An almost unrecognizable George Segal stars in "The Quiller Memorandum," set in Berlin and made 40 years ago. Segal is a very young man in this, with that flippant, relaxed quality that made him so popular. This time he's a spy trying to get the location of a neo-Nazi organization. The cast is full of familiar faces: Alec Guinness, who doesn't have much of a role, George Sanders, who has even less of one, Max von Sydow in what was to become a very familiar part for him, Robert Helpmann, Robert Flemyng, and the beautiful, enigmatic Senta Berger.

This is a very good spy movie. Spy movies were the "in" thing in the '60s. This one doesn't have gadgets and goes more for subtlety. The last 30 minutes are tense and exciting, and the last scene, loaded with subtext, is just great.

"The Quiller Memorandum" is a film with a HUGE strike against it at the outset....they inexplicably cast George Segal as a British spy! He sounded about as British as Leo Carillo or Cher. I am not saying he was bad in the film...or at least that bad. But his accent was all wrong...taking the viewer out of the moment.

As for the rest of the film, it's a very good spy yarn but also a slow and understated one. This is NOT a complaint but if you want a James Bond-type film with action, action, action and naked women...this is NOT the film for you. This is actually awfully surprising considering the film is about an agent, Quiller, infiltrating a gang of neo-Nazis in post-war Berlin. It helps that the film has Alec Guinness and Max Von Sydow in supporting roles. Overall, well worth seeing but poorly cast.

Probably the most famous example of a solid American type playing an Englishman is Clark Gable from Mutiny On The Bounty. No one really cared that Gable did not even attempt an English accent the film was that good. But George Segal just doesn't cut it as a British secret agent in The Quiller Memorandum.

The film is not a bad one for a spy yarn and I do like the fact that Segal relies on his own wits as opposed to a bunch of James Bond like gadgets to do his job and extricate himself from tight spots. But he is just to darn American to be convincing.

Segal's mission is to infiltrate and possibly destroy a nest of neo- Nazis in West Berlin of Willy Brandt years. His handler is the bloodless Alec Guinness and Guinness's opposite number is Max Von Sydow playing the head neo-Nazi. Von Sydow is the best thing in the film, he's a gentlemanly but dangerous adversary. And of course there's the beauteous Senta Berger who was breaking into the international market in those years with Cast A Giant Shadow and Major Dundee as well as The Quiller Memorandum.

Segal spoils it though. His part was perfect for Albert Finney. Wonder what Finney was doing at the time?