The Trouble with Spies (1987)

The Trouble with Spies: Directed by Burt Kennedy. With Donald Sutherland, Ned Beatty, Ruth Gordon, Lucy Gutteridge. George Trent (James Willis), a British spy, has gone incommunicado in Ibiza. Appleton Porter (Donald Sutherland) is sent to find out what happened to Trent. Porter settles into a small hotel with several busybody guests. He probes them for information about Trent, their former neighbor. Meanwhile, the spy survives several attempts on his life as he attempts to solve the mystery.

“this is just terrible. It has an impressive cast but wow, this thing stinks on ice. I was prompted to hit the net looking for what could have been going on in Sutherlandu0026#39;s life to set off such a stink bomb in what is otherwise a stellar career. He looks thin. He isnu0026#39;t really in character, heu0026#39;s just phoning it in. Some of the supporting cast look and act like theyu0026#39;re from Hammer studios. He doesnu0026#39;t connect with them at all. Ruth Gordon has a few moments that help remind us what acting is supposed to be like, even with the shoddy material sheu0026#39;s given to work with. Overall, this thing looks done on the super-cheap: sets are flimsy feel like a sound stage, lighting design looks almost fluorescent, actors are poorly made up with blotchy uneven makeup, and the comic bits of business are straight out of a Three Stooges matinée flick (check out the street scene where he nearly gets run over, in the beginning). It was so painful to watch that I just had to bail. What I cannot fathom is how this thing was put together to start with, I mean was he doing this as a favor to the director? He couldnu0026#39;t possibly have been doing it for some quick money (assuming he was broke or a drug addict or something else leading to dire straits)–there was obviously NO money involved in this flick. His career has been on an even keel, he never went into the dumps like Micky Ruorke or Dennis Hopper. If he didnu0026#39;t do it as a favor to a has-been one-trick pony director, then itu0026#39;s a complete MYSTERY to me. Youu0026#39;d have to be pretty drunk to watch this thing. And even that is iffy.”