"The Night Manager" - No spoilers.....

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fnord

Lifer
Dec 28, 2011
2,746
8
Topeka, KS
I PM'ed this earlier to a pal and wanted to share.
"I've been enjoying the BBC's "The Night Manager" on AMC. The book, so well written by John Le Carre, was released in 1993 and I'm currently re-reading it as I watch the series. While the locations have shifted from the Caribbean to the Med and there's been a few gender changes & subplot additions, the main actors - Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie - are superb. The action is violent and the dialogue crisp as hell. I hope you're watching it, my friend. This is right down your alley."
Please know that I'm no Anglophile snob for the BBC - although I can't wait for Season Three of "Peaky Blinders" on Netflix. ("PB" is "The Sopranos" set in post WWI Birmingham and it's damned good. Maybe some of the best television I've watched in years.) Our English cousins produce the same rate of crap as the Yanks do, but anything done well is worth being called out.
Fnord

 

derfargin

Lifer
Mar 3, 2014
2,028
28
Kennesaw, GA
Came across it last night and watched it fir a bit. Seemed pretty good so I recorded it to watch later. I don't watch mutch these days, but there are a few I enjoy.

 

ssjones

Moderator
Staff member
May 11, 2011
18,317
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Maryland
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We seem to share similar tastes - I've been eagerly watching each episode (I believe there are only 6). It is very well done with breath-taking scenery shots and some great acting. Curiously, I'm not a fan of his books, but enjoy those made into movies. Except for "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy". Despite the always excellent, Gary Oldham, that one just droned on.
I've also been watching "The Last Panthers", on Sundance. A crime/euro-mob/police drama set in Serbia.

 

deathmetal

Lifer
Jul 21, 2015
7,714
32
@fnord:
The book, so well written by John Le Carre, was released in 1993 and I'm currently re-reading it as I watch the series. While the locations have shifted from the Caribbean to the Med and
This sounds awesome
there's been a few gender changes & subplot additions
This, not so much. The BBC likes to mix propaganda and schmaltz to create a nasty discharge.
@ssjones:
Except for "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy". Despite the always excellent, Gary Oldham, that one just droned on.
You have to like tightly-plotted detective-style fiction. There are literally no random moments; everything follows a tight and sinister plot. It's more a movie of suspense, really. If you like psychological horror films, you will dig it.

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,568
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Carmel Valley, CA
This, not so much. The BBC likes to mix propaganda and schmaltz to create a nasty discharge.
I guess I am as apolitical as all get out, so I haven't noticed the above. What examples are there that irk you?
BTW, I am loving The Night Manager. Laurie's best role since Blackadder!

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,568
27,070
Carmel Valley, CA
Brad-
Who's your TV provider? Depending, you may be able to download and watch the first three. Probably would add a lot to your enjoyment of the final three. Good luck!

 

xrundog

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 23, 2014
737
1
Ames, IA
I caught episode 2 in the middle. Watched about 10 minutes and I was intrigued. I recorded the 3 episodes available yesterday. The Brits seem more willing to develop character and story lines over a season. Not like the 1 hour fast montage with a quick easy resolution we have on so many US shows.

 

ssjones

Moderator
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May 11, 2011
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Well, I think the big cable providers are creating product on a different plane from the networks. I can't remember the last time I watched anything from the networks.AMC, Netflix, Showtime, etc are always far ahead on quality.

 

fnord

Lifer
Dec 28, 2011
2,746
8
Topeka, KS
@Al, we could have been brothers from a different mother. Our TV likes coincide with odd to quirky to weird and then some.
@Death, be generous. Twenty plus years ago everything was happening in the Caribbean. Things change and the fabulously wealthy move ahead of the cycle and make the changes. I can't speak to your "propaganda and schmaltz" Beeb allegation but I do know that I'd crawl over and through five miles of broken glass, buckshot and chickenshit to hear Gary Oldham read out of a telephone directory from Cedar Bluff, Iowa. You couldn't be more right, pal. TTSS was brilliant - if you like that genre.
@Jpmcwjr, dunno where you're located but most of us stateside don't know Hugh Laurie as anything but the acerbic and frequently vitriolic M.D. from "House." I had no idea he was a Brit until that awful remake - but still okay, kinda,' sorta' remake of "The Flight of The Phoenix."
@Xrundog: I couldn't agree with you more.
@Bradley, let's really date ourselves. Activate Amazon Prime and "tape" those lost episodes. You really are going to enjoy them.
Fnord

