Undercover characters who blow their cover.

[Dusty Substance]

Trying to think of some examples of when undercover characters accidentally give themselves away.

The three that came to my mind are all WW2 set.

Went The Day Well - The English villagers work out who the German spy is by the way he writes the number seven.

Inglourious Basterds - The Lieutenant film critic blows his cover by using the English way of signalling three with his fingers - I've always assumed this was Tarantino referencing the above film but I may be wrong.

The Great Escape - "Good luck". "Thank you". *runs*

Any others? Not just WW2 movies, just so happens these are the three I could think of.

May be worth considering a spoiler warning for films under, say, three years old?

[greenman]

Total Recall has loads of them, "two weeks", the drop of sweat, wrong number of kids, etc.

[NoSleep]

Archer, every episode.

[mr. logic]

Does Mr Orange give himself away? Obviously right at the end but before that it's just a hunch isn't it? Killing Mr Blonde doesn't help.

[buzby]

Went The Day Well - The English villagers work out who the German spy is by the way he writes the number seven.

Barry Sheene used the German form 'Crossed Seven' as his racing number.

In Casino Royale, the opening parkour chase is caused by Bond's fellow agent Carter touching his radio earpiece to hear above the crowd noise, giving himself away to the bomb maker they are tailing.

[Bad Ambassador]

"Could you give me the password, please sir?"
"Fidelio."
"That's right, sir. That is the password... for admittance. What is the password for the house?"
"...I appear to have forgotten it."
"That is... most unfortunate."

[Panbaams]

Even when the game's up in The Eagle Has Landed, Michael Caine's character never lets his impeccable Michael Caine accent slip.

[Lungpuddle]

RIP Film cliches you want to fuck off.

Started typing out the Inglorious Bastids bit where Fassbender fingers himself as a spy, but have read the first post now.

[Dusty Substance]

"Could you give me the password, please sir?"
"Fidelio."
"That's right, sir. That is the password... for admittance. What is the password for the house?"
"...I appear to have forgotten it."
"That is... most unfortunate."

God, I love that film. Always rated it from when I first saw it on a pretty awkward first date back in '99, but the more I re-visit it, the more I adore it.

[bgmnts]

DiCaprio blows his cover in The Departed for about 4 seconds and then the bloke dies.

[Junket Pumper]

Junket Pumper

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Inglorious Bastids bit where Fassbender fingers himself

That's in Alien Covenant.

[Dex Sawash]

Jim Brown in Dirty Dozen gets his nazi burn victim bandages unwrapped, doesn't he?

[Dusty Substance]

That's in Alien Covenant.

* standing ovation *

[beanheadmcginty]

T-1000 gives himself away by assuming John Connor's dog is called Wolfie.

[Dr Rock]

[notjosh]

Stalag 17 when William Holden asks the spy what time of day Pearl Harbor was attacked:
"6:00. I was having dinner."
"6:00 in Berlin. They were having lunch in Cleveland."

The scene leading up to his discovery, with Johnny Comes Marching Home and the shadow of the lightbulb is a brilliant bit of visual storytelling too. Wilder's best non-comedy film.


Martin Balsam sneezing at the end of The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.


36 Hours when he shouts "Heil Hitler" at the guard and tricks him into saluting. Though on that one he'd pretty much figured it out already.


The bit in Wait Until Dark when she has the phone call from the nice man who she thinks is helping her and then seconds later

Spoiler alert

gets a phone call from the neighbour upstairs confirming that he is the one who has been in the phonebox across the street.

[close]

Spoilering that because it's a knock-out moment in an amazing film that too few people have seen.


All three Die Hard films feature some moment when undercover baddies are found out. In the first it's when Bill Clay/Hans attempts to shoot McClane with an empty gun, in the second it's when he realises the baddies are shooting blanks at each other. Probably the most pertinent is in Die Hard with a Vengeance when McClane realises that the 'cop' in the elevator with him is wearing his colleague's badge number and must therefore have killed him. He remembers it because the guy always played his badge numbers on the lottery.


