Tony Earnshaw: Spy thriller on a secret mission to show there’s a demand for quality film

Why? Well, simply this: the world has gone mad for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. And I’m glad.

But what irks me is why and how we appear to have reached this point. There are scores of intelligent writers out there who deliver complex, cerebral books. Occasionally a non-member of the Philistine Society manages to sneak past the guards and cuts a deal to make an intelligent rendering of said writer’s intelligent book.

It’s intelligent product for intelligent folk. And, seemingly not a lot of people know this but, bizarrely, there are a lot of us about. So witnessing the arrival of a movie like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is like crawling on hands and knees to an oasis to be greeted by a Jeeves-like waiter with silver tray, Perrier water and ice cubes. It’s a life-saver.

Movies like Tinker Tailor... are life-savers, too. In this era of the lowest common denominator, one has to be grateful for the solitary grain of wheat among the chaff. It’s a rare commodity these days.

When did our cinema schedules become so infested with remakes, sequels and comic book adaptations? Can we genuinely blame it on the Jaws/Star Wars effect, now almost 40 years old? Are Spielberg and Lucas really to blame for the dumbing-down of the movies?

I’m presently reading Peter Biskind’s unflattering biography of Warren Beatty. A supreme narcissist and control freak, Beatty nonetheless fought for his artistic vision when making movies. He wanted it right. Many people worked with him once and said “Never again” because of his nit-picking ways. But he got things done. And he did it well.

I can’t count myself a fan of Warren Beatty but clearly he knew what he wanted to achieve. It seems that that kind of filmmaker is very much a rarity these days – certainly in Hollywood but also in the UK.

If it’s so hard to make quality entertainment but so easy to make forgettable trash, who’s really to blame? The answer is that we are. You and me. Our friends, relatives, neighbours. The guy at the car wash. The lady with the little dog.

It’s like watching TV and something awful comes on. Pick up the remote and switch it off. When it comes to movies, don’t blithely amble down to your local multiplex, pay an exorbitant ticket price and watch some tat. Be picky. Choose the good stuff. Check it out first.

Even the cast of Tinker Tailor... couldn’t believe their luck. It’s an A-grade film. They help make it so. It’s a collective of excellence bouncing off one another. It’s intelligent. Thought-provoking. Just like films used to be.

Seen an advertisement for a piece of fluff that you know is going to suck your brain dry of conscious thought? Then pass it by. Ignore it. You know you’ll respect yourself in the morning...