The Amateur

1981
R
1h 52m

IMDb RATING

5.8/10

927

YOUR RATING

Home Video Trailer from Anchor Bay Entertainment

Play trailer2:01

1 Video

30 Photos

Action Crime Thriller

A CIA operative takes justice in his own hands, as his girlfriend is brutally murdered by terrorists. He carefully designs a plan to hunt down the terrorists, after the crime, and executes t... Read allA CIA operative takes justice in his own hands, as his girlfriend is brutally murdered by terrorists. He carefully designs a plan to hunt down the terrorists, after the crime, and executes them one by one.A CIA operative takes justice in his own hands, as his girlfriend is brutally murdered by terrorists. He carefully designs a plan to hunt down the terrorists, after the crime, and executes them one by one.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.8/10

927

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 10 nominations

Videos1

Trailer 2:01

The Amateur

Photos30

+ 23

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Some movie posters for this film featured a long text preamble that read: "At 29, Charles Heller was a mathematician without equal. At the CIA, he was a computer expert without peer. But when terrorists murdered the most important woman in his life, he became an assassin without experience. To avenge her death, the CIA trained him, briefed him, armed him, and then...they abandoned him. The first 11 minutes will absolutely shock you. The last 11 minutes will rivet you to your seat. The Amateur".

Goofs
All entries contain spoilers

Quotes
Kaplan: I lost my first wife, my first family. Two beautiful little girls. In the war, in the camps. I thought for a long time the loss would kill me but, I survived.
Charles Heller: How?
Kaplan: By creating a ritual to keep me alive. To survive the death of people close to you, you need a ritual. A ritual for revenge is what I made. I thought about it and planned it every waking moment. When I got out I spent three years tracking down the doctor who sent them to the camps.
Charles Heller: Did you find him?
Kaplan: I found him, yes.
Charles Heller: What did... what did you do?
Kaplan: I created one last ritual. With these hands I strangled him.
Charles Heller: It didn't bring them back from the dead.
Kaplan: No, it brought me back from the dead!

Crazy credits
On the American prints the 20th Century Fox logo plays without the fanfare.

Connections
Featured in Sneak Previews: Quest for Fire/Union City/The Amateur/Evil Under the Sun (1982)

User reviews26

Review

Featured review

10/10

Excellent Unstylized Thriller

This is the movie that introduced me to international intrigue. For this, I owe it many things. It paved the way for me to appreciate several important historical points that have served me well in the ensuing years of my education.

What attracted me to this movie was the aspect of a complete amateur being caught up in the world of terrorism. His utter frustration is handled and eventual involvement is treated, without a lot of glitzy, unnecessary gadgets or gratuitous or cartoonish (and unbelievable) violence.

No, nothing of that is experienced in this movie. And thank goodness for that. The grittiness is real. There are no cardboard characters like Matt Damon and Tom Cruise battling European forces of evil. You feel for JOHN SAVAGE and his life. You care for him and his pain...you feel his frustrations and his victories.

Yes, this is intrigue at its most real depiction (within the framework of a commercial movie.) Human life is important, cherished and defended. You will come from this experience with the idea of what a more realistic exposition of events can be.

I recommend anyone who still loves intrigue done without a lot of CGI junk thrown in.