Question about crossing the German guy?
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RynoII — 15 years ago(August 08, 2010 07:49 AM)
Yeah but how did Ann come across that info? She would have had to get it from someone else, and that someone else could have leaked info. Which is what really happened. So couldn't Ann be ruled out as a suspect since other people knew?
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paul_cowsill — 15 years ago(November 17, 2010 10:16 AM)
Not exactly. She worked in the Embassy, perhaps First or Second Secretary or perhaps Assistant to the Ambassador. At any rate, it's clear that she had access to classified information. In fact, the Ambassador was the initial suspect, but after he had been eliminated, Cathgart was the only suspect.
We had the Ambassador in our cross hairs until some information leaked when he was out the country. So that just left one possibility Ann Cathcart.
I'm sorry the Coen brothers don't direct the porn I watch. They're hard to get ahold of, okay? -
praxistens — 15 years ago(November 19, 2010 06:03 AM)
The German guy Schmidt was a plant: intended to draw out the mole @the embassy. He knew he wasn't going anywhere, but Pitt didn't: he thought he was slipping a genuine East German desperado across the border. (Redford tells Pitt on the roof there that Schmidt was scum who wanted to sell out the embassy mole to the Soviets a week before.)
Very likely turncoats in the Soviet camp sold out Cathcart to the Americans: you see, during the Cold War, almost anybody'd do anything to & for anybody for a buck or ten. One of the true reasons the Cold war ended was because the orig. intentfree Nazis in exchange for info. on Sovietsno longer existed: half the old Nazis were Soviet & East German staffers & old Soviet guard wanted to move the states & become sheep farmers in Montana a la the XO in Hunt for Red October.
For those that think once a commie, always a commie, this exchange from Spy Who Came In From the Cold is instructive: "He was a member of the Hitler youth." "And now he's a grown-up communist."
51depasser -
mfiskey55 — 14 years ago(August 16, 2011 12:35 PM)
I agree with you that Pitt (Bishop) thought that the op was bringing Schmidt accross. I disagree with you that Schmidt knew he wasn't going accross. Otherwise, when Bishop told him there was a "change of plans, Friedrich", Schmidt would have been like "OK, well see ya later then". He wouldn't have fought to stay in the car. Schmidt was trying to get accross, so he could gather info from his asset (Ann Cathcart) to relay back to East Germany/Soviets.
Also, why else would the border guards have huge pics of Schmidt on their clipboards while Bishop was crossing if they hadn't been alerted by their intelligence agencies? These contacts had to be the same contacts in East Germany that tipped Muir off to Schmidt using Cathcart as an asset.
So, in summary, Muir had already set it up thru his East German contacts that Schmidt was never going to cross the wall. The East German contacts leaked this defection intent to the border patrol, who were ready for Schmidt. This had to happen prior to Muir's confirmation meeting with Cathcart. Once Cathcart realized her cover was blown, she defected to the East. She was hiding in a low-rent apartment complex, Muir's contacts found her and
I almost numchucked you, you don't even realize! -
lizanosalsa — 15 years ago(October 17, 2010 04:55 AM)
She asked "Working on a Saturday night?" followed by "you're bringing someone across aren't you?" (or something to that effect). This is how she discovered the information to leak. Not a plot hole.
I would be interested in hearing what other parts of the movie you thought were not "fleshed out." Seems you were unable to pick up on key parts of dialog. -
Vega_Lyra — 9 years ago(May 18, 2016 07:15 AM)
This might be obvious, but who ended up killing her? It's almost alluded to that Bishop killed her in retaliation. Or did I miss something completely? Was it KGB or some other CIA agent?
Conquer your fear, and I promise you, you will conquer death.