So whilst our Editor suffers under the delusion that he will get a call to be the next James Bond, a call that’s as likely as receiving a cold call that’s not a scammer, The Last Spy is about a genuine spymaster, the long retired and 100 year old Peter Sichel. His is an amazing story and even at such an age he is remarkably cognitive in his recollection of events. What The Last Spy did… A German Jew he escaped the Holocaust and worked his way up to join what was the US’s first espionage bureau going on to then become chiefs at various CIA stations in Europe and Hong Kong.
He is remarkably frank as well as critical of several CIA operations mostly to do with destabilize countries such as Guatamala and others. His was undoubtedly a high stress toll and its little surprise that it took a toll on his personal life and yet his family are still full of praise for him and the work he did. It’s hard to imagine Melania or Hilary being quite the same.
Director Katharina Otto-Bernstein’s documentary intersperses Sichel relaying at times his quite forthright opinions, though none so revealing that he breaches any Secrets Act, with archive footage and interviews with ex CIA agents and former journalists most notably Carl Bernstein. It’s all the more remarkable that this all happened in a very much old school world of heavy lunchtime drinking in a fog of cigarette smoke and occasional out of control licentiousness or as our Editor calls it, Tuesday (‘You’re fired!’– Ed). Though Sichel passed away in 2025 The Last Spy is a fascinating insight into covert world of behaviours and attitudes that you can’t help but feel still goes on to some extent. related feature : Real life James Bond’s discuss their incredible stories in the doc, ‘The Other Fellow” related feature : Why Barbara Broccoli let go of James Bond creatively ….. Here’s the trailer….