Battle OTB: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Rusty S) v Gates of Fire (RootHallBloke)

[MK Shrimper]

Tie 3 for today

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

TTSS-though I'm not really much of a fan.

 

[steveo]

TTSP I watchd on a plane bit have never read, and although I am sure it I worthy of a place in the next round I have to vote for Gates of Fire based on its F1 Chariot content.

 

[MK Shrimper]

Never read either, so I'll need some hard selling from it's advocates!

 

[KAB]

TTSS. Possibly my favourite spy drama of all. Slow, methodical, complex but not overly so and all the time building on the tension. The only action is psychological and throughout it harbours a cold realism.

 

[Ricky Otto]

Never read either, so I'll need some hard selling from it's advocates!

Same, earn your vote!

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

I became a John Le Carre devotee quite late in life, my mother was a huge fan of the Alec Guinness BBC adaptations and I bought her the DVDs for Christmas about five years ago to replace her tired old VHS copies. I decided to give them a look one hungover Sunday morning and was instantly taken by the psychological drama, the cold war context and the final twist in the tale of the revelation of Gerald's true identity. I immediately ordered up the books of the Karla Trilogy and devoured them within a fortnight.

The characters of George Smiley, a short overweight spymaster, his beautiful wife undermining his confidence with her serial adultery, and his nemesis Karla, the unnamed Soviet spy who understood his weaknesses and his strengths, provided a gritty and all too human face to espionage, and the impact the secret life had on the protagonists and the innocent bystanders. I'm sure that Le Carre's agenda and political creed is very different from my own, but this is never a distraction from the driving force of the novel, which relies on the strength of the characterization and plot, and ends with a twist that whilst initially shocking, makes perfect sense on review.

The TV adaptation is marvelous, with Alec Guinness, Bernard Hepton and Ian Richardson in tremendous form, and the Gary Oldman film isn't bad either, but the book is singularly excellent.

 

[londonblue]

I became a John Le Carre devotee quite late in life, my mother was a huge fan of the Alec Guinness BBC adaptations and I bought her the DVDs for Christmas about five years ago to replace her tired old VHS copies. I decided to give them a look one hungover Sunday morning and was instantly taken by the psychological drama, the cold war context and the final twist in the tale of the revelation of Gerald's true identity. I immediately ordered up the books of the Karla Trilogy and devoured them within a fortnight.

The characters of George Smiley, a short overweight spymaster, his beautiful wife undermining his confidence with her serial adultery, and his nemesis Karla, the unnamed Soviet spy who understood his weaknesses and his strengths, provided a gritty and all too human face to espionage, and the impact the secret life had on the protagonists and the innocent bystanders. I'm sure that Le Carre's agenda and political creed is very different from my own, but this is never a distraction from the driving force of the novel, which relies on the strength of the characterization and plot, and ends with a twist that whilst initially shocking, makes perfect sense on review.

The TV adaptation is marvelous, with Alec Guinness, Bernard Hepton and Ian Richardson in tremendous form, and the Gary Oldman film isn't bad either, but the book is singularly excellent.

You carry on like that and you might just lose my vote. I haven't read it yet, and you're in danger of spoiling it!

(Too late, I've now voted!)

 

[Ricky Otto]

I became a John Le Carre devotee quite late in life, my mother was a huge fan of the Alec Guinness BBC adaptations and I bought her the DVDs for Christmas about five years ago to replace her tired old VHS copies. I decided to give them a look one hungover Sunday morning and was instantly taken by the psychological drama, the cold war context and the final twist in the tale of the revelation of Gerald's true identity. I immediately ordered up the books of the Karla Trilogy and devoured them within a fortnight.

The characters of George Smiley, a short overweight spymaster, his beautiful wife undermining his confidence with her serial adultery, and his nemesis Karla, the unnamed Soviet spy who understood his weaknesses and his strengths, provided a gritty and all too human face to espionage, and the impact the secret life had on the protagonists and the innocent bystanders. I'm sure that Le Carre's agenda and political creed is very different from my own, but this is never a distraction from the driving force of the novel, which relies on the strength of the characterization and plot, and ends with a twist that whilst initially shocking, makes perfect sense on review.

The TV adaptation is marvelous, with Alec Guinness, Bernard Hepton and Ian Richardson in tremendous form, and the Gary Oldman film isn't bad either, but the book is singularly excellent.

That's going to be tough to beat RootsHallBloke ! Will wait until tomorrow to cast my vote though

 

[Mad Cyril]

I liked the bit where Colin Firth got whacked.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, C**t

 

[KAB]

I became a John Le Carre devotee quite late in life, my mother was a huge fan of the Alec Guinness BBC adaptations and I bought her the DVDs for Christmas about five years ago to replace her tired old VHS copies. I decided to give them a look one hungover Sunday morning and was instantly taken by the psychological drama, the cold war context and the final twist in the tale of the revelation of Gerald's true identity. I immediately ordered up the books of the Karla Trilogy and devoured them within a fortnight.


The characters of George Smiley, a short overweight spymaster, his beautiful wife undermining his confidence with her serial adultery, and his nemesis Karla, the unnamed Soviet spy who understood his weaknesses and his strengths, provided a gritty and all too human face to espionage, and the impact the secret life had on the protagonists and the innocent bystanders. I'm sure that Le Carre's agenda and political creed is very different from my own, but this is never a distraction from the driving force of the novel, which relies on the strength of the characterization and plot, and ends with a twist that whilst initially shocking, makes perfect sense on review.

