THE AMATEUR (1981)

Just opened, an action-oriented remake (not seen here) with Rami Malek in a new adaptation of this Robert Littell novel.  The same ‘70s paranoid political thriller used here with another fragile looking shorty, John Savage (both stars 5'7"), playing the cipher code-breaker turned unlikely avenger after his intended is murdered by a gang of political terrorists.  The gimmick?  He starts his amateur international hunt with CIA blessings, unaware they’re only humoring him to keep things under control.  But when he starts showing natural abilities at the job, and besting pros in the field, he’s quickly labeled a nuisance, and eventually an adversary they have to take down.  Trouble is, he keeps beating them at their game.  Add on confused Ruskie agents in Czechoslovakia (as it was then known) with their own agenda, and of course the terrorists he’s stalking, and Savage is putting everyone in grave danger, including Marthe Keller, the CIA contact who thinks she’s still under orders to help him.  Sounds passable if not probable, but script & technical execution as shabby as any Golan/Globus production made at the time for quick pre-sell in the international market.*  Lucky for journeyman director Charles Jarrott, Christopher Plummer shows up about halfway in as a university professor of literature whose real job is Russian KGB head in Czechoslovakia.  He starts his own cat-and-mouse game with Savage and things come to life.  Plummer single-handedly lifting the film toward something near its potential.  The big set piece, a bombing of an indoor pool, is cleverly done (and apparently an even bigger deal in the remake), but there’s more fun spotting weird production choices, like a near quote of the theme from Henry Mancini’s PETER GUNN at a church rendevous.  Or in trying to figure out why Marthe Keller was a certain commercial kiss of death for so many films at the time.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID:  *But it ain’t the notorious Golan/Globus boys this time.  Instead, Garth H. Drabinsky, a Canadian producer more active in live theater before he got caught with his hand in the till and went to jail.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY/LINK:  *Jarrott, a decent enough megger (his rep peaking on two Tudor pics: ANNE OF A THOUSAND DAYS/’69; MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS/’71), but infamous for all-time terrible films like THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT/’77; THE LAST FLIGHT OF NOAH’S ARK/’80; CONDORMAN/’81; and most of all the disastrous 1973 musical remake of LOST HORIZON.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/search?q=jarrott