goods116
This movie is awful. I gave it a 4, could have been a 2 or a 3 as well. The cast and the location offer potential, but the story makes virtually no sense, the script is awful, etc. I tried to follow the story and give it a chance, but there is never any coherence or reason given for why anyone is doing anything. Just avoid this one.
Chase_Witherspoon
Awful, wretched account of spies converging in Jerusalem in order to either aid or obstruct the departure of double-agent Oliver Reed after a contract is put out on him by both CIA and KGB interests. Local former CIA spy turned antiquities dealer (Widmark) is approached by Reed (his former protégé) to assist his exit, but finds himself becoming implicated in a saga in which he wanted no involvement.One could only assume that Reed, Widmark, Wanamaker, Hunnicutt & Sheybul agreed to appear in this movie for the opportunity to visit Israel. Perhaps that's why they titled it "The Sell Out". Hunnicutt looks good in a teasing negligee and Sheybul is suitably sinister (perhaps some residual good-will from his former Bond villain colours his performance - there is a mildly creepy moment where he nibbles on a slice of cucumber while passively threatening Hunnicutt), but everyone and everything else associated with this picture is pure bunkum.Endless double cross, incessant car chases, inane dialogue and woeful attempts at patriotic sympathy are just a few of the fault-lines that permanently fracture this would-be thriller. The film's meandering, incoherent narrative loses its way quickly and never recovers; the climax is an absolute non-event (and so dimly lit as to be virtually invisible), but to be disappointing, there would have needed to have been something better anticipated, and that was never an expectation after enduring the first 85 minutes of this abject failure.
MARIO GAUCI
Typical (and typically complex) Cold War spy saga, not the best in the genre by far – but still counting among its admirers film-geek supremo Quentin Tarantino! The narrative deals with hounded KGB man Oliver Reed who's wanted by one side and deemed expendable by the other; the only one who can help him is Richard Widmark, recently retired from the C.I.A. and currently living with Reed's ex-flame (Gayle Hunnicutt) in Israel! On Reed's trail are Sam Wanamaker of the C.I.A. and Vladek Sheybal of the KGB; an Israeli agent, who's trying to keep the situation under control, is sympathetic to Widmark but ends up paying for the interest with his life. As a film, It's watchable enough but hardly outstanding, despite a plethora of action sequences set to a pounding score and culminating in a desert trek fraught with peril. Even so, the star combo works surprisingly well (watching them dressed up in Jewish garb "praying" beneath the Weeping Wall is an unintentionally comic highlight), the supporting cast all pull their weight (particularly Sheybal's sleek but ruthless hit-man), and the overly-hysterical Hunnicutt is ultimately exposed as a femme fatale.THE SELL OUT is available on a budget DVD containing two other espionage titles (all under the dubious name of "Great Spy Movies"): these are the obscure THE INSIDE MAN (1984) – which, at least, offers some interest due to the presence in the cast of Dennis Hopper and Hardy Kruger – and the distinctly unappetizing HANGMEN (1987) with Sandra Bullock and Jake LaMotta!
hengir
A spy story filmed in Jerusalem with Richard Widmark and Oliver Reed, supported by Sam Wanamaker has all the makings of an interesting movie at least but which this film abjectly fails to realise. There is a sort of a plot but it is hard to follow, based I think on the idea that the CIA and the KGB in cahoots are bumping off their ex-agents so they can't talk about their past. Which just seems silly. Oliver Reed is the next on the list and he calls on retired agent Richard Widmark to help. Both male actors do their best but are defeated by the script. It doesn't help that Oliver Reed is strangely dubbed. Gayle Hunnicut is given a thankless role.The star of the film is the city of Jerusalem itself, being much more interesting than the plot unfolding in it. One kept thinking, get those actors out of the way so I can enjoy the scenery. Peter Collinson was an average director and this is a very average film.
AD
