Considered square & old-fashioned even when it came out, director John Sturges harkens back to his own GREAT ESCAPE/’63 in this final film, with solid, slightly stiff, one-step-at-a-time craftsmanship now a major part of its appeal. A late entry in the WWII ‘impossible mission’ sweepstakes, from an empty Jack Higgins’ bestseller, adapted by Tom Mankiewicz (Joseph’s son, the one hack in the family writing dynasty), the preposterous concept (kidnap Winton Churchill for Der Fuhrer) boosted by having the tale told from the German side. More German than Nazi, as mission leader Michael Caine receives a whitewash of an intro with a noble (if doomed) attempt at helping a Jewish prisoner escape from a ‘death train.’ Loaded with names (Anthony Quayle, Donald Pleasence, Jean Marsh, Jenny Agutter, an impressively young Treat Williams, an impressively tubby Larry Hagman) with no one phoning it in; while Caine’s co-stars Robert Duvall puts on a light German accent as a more traditional Nazi officer* and Donald Sutherland plays with a whiskey-soaked Irish brogue in hopes of covering up his character’s political expedience. A big handsome production, back-loaded with action/suspense to keep you watching, but ultimately the writing (story and dialogue) holds this one to second-tier status.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID/LINK: *It was Duvall’s year for trying on European accents, German here, British for SEVEN-PER-CENT SOLUTION. Did he ever try again? And note that someone in the film mentions that Caine, though German, speaks with a perfect English accent. Michael Caine? This Cockney never sounds quite so phony as when he tries speaking like a toff. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-seven-per-cent-solution-1976.html
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: Perhaps the squarest of them all, GUNS OF NAVARONE/’61, built like a brick shithouse by director J. Lee Thompson, and making uncanny good use of an unbeatable top-tier cast. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-guns-of-navarone-1961.html
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