Word: mcgoohan
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...Television Series: “The Prisoner,” created by Patrick McGoohan and George Markstein
...know all that; it's what historical movies have taught us over the years. What you need in this situation is world-class villainy, somebody full of wicked surprise to break up the banalities. This Braveheart lacks, though not for want of trying by Patrick McGoohan. As the English King, Edward Longshanks, he sneers realpolitik as well as George Sanders, Basil Rathbone or Henry Kissinger ever did. But he's not around as much as he should be-especially compared with Tim Roth's evil Energizer Bunny, who powers Rob Roy with his capering snottiness...
Starring Mel Gibson, Patrick McGoohan and Sophie Marceau...
...process of disillusionment starts melodramatically. A chilly, officious "civil servant" (Patrick McGoohan) arrives at the Jacksons' home and bullies them into permitting his unnamed, hush-hush government agency to install surveillance agents in the upstairs front bedroom. The targets of this scrutiny turn out to be the Krogers: they have fabricated their personal histories, and are suspected to be part of a Soviet spy ring. But Pack of Lies, a West End hit now on Broadway, is only secondarily about espionage. As in his play and film Stevie, a small masterpiece that starred Glenda Jackson, Whitemore is more interested...
...between the two women is the play's mainspring. Ivey bubbles with crude gaiety in her effort to be liked. Harris finds pathetic dignity in an emotional loss that makes her physically ill. The supporting cast is also adept, notably George N. Martin as Harris' stolid, stubborn husband; only McGoohan's automaton-like condescension seems unreal. Director Clifford Williams has sensitively evoked the rhythms of the play, which alternates between naturalistic bursts of action and spotlighted soliloquies. Much of the story is told after the fact, in an elegiac, ruminative tone, reminiscent of $ recent work by Tom Stoppard and Simon...