''The Bourne Identity'' is a 1988 American mystery

action thriller The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

adaptation of Robert Ludlum's 1980 novel '' The Bourne Identity''. The adaptation was written by Carol Sobieski, directed by Roger Young for Warner Bros. Television with Richard Chamberlain in the title role, along with Jaclyn Smith. It follows the storyline of the original novel, with a run-time of 185 minutes; with commercials added, the running time was extended to four hours, and was first shown on ABC in two 120 minute installments over two nights, making its first run count as a miniseries rather than a TV movie. As such, it was nominated in the Outstanding Miniseries category at the 40th Primetime Emmy Awards. The book was adapted again in 2002 by Doug Liman starring

Matt Damon Matthew Paige Damon ( ; born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. He was ranked among ''Forbes'' most bankable stars in 2007, and in 2010 was one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. He has received va ...

as Jason Bourne, launching the ''Bourne'' series of theatrical films, with considerable deviations from the original Cold War novel. It was followed later by a new series of ''Bourne'' bestsellers written by Eric Lustbader with the permission of the Ludlum estate.

Plot

A man is shot twice on the deck of a ship, during a heavy storm at night. The injured man plunges into the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

, eventually washing ashore in a fishing village off the coast of

Southern France Southern France, also known as the south of France or colloquially in French as , is a geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', Atlas e ...

. Two fishermen take him to the local doctor, a retired surgeon, who nurses him back to health. He then discovers he has exceptional skills—fluency in multiple languages, combat prowess, and an ability to adapt to dangerous situations—but has no memory of his past and suffers from

amnesia Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or brain diseases,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be temporarily caused by t ...

after surviving a gunshot wound to the head. He’s a ghost in the machine, haunted by fragmented memories and nightmares, pursued by assassins. A trail of clues, including a surgically implanted microfilm revealing a Swiss bank account number, leads him to

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

. There, he discovers he has 15 million dollars and retrieves a large sum of money, multiple passports, and a name: Jason Bourne from a safety deposit box. However, he soon realizes this might not be his true identity. Bourne teams up with Marie St. Jacques, a Canadian government economist he initially takes hostage but who becomes his ally and lover after he saves her life. Together, they evade a shadowy network of killers and uncover hints of Bourne's past tied to a mysterious company called Treadstone 71. As Bourne pieces together his history, he learns he may have been a United States government operative trained to eliminate a man known only as Carlos, a notorious international terrorist.

Cast

* Richard Chamberlain as Jason Bourne * Jaclyn Smith as Marie St. Jacques * Anthony Quayle as Gen. François Villiers * Donald Moffat as David Abbott * Shane Rimmer as Alexander Conklin * Yorgo Voyagis as Carlos * Denholm Elliott as Dr. Geoffrey Washburn * Peter Vaughan as Fritz Koenig * Michael Habeck as The Fat Man * Wolf Kahler as Gold Glasses * Philip Madoc as D'Armacourt * Bill Wallis as Chernak * John Carlin as Stossel * James Laurenson as Gillette * Michael Mellinger as Bertinelli

Differences from the book

The film exhibits some differences from the novel by Ludlum. The undercover identity of Jason Bourne is simplified to "Bourne" pursuing Carlos rather than using the code name "Cain". Alexander Conklin is killed by one of his own people when attempting to confront Bourne; in the novel he survives and appears in subsequent novels. In the book's ending,

Carlos the Jackal Ilich Ramírez Sánchez (; born 12 October 1949), also known as Carlos the Jackal () or simply Carlos, is a Venezuelan convict who conducted a series of assassinations and terrorist bombings from 1973 to 1985. A committed Marxist–Leninist, ...

escapes in the confusion, whereas in the film he is killed in the climactic battle with Bourne.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bourne Identity, The 1988 films 1988 television films 1980s mystery films 1980s spy films 1980s action thriller films American action thriller films American mystery thriller films American political thriller films American action television films American crime television films Films about amnesia Films based on American novels Films based on mystery novels Films based on works by Robert Ludlum Films directed by Roger Young Films scored by Laurence Rosenthal Films shot in Switzerland 1980s French-language films 1980s German-language films Spy television films American thriller television films Cultural depictions of Carlos the Jackal Films shot in France Films shot in Zurich Jason Bourne 1980s English-language films 1980s American films Films with screenplays by Carol Sobieski English-language action thriller films English-language mystery films Bourne (film series)

Plot

Cast

Differences from the book

References

Further reading

External links