Based on Geoffrey Household's 1939 novel Rogue Male, this BBC TV movie was directed by Clive Donner, adapted by Frederic Raphael and in addition to Peter O'Toole, it also stars Alastair Sim in his last film role.
In early 1939, before the start of World War II, Sir Robert Hunter (O'Toole) takes aim at Adolf Hitler with a hunting rifle. He hesitates to shoot, which ends with him being attacked by an SS guard. He's tortured and claims that this was just an intellectual exercise to see if he could kill the leader. He's a well-known British citizen, so to cover up the torture, they throw him off a cliff.
He survives and escapes to England, where a Nazi sympathizer named Major Quive-Smith (John Standing) recaptures him and demands that he writes a false confession that the British government demanded that he was given orders to kill the German leader. But he's not giving up without a fight.
In 2007, Peter O'Toole named the film as his favorite among those that he had made. One of the reasons he was in it was because his wife Sian Phillips loved the novel.
In early 1939, before the start of World War II, Sir Robert Hunter (O'Toole) takes aim at Adolf Hitler with a hunting rifle. He hesitates to shoot, which ends with him being attacked by an SS guard. He's tortured and claims that this was just an intellectual exercise to see if he could kill the leader. He's a well-known British citizen, so to cover up the torture, they throw him off a cliff.
He survives and escapes to England, where a Nazi sympathizer named Major Quive-Smith (John Standing) recaptures him and demands that he writes a false confession that the British government demanded that he was given orders to kill the German leader. But he's not giving up without a fight.
In 2007, Peter O'Toole named the film as his favorite among those that he had made. One of the reasons he was in it was because his wife Sian Phillips loved the novel.