Being in high school at the time my friends and I read all the spy novels we could get our hands on. I had read 'The Spy Who Came in From The Cold'. The book and movie were both first class. Then I read 'The Venitian Affair' and it was also top notch, a first class suspense novel with all the twists and turns, very dark. When they announced that Robert Vaunghn was going to play the lead we were ecstatic. Unfortunately, the movie, while not bad, just didn't live up to the billing. Why, well the book was almost 500 pages and the movie was 89 minutes. The movie skips a lot of details and worse, it tries to rush to fit as much as possible in. James Bond thrillers are non-stop action, but most realist spy movies are slower and paced, as is most real spying. It feels like they tried to do this on a budget and use TV pacing. Hiring Vaughn was probably due in part to his television background, thinking he would be more acceptable to this approach. He wasn't and it shows. Being a real actor with the chops to really shine in a great role, he must have been very disappointed when he got the final script. It lacked much of the character development and brooding pace. As I said, it's not a bad movie, just far short of it's potential. And, there is the classic line from the airport scene when he first lands in Veinna. Read the book after seeing the movie, it's a classic spy novel with tension that crackles.
Review of The Venetian Affair
