Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round

For quite some time, this movie has held a place on my list of quintessential 60s guilty pleasure; it's a mini-super-light heist flick variation on some of the same themes in John Boorman's masterpiece, POINT BLANK - with its consistent visual chronicling of a transient American culture made anonymous by its materialistic-quack preoccupations (and thus,easily vulnerable to chameleon criminality). James Coburn, who plays DEAD HEAT'S hero shares some of Lee Marvin's traits in POINT BLANK. Both men move, mysteriously, like the wind, "beat the system," "win out" as anti-heroes but, in the process,they negate themselves out of existence ( they are, literally, "gone with the wind" at their respective pictures' fade-outs). On this last go-round, having just recently watched it again (via TCM), I'm prepared to give it a less qualified, more hearty endorsement. Writer-director, Bernard Girard makes the best case for modern international airports to be THE stage for absurdist comedy of any film I can think of. It begins with a mock-dramatic monologue by Coburn that keys the unique tongue-in-cheek tone of the film brilliantly and is probably the best acting he ever did on film. Stu Philips' catchy theme music maintains the puckish spirit of the piece in a way that few American movie scores of the 60s ( or movie scores of any other period for that matter) have been able to do as successfully or as memorably.

Seeing this heist film made me yearn for the no-nonsense efficiency of Kubrick's classic The Killing (1956). I can't recall any other heist film that generated absolutely no tension or suspense the way this one does. Instead the screenplay is cluttered with parts that fit together about as well as a bombed-out house. Writer Girard treats connecting threads as a needless distraction, which I guess we're supposed to take as the mark of European sophistication, 1960's style. Instead, we're treated to the wolfish Coburn's irresistible way with women, something about a Soviet premier on a visit, nameless guys who sort of appear and reappear leaving few tracks, and something about getting money from a bank after it's closed. The idea is to toss them all into the air and see how they come down.

Now, it might be argued that the movie is not really a heist film at all. That it's really not a genre film despite superficial appearances. Rather, the robbery and its planning are merely events leading up to some kind ironic point in the end about Eli outsmarting himself. Or some such more general point than merely a heist film. Okay. But the same general problem remains—the movie's just too slow and disjointed to hold interest regardless how it's defined.

Despite all, there are several redeeming features. There's ditzy Nina Wayne (Frieda) looking and sounding like her sexy sister Carol doing one of her hilarious bits on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. Then there's the LA airport looking like a giant spider that's decide to squat on the city. And for old movie fans, it's an easy gig for Aldo Ray who gets marquee billing and about three lines of dialog. And finally, there's the neat twist ending—too bad this flash of inspiration is so slow in coming. In my book, it's one of the disappointing crime films of its time.

"Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round" is probably mostly of interest to us nowadays due to Harrison Ford's bit part as a bellhop. Apparently, after the movie bombed, a producer told Ford: "Kid, you ain't got it." Of course, Ford went on to star in the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" trilogies, so he clearly had lots of "it".

Anyway, the movie casts James Coburn as ex-con Eli Kotch, plotting a heist in LAX while the Russian prime minister is visiting. Coburn seems to be mirroring his Derek Flint character, right down to being surrounded by hot babes (specifically Camilla Sparv and Nina Wayne). The good ol' Cold War, when the US and USSR could play all sorts of tricks on each other, and there were plenty of beauties to go around.

Overall, "DHOAMGR" isn't a great movie, but it's worth seeing. You may notice that playing Mrs. Kirby is Rose Marie, better known as Sally on "The Dick Van Dyke Show".

Nina Wayne. Hubba hubba...

This film is all in the how. Dead Heat On A Merry Go Round casts James Coburn as one ruthless and amoral ex-convict who has no plans to go straight by any means. In fact he's got a score lined up on the outside that some like James Westerfield thinks he's absolutely nuts to even try. Coburn's so anxious to get out he successfully uses and seduces his prison psychiatrist Marian McCargo to get an early release.

In earlier times the lead in a film like Dead Heat On A Merry Go Round would have been played by a charming rogue type like Tyrone Power, Robert Montgomery, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., even Errol Flynn whose real life persona as a seducer would have worked in the lead. One of the elements I found interesting was that James Coburn who has played some really deadly killers on the big and small screen only broke hearts in this film. But he's just as deadly with them as with heads.

Coburn's scheme is to rob the bank at Los Angeles International Airport while the Russian premier was arriving for a state visit. I believe the premier would have been Alexei Kosygin at the time of Dead Heat On A Merry Go Round. Of course that's going to bring law enforcement on all levels out in force at the airport. But that's the whole idea, Coburn's going to make all the extra security precautions work for him.

The whole last half of the film is the caper itself and it's one intricately plotted affair. Here's one big hint as far as the film goes. Remember some of James Coburn's early roles. As part of the plan he has to adopt the accent of a foreigner, a nationality he had played successfully on the screen before. He pulls it off beautifully.

I would also note the performance of Carmilla Sparv, the beautiful woman he actually marries and who he uses unwittingly to help case the airport before robbing it and of Robert Webber the very nervous State Department official who is truly relieved that its only a robbery taking place and not some incident involving a visiting head of a foreign government.

If you like intricately plotted caper films you will absolutely adore Dead Heat On A Merry Go Round.

Handsomely-produced, location-rich crime-drama with a light touch concerns a recently-paroled crook who gets right down to business upon his release: using a variety of aliases across the US while masterminding a complicated heist on the bank at Los Angeles International Airport. In the flashy leading role, James Coburn never resorts to mugging or other outrageous tactics; he's dry as a martini, but not above a little wily interplay with the ladies. Director Bernard Girard's own screenplay is complicated enough without the asides to the surveillance team surrounding the visiting Russian Premier, and a romantic subplot involving Camilla Sparv (which ties in to the finale) is as obtuse as the film's unwieldy title. Still--for Coburn buffs especially--there are several strong sequences building up to the tightly wrought finish, and the well-chosen supporting cast is solid. ** from ****