Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Flyerplesys Perfectly adorable

Holstra Boring, long, and too preachy.

Manthast Absolutely amazing

mark.waltz After a few flop movies and a short lived TV series, Julie Andrews needed a hit, and sadly did not get it with this spy drama, pretty much motionless and humorless. She's paired with the handsome Omar Sharif, playing a Russian litigation out to seduce her on order to recruit her. But for what? To get information from her since she works for an important British political figure, or perhaps to help him defect, or even perhaps he really loves her. In the hands of comedy master Blake Edwards, this turns out to be a convoluted mess. Sympathy is there for Julie, having tried but failed to save both "Star!" and "Darling Lily" where even with good notices, she couldn't escape critically dismissed weak films. This one came and went so quickly, it's not a notorious flop, just another beautifully filmed on exotic locations, rushed out, giving superstars a great vacation in addition to work. Julie seems out of her element here, too ladylike to be taken in by a dashing but dangerous man. Sharif, indeed, is charming and sexy, believable as a Russian, yet it's difficult to trust his motives especially after his character proclaims a loyalty to communism, a contempt for democracy and dismisses anything spiritual.There's so much talk about each form of governmental beliefs that little happens in the way of action and the point of view takes over the narrative. Too many minor characters also adds to the convoluted structure, with soap opera plot elements distracting from the main themes. Good supporting performances by Anthony Zerbe and Sylvia Syms help but a boring two hours with only some action at the end makes this quickly dismissable. The ending drags on to a predictable but ridiculous conclusion.

JasparLamarCrabb There are plenty of twists & turns in this highly cerebral cold war thriller. Russian military official Omar Sharif woos Julie Andrews in hopes of getting her to defect...or so Russia thinks. Director Blake Edwards put together this highly entertaining game of cat-and-mouse and elicits quite a bit of chemistry between Sharif & Andrews. He also had the good sense to populate the supporting cast with a lot of fine (mostly British) character actors. Anthony Quayle is very good as a very unpleasant spy and Dan O'Herlihy is excellent as an embassy official with a lot of secrets. As O'Herlihy's bitchy wife, Sylvia Syms steals each scene she's in. Still the film belongs to Sharif & Andrews and they make their outlandish situation believable. Excellent cinematography (in Barbados, Paris & London) by Freddie Young.

Elegantone1 Omar Sharif is the best part of this movie, he has the most charming and interesting lines, he is great as Fyodor. If you ever get lost during the film, his character will put you at ease. The film reminded me of Rosebud, a film Peter O'Toole did about embassies, spies, and strange liaisons.If you're wondering about the title, the tamarind seed is of importance to the Julie Andrew character when she and Omar are vacationing on the same island. The seed is very rare and it is a symbol of possibilities in my opinion. There's a lot of talk about ideologies, political games, conscience, and which side you're on. It's worth watching this movie to learn some interesting things, most of the intrigue and pleasure comes from Omar's performance.

annie_robb One of my favourite Omar films....(then again, they are all my favourites, I'm very biased)...I wouldn't see the film for years as I couldn't imagine my Omar with Mary Poppins...a friend one day brought around the video and said 'watch it!'...I loved it...their convincing onscreen connection soon made me forget the Mary Poppins/Maria image and although still playing the squeaky clean innocent (as only Julie can), there was a lovely chemistry. I won't go into the plot as it's well described in many of the other reviews. My only criticism is the wardrobe...I know the seventies were bad but that white gown with the heavy necklace was hideous as were the prim and proper crisp polyester clothes they put Andrews in back in London....she's gorgeous and they could have done a lot more with her outfits...they could have lost Omar's peach shirt as well (but then again he tends to make anything look good!)...maybe the seventies were that bad...but I loved them and you should love this film.