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Sunday, September 3, 2023

MAN IN THE MIDDLE / THE WINSTON AFFAIR (1964)

Right before slam dunking his first James Bond assignment (GOLDFINGER/’64), director Guy Hamilton made this fairly standard, but good, WWII courtroom drama.  Based on a Howard Fast novel (hence its Stateside alternate title), it holds up better than many more famous WWII Court Martial pics.  Opening with a literal bang, American officer Keenan Wynn shoots his British equivalent Lieut. at their Indian base camp.  With the war effort building toward a close, and international armies converging in immense staging areas, the top brass in the area want to see a quick & tidy death sentence to keep peace between Allied powers.  Enter Robert Mitchum, recovering war hero/wounded Lt. Col./occasional Army lawyer; just the man to run a lost-cause honest defense, per superior officer Barry Sullivan.  If only Mitchum didn’t take his position quite so honestly.  Helped by a pair of brash Army legal eagles out of Manhattan; a pretty nurse with inside info whom Mitchum quickly falls for (France Nuyen); and reluctant Army shrink Sam Wanamaker, the case may well save a life, but slow up the war effort.  From Mitchum on down, everyone’s tip-top here, with the real locations adding verisimilitude under Wilkie Cooper’s lensing.  Just bear in mind this is Howard Fast territory, so hard decisions made a little too easy/a little too clear cut: Wynn racist, pathological, paranoid; Trevor Howard’s surprise witness published, university-tenured, world-renowned psychiatrist familiar with the case.  But well handled and (keeping CAPE FEAR/’62 in mind*) it's fun to watch Mitchum take on the Gregory Peck role for a change.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK:  *The original CAPE FEAR/’62  -  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2008/05/cape-fear-1962.html)

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