I saw this film on its UK cinema release and couldn't believe just how stupendously bad it was. I'm not saying its the worst film i've ever seen but i can't believe it was ever given a theatrical release.
Chris Rea gives it his best but he's a pop star, not an actor and it shows. Somehow Michael Winner squanders an otherwise very good cast (Oliver Reed, Ben Kingsley, John Cleese, Felicity Kendall, etc etc etc)in what could have been a half decent film if the script had been better. It doesn't help that the directing is dreadfully clumsy at times and the film obviously had a very tight budget. There are continuity errors galore, and an appalling scene where a major character is shot but the sound has obviously been dubbed on as there is no muzzle flash, no smoke and no 'kick' from the obviously empty prop gun (maybe the budget wouldn't run to a blank firing pistol!).
To Winner's credit, he's tried to do a sort of 1990's Ealing comedy type film but he's made a dreadful hash of it. He's managed to persuade a top draw cast of famous and talented actors (look how many MBE's, OBE's, Knights and Dames are in the cast list) but has failed to give them a finished film that justifies the talent on show. At the time of writing, this was the last film that Winner directed (and that was 7 years ago!). If this does turn out to be Winner's swansong then it would be a sad footnote to what was once a promising career.
Overall this film wastes the opportunity it was presented with but it might have some curiosity value for people who thought 'Bullseye' was Winner's worst film.
Chris Rea gives it his best but he's a pop star, not an actor and it shows. Somehow Michael Winner squanders an otherwise very good cast (Oliver Reed, Ben Kingsley, John Cleese, Felicity Kendall, etc etc etc)in what could have been a half decent film if the script had been better. It doesn't help that the directing is dreadfully clumsy at times and the film obviously had a very tight budget. There are continuity errors galore, and an appalling scene where a major character is shot but the sound has obviously been dubbed on as there is no muzzle flash, no smoke and no 'kick' from the obviously empty prop gun (maybe the budget wouldn't run to a blank firing pistol!).
To Winner's credit, he's tried to do a sort of 1990's Ealing comedy type film but he's made a dreadful hash of it. He's managed to persuade a top draw cast of famous and talented actors (look how many MBE's, OBE's, Knights and Dames are in the cast list) but has failed to give them a finished film that justifies the talent on show. At the time of writing, this was the last film that Winner directed (and that was 7 years ago!). If this does turn out to be Winner's swansong then it would be a sad footnote to what was once a promising career.
Overall this film wastes the opportunity it was presented with but it might have some curiosity value for people who thought 'Bullseye' was Winner's worst film.