• It’s a political thriller but coming out in 75’, the same year as Three Days of the Condor, is a reminder that this is not in the class of that great film
  • In many ways it’s an update of Stanley Kramer’s 1958 the defiant ones. That film also started Poitier and had Tony Curtis and was about the tension between a white racist prisoner and a black man. Caine takes over the Tony Curtis role but the film here is lighter and more about the thriller than the political in the “political thriller” subgenre. The posters at the time I guess even showcased, wrongly, that the two actors/characters were handcuffed to each other which is the premise and signature of the 1958 film
  • Close to a road trip or buddy comedy- we have opposites here who are on the run from the law
  • Caine is good- very cocky- it’s more playful than the defiant ones
  • Somewhat about Apartheid it was serious enough not to be shot in South Africa—it had to be shot in Kenya instead
  • The supporting cast is solid- Rutger Hauer in his first English language film and Saeed Jaffrey is solid like he always is. It’s Nicol Williamson though who is the standout. He’s horrifying—like an older Charles Dance— this was a hot period for Williamson who was in this, then two archiveble films in 1976 (robin and marian and the seven per cent solution) and excellent in all three
  • Director Ralph Nelson (lilies of the field, requiem for a heavyweight, duel at diablo) is no great artist or auteur but this is a smart film
  • There are flaws. There’s a really awkward cutaway to the first scene with Hauer… There are 4 people talking in one scene and then they go “you should talk to your husband (hauer)”—then they show her talking to her husband and then in the very next scene we are back to the 4 people talking. There’s no transition. It takes you out of the film
  • Poitier is very good- the south African accent is very good
  • There are chases on foot, in a plane, and in a car
  • Great ending (picture on poster) with men holding down helicopter and then Williamson getting taken out by Cain
  • Recommend but closer to the fringe of “worth a look” then a top 10 of 1975 or anything like that in the top 15-20