feature Films Columbia Pictures |
| publisher | Sony Pictures Releasing |
| recordedAt | Ireland Panama |
| theme | spy |