| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Dirk Bogarde | ... |
Alan Curtis
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| Ava Gardner | ... |
Katina Petersen
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| Bekim Fehmiu | ... |
Alexander Diakim
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| Timothy Dalton | ... |
Charles Lord
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Nicole Calfan | ... |
Melissa Lascade
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| Frederic Forrest | ... |
Scott Allison
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Klaus Wildbolz | ... |
Muller
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Anthony Dutton | ... |
Jennings
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Peggy Sinclair | ... |
Lily
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Dennis Blanch | ... |
Brewer
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| John Levene | ... |
Adams
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Alf Joint | ... |
MacNeil
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Vladimir Popovic | ... |
Kostas
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Ratislav Plamenac | ... |
Pavlos
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Oliver Schott | ... |
François
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When the exiled leader of a free party decides to return to his own country and attempt to remove the dictator currently in place there, several western governments are determined to stop him. A group is assembled, consisting of old friends, former lovers and hired assassins in order to dissuade him from returning "before his time". This group is appalled at the lengths to which western intelligence will go to stop the man from returning, and they conspire together to allow him to leave. Their plans, however, are anticipated by western intelligence which will stop at nothing to stop him, no matter who gets in the way. Written by Kevin Steinhauer <[email protected]>
Intended as a political movie (shades of Costa-Gavras' "Z"),"permission to kill" is a mess ,not only the "political " background remains very vague ,not to say simplistic but the plot is so confusing it's sometimes difficult to understand the characters' motives;a cosmopolitan cast does not help: Americans (Forrest),English (Bogarde who surprises Timothy Dalton in bed with another man ,and not an "honest "man to be precise ,French (Nicole Calfan ,not really convincing as the "hitwoman",who appears twice in the nude and a brat who has nothing to say)plus Albanian Bekim Fehmiu who died a few months ago.The ending is the perfect cliché of the political assassination.
It was the second time Bogarde had teamed up with Ava Gardner after " the angel wore red" (1961),and once again they made the bad choice.Ava Gardner,although aging,was still fascinating and the reason why I did not give up watching before the end.