And not forgetting this, one of the best visual effects moments in film history:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F9Gbi7MQO8

[studpuppet]

Doesn't Bond get tumbled pretty much every film because he's the worst secret agent in the history of the universe? Off the top of my head...

OHMSS: despite his pitch-perfect George Baker impersonation, Telly Savalas skewers him because his family tombs are in a different place.

Man With The Golden Gun: wears a fake nipple to impersonate Scaramanga but Hi-Fat has not only already met him, but has the real one in the next room.

[Dex Sawash]

And not forgetting this, one of the best visual effects moments in film history:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F9Gbi7MQO8

If I got a prosthetic flamethrower, would definitely opt for one with automatic ignition

[Brundle-Fly]

"Wait a minute...who am I here?" - Jerry Blake in The Stepfather (1987)

[Bad Ambassador]

In A View to a Kill, his cover is blown at Zorin's chateau when Grace Jones suddenly remembers that she and Bond had an action scene together earlier in the film.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Doesn't Bond get tumbled pretty much every film because he's the worst secret agent in the history of the universe? Off the top of my head...

OHMSS: despite his pitch-perfect George Baker impersonation, Telly Savalas skewers him because his family tombs are in a different place.

Man With The Golden Gun: wears a fake nipple to impersonate Scaramanga but Hi-Fat has not only already met him, but has the real one in the next room.

I liked how they riff on that in Casino Royale. He's given the alias Carlington Beech, but he defiantly books himself into the hotel and the poker game as James Bond. No fucks given, here I am, come and get me.

[Brundle-Fly]

The murderer's unwitting giveaway in Jagged Edge (1985).   

I won't even slightly spoil it.

Whodunnit twist films really are the most disposable genre in cinema. Very hard to enjoy a punchline more than once.

[Gulftastic]

In 'Just One Of The Guys', Joyce Hyser opens her shirt showing her fantastic boobs to prove she is not a bloke.

[lipsink]

Uncle Fester in The Addams Family (1991) asks how you take off the finger trap to Morticia.

In There Will Be Blood

Spoiler alert

Daniel Plainview realises the guy isn't his brother when he talks about "the Peach Tree Dance"

[close]

In The Godfather Part II

Spoiler alert

Fredo gives away his cover when he twice pretends he's never met Johnny Ola and then reveals he heard about the club they're in from Johnny Ola.

[close]

[MojoJojo]

L.A. Confidential and Rollo Tamasi.

Fuck me that's a good film I haven't seen in a while. I think that's me viewing or the evening sorted.

(edit: it's on prime video too)

[El Unicornio, mang]

Doesn't Bond get tumbled pretty much every film because he's the worst secret agent in the history of the universe? Off the top of my head...

Amazingly no-one bats an eyelid at the 6'2" hairy Scotsman posing as a Japanese man in You Only Live Twice.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

Doesn't Bond get tumbled pretty much every film because he's the worst secret agent in the history of the universe? Off the top of my head...

OHMSS: despite his pitch-perfect George Baker impersonation, Telly Savalas skewers him because his family tombs are in a different place.

Man With The Golden Gun: wears a fake nipple to impersonate Scaramanga but Hi-Fat has not only already met him, but has the real one in the next room.

I want to say Die Another Day? One of the Pierce Brosnan ones anyway. At the start of the movie the baddies figure out who he is by taking a picture of his face and then Google reverse-image searching it. He's not even wearing a moustache or a wide-brimmed hat to cast some shadow on his face. What a lousy ninja he is.

"I'M THE SPY" no shit Domhnall Gleeson. Hux deserved a better movie.

[Replies From View]

Man With The Golden Gun: wears a fake nipple to impersonate Scaramanga but Hi-Fat has not only already met him, but has the real one in the next room.

The real nipple?  How is it suspended?


Maybe I should start watching these "James Bond" films for myself.  Easter Monday at 2.30pm, you say?

[Replies From View]

In 'Just One Of The Guys', Joyce Hyser opens her shirt showing her fantastic boobs to prove she is not a bloke.

I read that as 'One Foot in the Grave' at first, and was picturing Annette Crosbie.