 

deathmetal

Lifer
Jul 21, 2015
7,714
32
TTSS was brilliant - if you like that genre.
I agree. You have to like that type of thing. Oldman was the perfect choice for Smiley also, although a slightly unorthodox one.

 

perdurabo

Lifer
Jun 3, 2015
3,305
1,575
The Karla Trilogy was Brilliant. I am partial to the BBC Alec Guiness portrayal of Smiley in TTSS and Smiley's People. However, The TTSS remake was well done. Beats the crap outta that horrible StarWars Remake.

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,568
27,070
Carmel Valley, CA
@Jpmcwjr, dunno where you're located but most of us stateside don't know Hugh Laurie as anything but the acerbic and frequently vitriolic M.D. from "House." I had no idea he was a Brit until that awful remake - but still okay, kinda,' sorta' remake of "The Flight of The Phoenix."
fnord: I am in Northern California. West of Sacramento. Blackadder was hilarious to me, but perhaps a year in England gave me knowledge of some things Brit that made it extra enjoyable. Laurie also played in the Jeeves series opposite Stephen Fry. (Bertie Wooster)
BTW, I posted pix of my new Bertram HERE it is.

 

fnord

Lifer
Dec 28, 2011
2,746
8
Topeka, KS
Then you are well ahead of the rest of us, Jpmcwjr. There's no way a guy - with no known American TV or movie past - could've burst on the scene and been so mesmerizing as Dr. House. Obviously, he learned his craft somewhere and I'm an idiot for not whistling him up on IMDB sooner.
Your new Bertam billiard is nothing short of gorgeous and I couldn't be happier for you! There was a time, not that long ago, when we made production items with hand finishing in this country that were something special and worth taking care of. You have one in that pipe. My two aren't nearly as pretty as yours. (A 30 and a 40, IIRC.) But, like the Metaire Sage wrote, "... the smoke ability is good, just the looks and you don't smoke looks."
You did well, man.
Fnord

 

darwin

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 9, 2014
820
5
I first became familiar with Laurie's work in the BBC series Jeeves & Wooster, based of course on the P.G. Wodehouse books, which ran over twenty-five years ago. Absolutely stellar production and comic performances by Laurie as Bertie Wooster and his friend and long-time collaborator Steven Fry as the imperious butler Jeeves. Also Laurie has been a fixture in Brit films and telly of one sort or another for well over thirty years. It was the role of Wooster that really made his bones though and got him serious name recog. in the states.

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
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May 12, 2015
24,568
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Carmel Valley, CA
Darwin- If you like Brit humor and at some point got some familiarity with English royalty, as in school lessons or your own reading, you ought to look up Blackadder Atkinson is the lead, but you'll recognize several of the cast including Laurie.

 

darwin

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 9, 2014
820
5
jpmcwjr ever since it was first broadcast here I've been a big fan of the travails of Edmund and Baldrick. Laurie was definitely one of the cherries on top when he joined the cast.

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,568
27,070
Carmel Valley, CA
You might enjoy this quote:
Edmund Blackadder and Baldrick converse:
EB: "First Name?"

B: "I'm not sure."

EB: "Come on, you MUST have a first name."

B: "It might be 'Sod Off'."

EB: "Sod Off??"

B: "Yeah, when I was a young lad playing in the gutter, I used to say to all the other snipes, "Hello, my name's Baldrick". And they'd say, "Yes we know, Sod Off, Baldrick"
- Blackadder and Baldrick filling out an application form.

 
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