Unfortunately this is a very middling heist film which tries to be stylish and fails under its excruciating plot. There’s an intriguing plot setup at the core of it but it never seems to conclude this setup and instead pads itself out with nonsense for 2 hours. There’s a 20 minute heist sequence in the middle of the film which was easily the high point here feeling actually quite stylish with the mix of the sequence with a musical performance. It’s good fun and there’s some genuine suspense but that’s all the good you’re gonna get with this one. The characters are exceedingly dull too and the plot twists are laughable in how predictable they are but at least Caine is cool as usual. It’s just pretensious stylish crap unfortunately and it’s directed by Bryan Forbes who was easily one of the weak British directors of the 60 and 70s
Friend Cate is right. Folks may be a little too harsh about Deadfall. Bryan Forbes may be a tad too ambitious in trying to marry a heist film to a look at European ennui in the tradition of Last Year at Marienbad and L’Avventura with a dash of La Dolce Vita. This aspect of the film is illustrated when a deeply tanned, heavily made-up woman puts out her ciggie in a full glass of red wine.“What’s the good of happiness if you can’t buy money with it?”The film is worth seeing for the brilliant, mostly dialogue-free, central heist sequence with Henry Clark (Michael Caine) painstakingly scaling the wall of a Spanish villa. Forbes cuts back and forth between Caine’s strenuous efforts, fellow thief Moreau (Eric Portman) nervously watching him, and a concert attended by the owners of the villa and the jewels therein. The concert consists of a performance of John Barry’s “Romance for Guitar and Orchestra” with Renata Tarrago on solo guitar and Barry his own self as the conductor. Even more than with Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann in The Man Who Knew Too Much, Forbesie gives our Johnny plenty of closeups. The rest of the film’s score is also notable as perhaps the most melancholy of Barry’s very impressive oeuvre. When Henry and Moreau run into a spot of bother during the robbery, Henry comes up with a drastic solution that nevertheless works. It may be drastic, but it seems quite logical. I wonder if other jewel thieves followed Henry’s example.“Happiness isn’t everything. You must have love as well.”The film’s detractors may be correct about the last portion of Deadfall as Forbes builds slowly to a shocking revelation about the relationship between Moreau and his much younger wife, Fe (Giovanna Ralli). It is not always easy to tell exactly what is going on, but it’s obvious that $500,000 in jewels (which we never see) doesn’t necessarily bring happiness. Nevertheless, Portman, in his final film, is impressively world-weary as a man overburdened by secrets, and Caine, in keeping with the film’s themes, gives perhaps his most inexpressive, continental performance. I can imagine Alain Delon or Jean-Louis Trintignant in the same role. When Caine hit it big, many observers felt he was unconventionally handsome. He never looked more suave than he does here thanks to Forbesie. In a small role as a bit of crumpet, Nanette Newman (Mrs. Forbes) also has never looked so good.Random thoughts:Caine’s character drives both a red 1962 Renault Floride S Cabriolet and a beautiful gray 1966 Jaguar E-Type. Caine revealed in interviews for Hurry Sundown the previous year that he couldn’t drive at this time.Giovanna Ralli, who turned 87 in January, made her first film in 1942, and her most recent came out this year. That’s quite impressive. She had a brief English-language period in the late 60s: What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? with James Coburn, The Caper of the Golden Bulls with Stephen Boyd, Deadfall, and Cannon for Cordoba with George Peppard. Deadfall is easily the best of these.I watched Deadfall as Angustia Mortal on a lovely Spanish-language Blu-ray. The menu allows a choice of languages and subtitles. Watched on Blu-ray. First seen in theater in Butler, PA.Favorite Films of 1968
very dry, occasionally pretty bleak British heist movie, with Michael Caine seducing a homosexual ex-Nazi's lesbian wife while the three of them team up to rob a rich man's mansion. unfortunately those tangled sexual orientations are mostly unexplored, treated as hallmarks of perversity, secrets best left hidden like the jewels in the safe they're trying to steal. but there's a dynamite centerpiece sequence during a classical recital (the conductor is played by John Barry, who also composed the music), nearly 15 wordless minutes.
