Scorpio

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Scorpio

PG

1973

1h 54m

Action

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

59%

Tomatometer

22 Reviews

39%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

Cross (Burt Lancaster) is an experienced assassin for the CIA who decides he's quitting the business. When he announces his intentions, however, the CIA decides they'd rather have him dead than retired. They assign Scorpio (Alain Delon), a French assassin whom Cross has mentored for years, to do the job. A complicated game of cat and mouse follows, during which Cross relies on his many contacts and years of experience to elude the man he's taught everything he knows.

Critics Consensus

Burt Lancaster and Alain Delon add some much-needed weight, but Scorpio doesn't offer much that spy thriller fans haven't already seen before.

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Jerry Oster

New York Daily News

Jun 3, 2021

2/4

A spy movie that tries to transcend the dutifully ordinary twists of its plot and tell a tale of a squalid world in which nothing not friendship nor love nor life has any value. It is so relentless in rendering meanness that it leaves a bitter aftertaste.

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Kevin Thomas

Los Angeles Times

Jun 3, 2021

Follows a trite formula on such an unduly large, far-flung scale that it finally gets out of hand, leaving the viewer confused and therefore indifferent.

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George McKinnon

Boston Globe

Jun 3, 2021

Just when you think the international spy intrigue films have reeled to the final fadeout, along comes a picture like "Scorpio" to prove there's life in the old genre yet.

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David Parkinson

Radio Times

Jun 3, 2021

3/5

Lancaster manages to combine the fear of the fugitive with the toughness and resource we have come to expect of him.

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John Huddy

Miami Herald

Jun 3, 2021

A slick, talky, occasionally theatrical, but frequently audacious and exciting yarn...

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Frans B

@FransB Jun 10, 2026

Well done. Classic acting from whole very seasoned cast. Familiar premise and grand scale. Well written and directed with good cinematography. Old school cinematic make up and storytelling. Whole ambiance creates atmosphere. Musical score is entertaining and integral part of story as it were in those days. Lots of very carefully choreographed gestures and dialogue. Not as action filled as modern spy drama but enough of that and then some drama, dilemma, emotion, intrigue and suspense. If you are into classical moviemaking, it is surely worth a watch

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thiago s

@Thiagostone Nov 10, 2025

Filme mais ou menos, o roteiro é fraco, as cenas são mais ou menos, a história é fraca, o elenco é fraco, e ninguém ajuda a melhorar o filme, os personagens são fracos, e o filme deveria ter cenas bem melhores e relevantes, para fazer o filme ser bom

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Steve D

@RT35616104 Aug 4, 2023

A depressing predictable drag.

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paul d

@PaulusLoZebra Nov 24, 2021

Michael Winner's Scorpio is an engaging spy thriller. It's got the same basic ingredients as many films in the genre: Cold War tension, brilliant covert solo operators who take on the world, untrustworthy bureaucrats in Washington and Moscow, double-crosses, ageing spys and their young replacements … should I continue ? This film succeeds because the three leads Lancaster, Delon and Scofield command our attention, each in their own way. And Lancaster's athletic stunts at age 59 are impressive.

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Sep 1, 2020

The bad guys are the CIA!

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Oct 23, 2015

A lot of stunning cinematography and wonderful writing, but I wasn't a fan of the ending.

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Michael Winner

Director

Burt Lancaster

Cross

Alain Delon

Jean 'Scorpio' Laurier

Paul Scofield

Zharkov

John Colicos

McLeod

Gayle Hunnicutt

Susan

Scorpio: Official Clip - I Want Cross

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Scorpio: Official Clip - Getting the Drop on the Opposition

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Scorpio: Official Clip - I'm Still a Communist

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Scorpio: Official Clip - Hit and Run

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Scorpio: Official Clip - Let Me Get My Bag

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Scorpio: Official Clip - Can We Talk?

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Scorpio: Official Clip - The Object Is Not to Win

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Scorpio: Official Clip - Crashing His Tail

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Scorpio: Official Clip - Construction Shoot Out

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Scorpio: Official Clip - Cross Came Back

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Synopsis

Cross (Burt Lancaster) is an experienced assassin for the CIA who decides he's quitting the business. When he announces his intentions, however, the CIA decides they'd rather have him dead than retired. They assign Scorpio (Alain Delon), a French assassin whom Cross has mentored for years, to do the job. A complicated game of cat and mouse follows, during which Cross relies on his many contacts and years of experience to elude the man he's taught everything he knows.

Director: Michael Winner
Producer: Walter Mirisch
Screenwriter: David W. Rintels, Gerald Wilson
Production Co: Mirisch Corporation, Scimitar Productions
Rating: PG
Genre: Action
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 19, 1973, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 30, 2016
Runtime: 1h 54m

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