by Linda Reyburn

Created on: December 22, 2011

"The Whistle Blower", a Michael Caine classic, is rather a timely film - despite being made in 1987. It includes a team of first-rate actors, espionage as business, government wrongdoing, and both the sliminess and necessity of the press. The added fillip of a cultural understanding of British decency versus global pressure is the charm that glosses over outdated techniques.

Basics of Plot

Frank Jones has hung up his awards from the Korean War and worked hard to establish a name in the business world. His son, Bob Jones, is a Don Quixote-like misfit inside the espionage industry GCHQ, translating Russian documents into workable intelligence material. After six years, he's decided there's not much difference between British culture and Russian culture, with the underlying web of lies, deceit and cross-spying that takes place in both countries. He and his father have spats about him sticking with his 'secure job', until Bob is killed - though it's made to look like an accident. He leaves behind an American fiancee and her daughter, and the remnants of his own investigation of mysterious deaths and things that 'just don't add up'. Frank begins tracking down the details of Bob's death, and finds more than he bargained for.

Top-Notch Cast

James Fox is a British symbol of decorum and decent behaviour, such as Lord Darlington in "The Remains of the Day", which makes it all the more shocking when his character is unprincipled. Nigel Havers ("Bob Jones") is memorable as the carefree but posh Lord Linsday in "Chariots of Fire", but he's also appeared more recently in "Downton Abbey"....as Lord Hepworth. John Gielgud has the scheming look down, whether he's The Pope in "Elizabeth" or racist Master of Trinity in "Chariots of Fire". And though Michael Caine may branch off into light characters in animated films such as "Cars" or "Gnomeo and Juliet", he can still believably pull off heartrending performances of a grieving family member bent on revenge. One of his best just came out. In "Harry Brown", you really can see him as an old-age pensioner, and as an ex-Marine with latent survival instincts.

The Element of Surprise

Though the beginning is rather hokey (British GCHQ workers are being briefed Soviet-style on the necessity of tattling on each other) this film has great points in its favor. First, Frank never has to go inside a strip club for information, or perform unbelievable stunt acts involving racing trains or double pistol crossfire. Not all of his schemes or threats

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