Cordes et discordes

Michael Caine is always worth watching, and Sally Field is at her most attractive here, but this romantic comedy is just very mild and weightless (and I mean it in a negative way). It's occasionally enjoyable, though.

I love this movie, it's very funny and uplifting. Play it if you are in a mood you want to escape. Indeed there are some belly laughs (on my part) Both Michael and Sally do a great job, and Steve Gutenberg is hilarious as a selfish whiny guy. He snaps his fingers when he is on the phone, he wants a pen, he wants a piece of paper. In the shower, he wants to know where his towel is... Michael is a successful writer taken to the cleaners in Court by 2 ex wives, and he is really looking for a girl to love him for himself, and not know about his writing fame and fortune. 2 elevators are open for him to use, one with a stunning blonde inside, the other with an evil guy and his snarling and vicious looking dog. He ignores the blonde and steps inside joining the man with the snarling dog I really should give it a 10...Highly recommended

Surrender (1987) isn't much mentioned or remembered nowadays. That being said, anyone who has seen it will probably never forget the scene where Sally Field and Michael Caine are tied-up together, naked.

• I have to breathe.

• That's not what you breathe thru.

The roped-together scene has, HAS, to be inspired, or nicked, from Woody Allen's Broadway Danny Rose (1984), although for my money Surrender's version is funnier, especially when Caine's character, who has already been fleeced by two grasping ex-wives in divorce settlements, tries desperately to persuade the robbers not to pair him with a woman. He knows he only has to get a whiff of perfume or a soft-eyed glance and he's toast, once again. This movie was only a year after Caine had triumphed at the Oscars, winning Best Supporting Actor for his role in Woody's unbeatable comedy, Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). Obviously Surrender isn't in the same class as Hannah, but it is the kind of movie you can stick on as comfort viewing.

Sally Field, the American equivalent of Felicity Kendal, is pretty and pretty adorable in the role of an artist who can't tell a lie without her fluttering eyelashes telling on her. Caine's novelist thinks he's at last found someone who isn't into him for his money and fame, but is he right, and what about her assets?

So wanna know why this movie has aged like wine? Well, I'll tell ya. Because we've all turned to vinegar. Surrender would have been dismissed as lightweight tosh back in the 1980s, one of those movies Caine did for the cash, no other motive. Thing is, lightweight tosh of the likeable, entertaining, genuinely FUN kind, is hard to come by in the po-faced 21st century, and thus Surrender is more appreciable now for being just that, light, frothy, fun, and with familiar, charismatic stars in it. And it's so sweet, so romantic, especially when a nervous Caine comes to Field's house without an invitation, persuades her to have dinner with him, and then comes back several hours too soon, because he just can't wait to start getting to know her. Today he'd be accused of inappropriate stalking, and Field would be all over TikTok venting about her ick.

So here it is, a romantic comedy about love and other banana skins. A good time movie. Wanna have a good time?

I really enjoyed this romantic comedy. I found it funny and kept my interest throughout. Sterling performances by Sally Field and Michael Caine. Some of the supporting cast also turned in good performances. Well worth catching on video or cable.

Michael Caine stars in Surrender as a successful novelist with bad luck with women. He's been divorced and taken to the cleaners too many times, and he vows he'll never get involved again. Obviously, he does, but why does he weaken if he's so adamant? Because he's literally held at gunpoint and tied to a naked woman. The film has a bit of a bizarre sense of humor, but once you get on its wavelength, it's very funny. Obviously, that situation would never happen. But it would take something so absurd to get Michael to forget his self-imposed female ban.

Sally Field (the naked lady) has her own absurd background: she always picks the wrong guys, and her current boyfriend, Steve Guttenberg, has been kidnapped in South America. She works at a "mass landscape painting factory", which is actually really interesting. But, keep in mind, it's a bit wacky. Sally vacillates between being strong and being a total pushover, but you've got to just roll with her. Overall, it's a cute movie; and every once in a while, something will make you laugh so hard, you'll need to press pause and clutch your belly.

I'll leave you with this: Michael believes he's found "The One" - again. He balks against making Sally sign a prenuptial agreement, but his lawyer and friend Peter Boyle insists. Michael maintains they're unromantic. "So are rubbers, but they work," Peter fires back. Crude? Don't watch this movie. Hilarious? Buy a copy.