Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Movie Quote Quiz

Bill Haydon: You really are a poison dwarf, Toby. Why don't you fuck off to his majesty and stop trying to involve me in your little cabaret.

Control: All I want from you is one codename: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier...
George Smiley: ...Spy.

George Smiley: We are not so very different, you and I. We've both spent our lives looking for the weaknesses in one each other's systems.

Oliver Lacon: It's the oldest question of all, George - who can spy on the spies?

Cubs Fan

Bill Haydon: As I said, you may fuck me but you still have to call me "Sir" in the morning.

Control: A man should know when to leave the party.

George Smiley: He's a fanatic. And the fanatic is always concealing a secret doubt.

Bill Haydon: I thought I'd pop down and catch a glimpse at the new girl before Bland gets to her.
Peter Guillam: Ah, yes, Belinda the Blonde.

George Smiley: I want to talk about loyalty, Toby. Control recruited you, didn't he? He found you starving in a museum in Vienna, a wanted man. He saved your life, I heard. And yet, when the time came... When it came to picking sides between him and Allenine, you didn't hesitate. It's understandable, perhaps, with your war experience. You survived this long, I suppose, because of your ability to change sides, to serve any master.
Easterhase: What's... What's this about, George?
George Smiley: It's about which master you've been serving, Toby.

Connie Sachs: It was a good time back then.
George Smiley: It was a war, Connie.
Connie Sachs: A war we could be proud of.

Oliver Lacon: There's a mole, right at the top of the Circus. And he's been there for years.

Factual error: George Smiley stays in a hotel near Liverpool St Station, London to investigate the spy at the heart of the circus. There is one scene where we see, from above, a train leaving the station. Liverpool St station is electrified using overhead wires - the train is leaving a station using a different electrification system called 3rd rail which has never existed at Liverpool St.

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Trivia: At the start of the movie, Control, played by John Hurt, signs a letter with a green pen. This is based on reality - traditionally the head of the Secret Intelligence Services or MI6 always uses a green pen to sign letters with a C.

Jeff Walker

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Question: In the beginning of the movie when the guy is shot while sipping coffee in that outdoor little cafe, the assassin fires two rounds. #1 hits the young mother in the forehead, #2 kills the guy sitting at the little table, then the spy is shot. He only fires twice, so how did he kill 3 people?

Answer: I've watched the scene several times - the people at the cafe are the British spy Prideaux, his contact, the young mother, an old man behind them and two men to the right side. When Prideaux walks away, the waiter runs out and fires wildly, hitting the mother in the head. He then fires again and hits Prideaux in the back. No one else appears to have been hit, the other men at the cafe are just moving to get out of the way.

Sierra1

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