The Fourth Protocol (1987)

Director:

John Mackenzie

Writers:

George Axelrod (writer)
Richard Burridge (additional material)

Release Date:

28 August 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller

Tagline:

If the Fourth Protocol is ever breached, there would be no warning, just a nuclear explosion from a bedsitter...The unthinkable has just begun...

Plot:

KGB agent, Major Valeri Petrofsky has been reassigned at the request of the KGB Chairman for a secret mission...

Plot Keywords:

Female Nudity | Russia | NATO | Russian | London

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Michael Caine	...	John Preston
Pierce Brosnan	...	Valeri Petrofsky / James Edward Ross
Ned Beatty	...	Borisov / Pavel Petrovic
Joanna Cassidy	...	Irina Vassilievna
Julian Glover	...	Brian Harcourt-Smith
Michael Gough	...	Sir Bernard Hemmings
Ray McAnally	...	General Karpov
Ian Richardson	...	Sir Nigel Irvine
Anton Rodgers	...	George Berenson
Caroline Blakiston	...	Angela Berenson
Joseph Brady	...	Carmichael
Betsy Brantley	...	Eileen McWhirter
Sean Chapman	...	Captain Lyndhurst
Matt Frewer	...	Tom McWhirter
Jerry Harte	...	Professor Krilov

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:14 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Birmingham International Arena, Birmingham, West Midlands, England, UK

Company:

Fourth Protocol

Trivia:

The reversed code number of James Bond can be read in the license plate of Pierce Brosnan's motorcycle: C700 OBL.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: Reflected in the side of the blue van when it is driving off road.

Quotes:

Sir Nigel Irvine: Hello, George. Had a good holiday? Not missing anything, are you?
[lays out George's stolen diamonds]
Sir Nigel Irvine: These are yours, I believe. But these, beyond a doubt...
[lays out the stolen NATO documents]
Sir Nigel Irvine: Never were.
George Berenson: I don't suppose there's very much I can say, is there?
Sir Nigel Irvine: I don't know. Try me.
George Berenson: All right. Well, for years now I have adopted the attitude that there was only one struggle on the planet worth a damn: the fight against world communism. And, it has long seemed to me ridiculous that the most committed anti-Communists in the Southern Hemisphere, the South Africans, should be excluded from NATO planning merely because of some... unfashionable domestic attitudes.

Movie Connections:

References "The Muppet Show" (1976)

The usual Caine, the better Brosnan

Forget Brosnan's performance in the Bond movies or the recent excellent Tailor of Panama. His cold, calculative KGB agent in The Fourth Protocol should have told us what a wonderful actor he is. Made in 1987, the film is closer to its older brother (The Days of Jackal, also by Frederick Forsyth) than the spy films starring Michael Caine, as I originally thought it would be. The pace is slow, but thoughtful. Like Jackal, we get to see Brosnan making preparation to bring in the bomb and piecing it together. We also get to see Caine, 'the rebel' of M16 tracking him down. Great show!