A movie review this week for "Duplicity," starring Julia Roberts and Clive Owen, calls it a smart, sexy, sophisticated film. Roger Moore, the syndicated reviewer, said the picture was shot, edited and scored "like a sexy, '60s caper picture - conga drums and horns, split screens," and spy jargon ("Moscow Rules"). (The Post and Courier, Charleston, SC, 3/1/9/09.)
What are Moscow Rules? Other than those who slink around dark alleys, boarded up warehouses, lonely apartments and rainy streets associated with spies and spy-catching who even thinks of such things? Some say there never were any Moscow Rules; that these were the figment of fiction writers' imaginations. Others swear that vastly outnumbered Western spies operating against Soviet and East German Stasi agents throughout Europe during the Cold War survived by following Moscow Rules.
Fact or Fiction, true or not, these are the Moscow Rules:
1. Assume nothing.
2. Never go against your gut.
3. Everyone is potentially under opposition control.
4. Don't look back, you are never completely alone.
5. Go with the flow, blend in.
6. Vary your pattern and stay within your cover.
7. Lull them into a sense of complacency.
8. Don't harass the opposition.
9. Pick the time and place for action.
10. Keep your options open.
And by the way. "Duplicity" has four (out of five) stars. Ought to be a treat for Julia Roberts' fans. Clive Owen - an up and coming action actor has a bright future. See you at the movies.
