The new action spy film The Amateur stars Rami Malek as Charles Heller, a desk-bound CIA cryptographer who transforms into a globetrotting vigilante to find and kill the terrorists who murdered his wife. The Amateur is based on Robert Littell’s 1981 novel of the same name, which was previously adapted into a 1981 film with John Savage as Charles. While both films begin with Charles’ anguished reaction to the murder and ensuing transformation, the films subsequently diverge quite substantially, specifically with their handling of the novel’s core themes of revenge and terrorism.
With its expansive locations and sleek modern technology, the largely apolitical remake unfolds as a fairly standard spy thriller in which Charles’ quest for revenge is countered by his need for justice. In contrast, the 1981 film, like the novel, exists as an uncompromising revenge thriller while also exploring the various aspects of terrorism. While revenge is unable to fill the void with Charles’ grief in the remake, Charles has no such qualms in the 1981 film and novel, in which revenge becomes Charles’ best form of therapy.
The Original ‘The Amateur’ Is More Frightening and Realistic Than the Remake
The Amateur
Release Date
December 11, 1981
Runtime
112 minutes
Director
Charles Jarrott
Writers
Diana Maddox
Producers
Mario Kassar
Cast
-
John Savage
Charles Heller
The latest version of The Amateur steadfastly avoids geopolitical issues and terrorist ideology with its handling of Sarah’s murder, which is attributed to a trio of mercenaries who killed Sarah to facilitate their escape from a London bank amid a heist gone awry. In stark contrast, the 1981 film, like the novel, places Sarah, who is introduced as Charles Heller’s fiancée in the film and novel, inside an American embassy in Munich with a trio of Red Army-type terrorists. While holding Sarah and the other hostages, the terrorists threaten to kill a hostage every 15 minutes until their demands are met.
While this drama plays out on closed-circuit television around the world, the terrorists show that they mean business by shooting Sarah in the head in a scene of chilling power. This horrifying act is preceded by a powerful moment in which a frightened Sarah asks the terrorists what they’re going to do to her. In contrast to Sarah’s ephemeral presence in the remake, her murder in the 1981 film establishes a powerful note of tragedy while also generating tremendous sympathy for Charles, whose anger and grief is exacerbated by seeing the terrorists gain their freedom.
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The 1981 film attaches Charles’ revenge mission to the Holocaust genocide. In the novel, Sarah, to save the lives of the other hostages, reveals herself to be Jewish to the terrorists, who subsequently execute her for this reason. In the film, Charles meets with Sarah’s father, a holocaust concentration camp survivor, who tells Charles that the only way he was able to overcome his trauma was through revenge, by killing the Nazi doctor responsible for selecting his family members for execution. As Sarah’s father claims to have found revenge liberating, Charles also discovers therapeutic properties in revenge while hunting Sarah’s killers.
John Savage Is More Believable as Charles Heller
While Rami Malek is more than a decade older than John Savage was when the original film version of The Amateur was released in 1981, Savage seems older in the role and is more effective at projecting the steely determination with which Charles Heller embarks on his revenge mission. Moreover, as the 1981 film and novel reflect the Cold War era in which they were released, Savage’s grizzled, solemn screen persona, recalling Savage’s searing dramatic performances in the films The Deer Hunter and The Onion Field, is much more well-suited to this environment than the exotic-looking Malek would be, if the remake had been a period piece.
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With the remake’s focus on the mastery of technology that Charles employs against his enemies, along with Charles’ feelings of alienation and grief, there are clear similarities to Malek’s performance as vigilante hacker Elliot Alderson on the television series Mr. Robot. Moreover, the expansive and gadget-heavy universe of the remake reminds audiences of the James Bond film series and Malek’s villainous performance as Safin in the 2021 installment No Time to Die. While these distractions aren’t necessarily Malek’s fault, with a story that asks audiences to honestly imagine how far they would go to avenge a loved one’s murder, Charles’ grief registers more strongly through Savage’s performance than with Malek’s.
Both Versions of ‘The Amateur’ Suffer From Implausibility
But Where Can You Watch the Original and Remake of ‘The Amateur’?
Much like what happened to the 1981 version of The Amateur at the time of its theatrical release, many of the reviews of the remake have focused on its gaping plot holes and logistical lapses. With the remake, most of the criticisms revolve around the shockingly condensed nature of Charles Heller’s transformation from mouse-like CIA cryptographer to successful field agent, a process that encompasses approximately 10 minutes of screen time. This is magnified throughout the rest of the remake, in which Charles continually stays one step ahead of CIA pursuers and ruthless mercenaries despite his amateur status, or maybe because of it.
While the sheer coincidence and luck with which both screen incarnations of the Charlie Heller character evade capture and death seriously weaken the credibility of both films, the 1981 film, like the novel, is more effective at showing how Charles’ relative ignorance makes him an effectively unpredictable adversary. Moreover, the 1981 film has the courage of its source material’s convictions. While the remake seems perfectly content to be a routine spy thriller in the vein of the Jason Bourne film series, the 1981 film, like the novel, at least provides what appears to be an honest examination of revenge and terrorism in its opening scenes before turning into a routine thriller. The Amateur (1981) is streaming on Hulu, while The Amateur (2025) is in theaters now.
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