SSG: Spy/Spec-Ops Group discussion

Got any such memorable scenes you've come across in thriller fiction?

I can name one. The classic 'The Viking Process' in which the protagonist (hostage of a brutal bunch of psy-ops urban guerrillas) methodically try to break him down by repeatedly placing him in, 'most dangerous game' scenarios.

He and his best friend are set down on a motocross course with a couple of Husqvarna 750 cc dirt racing bikes and forced into a game of 'run-of-the-arrow' with the gang's more violent hooligans. They're unarmed; their pursuers carry medieval maces and flails. If they make it to the end of the course, they can have their lives. Raw deal.

Many good pursuit scenes involving motorcycles (often police bikers who end up crashing into the decor) in films such as THE BOURNE IDENTITY, James Bond movies and MISSION IMPOSSIBLE movies.

Motorcycles? Apart from Bourne 3 and 4, and the SKYFALL opening, I liked the one in the 1980's crime drama "Black Rain", which was basically a drag race through a California vineyard mocked up to look like a Japanese rice field. Simple yet well executed.

Strangely, I can only recall one motorcycle chase in a book I read recently...

Remember that discussion thread regarding over the top chase scenes? Well apart from a Mercedes E63 AMG, Porsche 911 and Ford sedan, it also had two Ducati motorcycles thrown in for good measure.

Samuel wrote: "Motorcycles? Apart from Bourne 3 and 4, and the SKYFALL opening, I liked the one in the 1980's crime drama "Black Rain", which was basically a drag race through a California vineyard mocked up to l..."

Black Rain's motorbike chase.
Very well executed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKW4w...

Section of this book has a motorcycle chase through South Switzerland, with the main character racing after a team of IRGC soldiers making a break for the North Italian border.

Feliks wrote: "Got any such memorable scenes you've come across in thriller fiction?

I can name one. The classic 'Viking Process' in which the protagonist --held hostage by a savage bunch of psy-ops urban guerri..."

Saw your review of the viking process. Looks very interesting and complex. I might check it out sometime.

Its wild. I envy anyone reading it for the first time. Cerebral, yet the lead character has a set of emotions which spill off the page. Action-filled, but thoughtful and with a social landscape in the background. You won't find it similar to anything else. Some readers complain about the 1960s hippie-ish element but that's contained to just one minor character.

The cover blurbs say, 'does for terrorism what Forsyth did for assassination and does what LeCarre did for defection' or something like that. No, it never became as famous as anything by those writers; but the blurbs are not that far off. Its not the fault of Hartley that it didn't make as big a splash. The content is certainly there.

Even though terrorism is in every thriller these days, this one can still be considered ambitious. Maybe that was its flaw--it was too inventive. Combined too many elements in one mixture. Its a buddy-story, a romance, erotica, a psychological thriller, corporate thriller, dystopic. I can't think of any other thriller even today which packs as much. You read more terrorism than I do, so will be glad to hear your opinion. What is the 'Day of the Jackal' in the terrorism sub-genre?

Oh well. Set all concerns aside and just enjoy one of the most unusual action-climaxes ever.

John Woo. I love and hate the director at the same time. But one can't fault the man for going all out in his work. Like here, where he sends Tom Cruise screaming down an Australian coastal road.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzIQg...

Oh....how could we have forgotten this. Steve McQueen, the German/Swiss border and a bunch of Nazis on his tail. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaFBF...

I don't think anyone's forgotten it, exactly. But its only mildly espionage related, surely?

Feliks wrote: "I don't think anyone's forgotten it, exactly. But its only mildly espionage related, surely?"

Whops. Good point.

More appropriate one. The Mechanic.
Charles Bronson. Pursuing Target.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XUHP...

9 x out of 10 I prefer Bronson over Eastwood; maybe 7 x out of 10 even over McQueen. Bronson was so confident in himself, he never minded taking second billing. Best co-star ever. All he had to do was just stand there, but he always stood in just his own way. Everyone said he 'never did anything'; but he didn't have to do anything. You could take any of the other Dirty Dozen and they all had to do something to stand out. Even guys bigger than him-like Clint Walker-didn't have his presence. And it wasn't just that--it was that he had paid his dues in all sorts of schmoe roles like the henchman in 'Master of the World'. Smart actor.

Feliks wrote: "9 x out of 10 I prefer Bronson over Eastwood; maybe 7 x out of 10 even over McQueen. Bronson was so confident in himself, he never minded taking second billing. Best co-star ever. All he had to do ..."

Agreed.