The CIA's hunting its own ghostwriter, and Athens is about to get messy.
Janssen plays an ex-CIA agent who has become an author, writing both non-fiction exposes (Phillip Agee was in the news at this time) and fiction spy novels. The CIA is on his case, in the person of Arthur Kennedy, CIA chief in Athens, where Janssen is staying. Janssen is pursuing a case that interests him, while dodging the traps set for him by Kennedy and trying to help Maurizio Merli, a former colleague with personal problems.
Acting
Janssen's world-weary exhaustion is practically its own character.
Cinematography
Athens locations turn tourist traps into surveillance hellscapes.
Score
Gianni Ferrio's jazz-funk paranoia keeps you uneasy.
Director
Romolo Guerrieri
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released during the peak of CIA exposé culture—Phillip Agee's 'Inside the Company' had publishers scrambling for similar dirt.
Maurizio Merli was Italy's reigning poliziottescho king; this rare Eurospy detour let him play vulnerability instead of vengeance.
IT
