DKosty123
Just when I thought I had seen every Newman movie, this one popped up. When I saw Paul Newman and James Mason in the cast, I thought I would be looking at a near classic. Despite the caliber of talent in the cast, they are let down by a lackluster script.The looks and scenery here are good. The biggest problem with this John Huston directed film is choppy sequences. I found several times where the scene changes made little sense and seemed to lose my way in the film. As I was watching the film commercial free, I was surprised how this happened.The spy story is filmed in the UK and Ireland and the scenery is good. Newman is okay and since this is PG an actress turns down his request for "a poke." The film opens with James Mason making a speech in Parliment. Then we go into the cloak and dagger plot.It just never really gets off the ground which is too bad, though I think the problem has to be the script, unless this novel is just bloody dull. That might be why they beat up Newman in one sequence, just to liven up the film a bit.
SnoopyStyle
British agent Joseph Rearden (Paul Newman) meets his superior MacKintosh and Mrs Smith who direct him to steal diamonds from mysterious mail deliveries. He gets arrested after an anonymous tip and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He joins Slade, a KGB mole in British intelligence, in a prison escape. They are drugged and brought to a vast secret organization. Meanwhile, politician Sir George Wheeler (James Mason) rails against the government and MacKintosh informs him of infiltrating the escape organization.The first act is rather stale. John Huston directs the material in a standard manner. The trial is boring. It would have worked much better to start with Newman arriving in prison. His intelligence background should be revealed much later as a shocking twist. The pacing and plotting is rather slow and methodical. It is competently made and it has the great Paul Newman. It's well into the second half when they finally have a car chase. Otherwise, the drama is rather limited.
grandcyn
Good plot.excellent performances by the actors ( except for the female lead. Shot on location in Ireland , England and Malta. The scenery is lovely. The music is perfectly fitting and adds to the enjoyment of the film. It's exciting. It's based on a novel by a writer of whom I've never heard.
Maziun
This movie was a disappointment. Directed by John Huston (The treasure of Sierra Madre") and with Paul Newman (Cool hand Luke") in the main role one could expect a decent movie. Unfortunately , this isn't one of those.The story is mostly predictable and doesn't have many twists or surprises. The action scenes are kinda laughable by today standards. The love story is undeveloped. The movie is short , yet it drags terribly by the first 30 minutes. There isn't really much story here and I was uninterested emotionally in the whole thing. I remember watching it. I remember that I didn't liked it. I don't really remember much more.The car chase scene is quite nice. The acting and dialogues are decent. The movie ends in a unusual way. The ending is slightly surprising , otherwise this is pretty predictable movie. It doesn't change the fact that you could spend your time more wisely. Not every movie from 70's is gold. Not the worst movie I have seen , but a boring and forgettable one . Oh well . I give it 3/10.
AD
