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Released
2001 · FILM

The Tailor of Panama

A disgraced MI6 operative sent to Panama must coax a charismatic, criminal‑past tailor into spying on the nation’s president, racing against hidden conspiracies that could reshape control of the Canal.

“In a place this treacherous, what a good spy needs is a spy of his own.”

Directed by
John Boorman
Written by
John Boorman, John Le Carre
Runtime
109 min
DramaThriller

Synopsis

A British spy is exiled to Panama after engaging in an affair with an ambassador's mistress. Upon arrival, he befriends a local tailor with a criminal history and ties to Panama's leading political and criminal figures. The tailor's wife works for the Panamanian president and is burdened with significant debt. The spy's objective is to uncover the president's plans regarding the Canal.

Credits

Actors
Editor
Production Designer
Director of Photography
Writers
Director

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

Principal cast & crew: 18

These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Edited by Ron DavisShot by Philippe RousselotScored by Shaun DaveyDesigned by Derek Wallace

Box Office

2001 · Box office

⚖️ Fell short of break-even — grossed 1.3× its budget

Why 2.5×?

Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).

Worldwide gross

$28.0M

Budget$21.0M
Worldwide gross$28.0M
break-even (2.5×)

US & Canada: $13.7M — 49% of worldwide · International: $14.3M (51%)

Opening weekend: $1.8M — 13% of its US run. It had legs — it kept earning long after opening weekend.

Opening week (7-day): $2.4M — 17% of its US & Canada run.

Peak 199 theaters

Also known as

  • Der Schneider von Panamade
  • El sastre de Panamáes
  • Le Tailleur de Panamafr
  • Il sarto di Panamait

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