samuelbrya
I have described the opening scene of TEOTG to dozens of people over the years, and it always provokes a terrific reaction.A consummate cat & mouse story of two strong wills, a tooth-achingly gorgeous woman, and a dead body. Shaw is in his usual brilliant form. Ritt's performance is extraordinary. Voight is believable and compelling. Bisset is spectacular to watch. Sutherland must have had fun playing the corpse. Directed by Maximilian Schell, and originally titled Der Richter und sein Henker and released in W Germany in 1978 (?), TEOTG became (and remains) my definitive detective mystery.Be sure you get the full-length version in the language that you want. You won't regret renting or buying this classic film.
moonspinner55
Maximilian Schell directed, co-produced, and co-adapted this screenplay, based on Friedrich Dürrenmatt's book "The Judge and His Hangman", about a cunning murderer who began his crimes in 1940s Istanbul with the thrill-killing of his friend's girl; thirty years later in Switzerland, the friend is now a Commissioner who links his former acquaintance to the murder of a patrolman. Jon Voight plays an investigator who has an affair with the lover of the deceased, not knowing she's also involved with the criminal suspect. Martin Ritt and Robert Shaw are the adversaries, and both are exceptional, with Shaw (in a bald cap) glimmering with decadent evil. However, Voight (his accent on and off) and Jacqueline Bisset fail to come up with anything interesting, and neither is photographed well (both look white and pasty). The film's monotonous rhythm is helped occasionally by the punchy editing, but Schell seems to lose his grip on the narrative after the intriguing opening sequences. Some of the director's small, throwaway moments are best, but his grand gestures do not work at all. *1/2 from ****
gridoon
A very obscure thriller - both in the sense that it's very hard to find (I actually saw what seemed to be the imported British version, under the title "Deception"; the print was in terrible condition), and also in the sense that it has a very murky structure and characters with motivations that are pretty hard to understand, unless perhaps you've read the book. Some good twists and interesting performances (especially by Robert Shaw as the politically powerful villain)....but hold off watching it until you come across a decent print. (**1/2)
Tails-5
Two bullets. Twoooo bullets. Interesting? Two bullets. That just about describes the wonderful dialogue in the movie. This movie has something in common with "The Sicilian Clan" in the sense that both try to be tense thrillers, but inadvertently end up being awkward comedies. The movie's potential was severely hampered by Martin Ritt, who possesses the worst table manners in the world. He never hesitates to show the world what his food looks like after it's chewed up. Other than that, all the clumsy direction never fails to pull a chuckle or two out of you when it tries to be intelligent (e.g. when the car comes crashing off the highway. It twirls over in slow motion, then lands on the cab and makes a hilarious, synthetic crash sound.) All in all, for me the movie ranks lower than "The Sicilian Clan".
AD
