Klaus Kinski as a wide-eyed, energetic spymaster. Sami Frey as the equally dedicated but dead-eyed terrorist bomber. In between both is New York actress Diane Keaton smuggled in by love to act as a spy for Israeli agents and find the elusive bomber. All of this is shaded through the cold, detached world of a John LeCarre novel that exemplifies my type of spy film. There's a ton of exposition..... acts of kidnapping and play-acting that aren't immediately explained,,, and lengthy scenes of bodies tailing one another, looking on from heights and parked cars. Even though Keaton feels a bit miscast at times, "The Little Drummer Girl" excels as a low-key thriller because the ensemble is so good and the machinations of spy craft continually surprise. Partly due to director George Roy Hill's pleasure of con and LeCarre's always subdued procession of duplicity, the film stands as one of the best spy films of the 80's.
So why isn't this film more readily available? Despite the pedigree of LeCarre and an updated miniseries starring Florence Pugh (which I still haven't seen due to absorbent AMC streaming prices!) from a couple years ago, this original adaptation seems to be lost in the wilderness of 80's films. Recently seen during TCM's Summer of Stars highlighting the work of Diane Keaton (thank you for not just showing more Woody Allen films), "The Little Drummer Girl" seems to harbor some pretty nasty resentment due to the casting of Keaton. As stated above, she is a bit miscast, but overall, the film crackles with the best simmering subterfuge this side of "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy". If you love spy films, seek this one out.