The TV adaptation is marvelous, with Alec Guinness, Bernard Hepton and Ian Richardson in tremendous form, and the Gary Oldman film isn't bad either, but the book is singularly excellent.

Impeccable phrasing for an impeccable series. Only one winner on this vote.

 

[RHB]

The extract below is a direct lift from Wiki as it paraphrases the book really well. It’s a story of blood, guts and courage told from a ‘foot soldier’s’ perspective. There have been loads of films made of the battle, ‘300’ being the latest, but this book, for me, decribes it like you were there.

At Thermopylae, the allied Greek nations deployed a small force of between four thousand Greek heavy infantry against the invading Persian army of two million strong. Leading the Greeks was a small force of three hundred Spartans, chosen because they were all "sires" — men who had to have sons who could preserve their blood line, should they fall in battle.
Thermopylae was the only gateway into Greece for the Persian army, and presented the perfect choke point — a narrow pass bordered by a huge mountain wall on one side and a cliff drop-off to the sea on the other. This location decreased the advantage of the Persians' numerical superiority. Delaying the Persian advance here would give the Greek allies enough time to ready a larger, main force to defend against the Persians. The battle takes place simultaneously with the sea battle at Artemisium, where the Allied Greek forces hoped to protect the flank of the army at Thermopylae whilst not being cut off themselves. The Greeks were at a disadvantage at Artemisium, as at Thermopylae - the Persians outnumbered the Allies, and most of the Athenian ships were newly built and manned by inexperienced crews - and both sides suffered heavy losses in the sea battle
Though Xeones is critically wounded in the battle, the Persian King Xerxes orders his surgeons to make every effort to keep the captive squire alive. The book is Xeones' narration of the battle and events leading up to it to Xerxes and his royal scribe as the Persian army advances toward Athens. Much of the narrative explores Spartan society, particularly the agoge, which is the military training program which all young Spartan boys must complete to become citizens of Sparta. The novel also details the heroics of several dozen Spartans, including the King of Sparta, Leonidas, the Olympic champion Polynikes, a young Spartan warrior named Alexandros, and the Spartan officer Dienekes. Pressfield employs detailed descriptions of the Spartan phalanx in battle, as well as the superior training and discipline of the Spartan warriors.
Xeones begins his tale with the destruction of his city, and chooses to tell specific stories of Spartan training leading up to the battle at the Hot Gates. Most of his stories include Alexandros, since Xeones is assigned to be his sparring partner. Once at the Hot Gates, Xeones tells the story completely chronologically and does not exclude any moments

 

[Mad Cyril]

I became a John Le Carre devotee quite late in life, my mother was a huge fan of the Alec Guinness BBC adaptations and I bought her the DVDs for Christmas about five years ago to replace her tired old VHS copies. I decided to give them a look one hungover Sunday morning and was instantly taken by the psychological drama, the cold war context and the final twist in the tale of the revelation of Gerald's true identity. I immediately ordered up the books of the Karla Trilogy and devoured them within a fortnight.

The characters of George Smiley, a short overweight spymaster, his beautiful wife undermining his confidence with her serial adultery, and his nemesis Karla, the unnamed Soviet spy who understood his weaknesses and his strengths, provided a gritty and all too human face to espionage, and the impact the secret life had on the protagonists and the innocent bystanders. I'm sure that Le Carre's agenda and political creed is very different from my own, but this is never a distraction from the driving force of the novel, which relies on the strength of the characterization and plot, and ends with a twist that whilst initially shocking, makes perfect sense on review.

The TV adaptation is marvelous, with Alec Guinness, Bernard Hepton and Ian Richardson in tremendous form, and the Gary Oldman film isn't bad either, but the book is singularly excellent.

Jon Le Carre sounds like he runs a quality used auto lot on London Road.

Rocky IV is the best cold war film I have seen.

I haven't read the book.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Jon Le Carre sounds like he runs a quality used auto lot on London Road.

Rocky IV is the best cold war film I have seen.

I haven't read the book.

I can heartily recommend the Rocky IV book, penned by Stallone himself. Although it lacks the brilliance of Dolph Lundgren's method acting, it makes up for it by adding some extra plot points which were subsequently forgotten in the next two films, such as Adrian being pregnant with a second child. A remarkable book.

 

[MK Shrimper]

That's going to be tough to beat RootsHallBloke ! Will wait until tomorrow to cast my vote though

Ends early doors tomorrow mate!

 

[Razam]

TTSS for me.
Although the story behind GoF is good, I remember seeing a documentary around the time 300 was released that broke alot of the myths surrounding the story, so the basis of the story for me became quite OTT.

Also if any TTSS fans havent seen A Most Wanted Man, I thoroughly recommend it - Philip Seymour Hoffman could even get a posthumous oscar from it!

 

[MK Shrimper]

You little Tinker! Storms it, through to the last 16.

 

[RHB]

A pretty close run thing though. I was sweating on it up to the end!

 

[steveo]

A pretty close run thing though. I was sweating on it up to the end!

I like to think I played my part in that one.

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

A pretty close run thing though. I was sweating on it up to the end!

I think the problem was the first vote went your way and you tried to sit back and protect the lead.....