The Spy with the Blood Tinted Glasses #1 - Introduction

In the old days, if an agent did something that embarrassing, he'd have the good sense to defect.

Christ, I miss the Cold War.

In the early 1970s a former officer of the British Secret Service is called out of retirement to investigate his former colleagues.

I'm retired.

You're outside the family.

You're well placed to look into this for us now.

I'll do my utmost.

In the aftermath of the 1972 Olympics a secret team is assembled by the Israeli intelligence service Mossad to hunt down the leaders of a Palestinian paramilitary group.

We have 11 Palestinian names.

Each had a hand in planning Munich.

You're going to kill them, one by one.

Two KGB agents live undercover in America in the 1980s, raising their children while passing information to the Soviet Union.

This work can be too much for people.

They tell us what to do and we do it.

That's how it works.

Philip and Elizabeth Jennings are not Russian spies.

Why them? At the establishment of the CIA's Langley headquarters, a senior officer reflects on the role of the agency.

I remember a senator once asked me, when we talk about CIA, why we never use the word the in front of it? And I asked him, do you put the word the in front of God?

These are just a few examples of nostalgic espionage, a sub-genre of films and TV shows 21st century that look back on spying in the 20th century with a critical, questioning eye.

Hello and welcome to The Spy with the Blood-Tinted Glasses.

This is a podcast that explores nostalgic espionage, films and TV shows made now but about then.

My name is Vincent M. Gaines and I am your host.

I am an academic, film critic and podcaster, and in each episode I discuss one or two of these intriguing tales with a different guest.

We ask how espionage is presented, what the film or show says about the time it presents and the time it was made, and ask what role does nostalgia play? In this first episode, I will introduce the key ideas that inform the podcast and then discuss with my guest their experiences of the genre, historical film and nostalgia more widely.

In the old days, if an agent did something that embarrassing, he'd have the good sense to defect.

Christ, I miss the Cold War.

In the early 1970s a former officer of the British Secret Service is called out of retirement to investigate his former colleagues.

I'm retired.

You're outside the family.

You're well placed to look into this for us now.

I'll do my utmost.

In the aftermath of the 1972 Olympics a secret team is assembled by the Israeli intelligence service Mossad to hunt down the leaders of a Palestinian paramilitary group.

We have 11 Palestinian names.

Each had a hand in planning Munich.

You're going to kill them, one by one.

Two KGB agents live undercover in America in the 1980s, raising their children while passing information to the Soviet Union.

This work can be too much for people.

They tell us what to do and we do it.

That's how it works.

Philip and Elizabeth Jennings are not Russian spies.

Why them? At the establishment of the CIA's Langley headquarters, a senior officer reflects on the role of the agency.

I remember a senator once asked me, when we talk about CIA, why we never use the word the in front of it? And I asked him, do you put the word the in front of God?

These are just a few examples of nostalgic espionage, a sub-genre of films and TV shows 21st century that look back on spying in the 20th century with a critical, questioning eye.

Hello and welcome to The Spy with the Blood-Tinted Glasses.

This is a podcast that explores nostalgic espionage, films and TV shows made now but about then.

My name is Vincent M. Gaines and I am your host.

I am an academic, film critic and podcaster, and in each episode I discuss one or two of these intriguing tales with a different guest.

We ask how espionage is presented, what the film or show says about the time it presents and the time it was made, and ask what role does nostalgia play? In this first episode, I will introduce the key ideas that inform the podcast and then discuss with my guest their experiences of the genre, historical film and nostalgia more widely.