Blindfold

Good fun entertainment by Rock Hudson and Claudia Cardinale. As always Jack Warden does a nice job in a support role. When Hudson is kidnapped he makes note of the things he hears on the way to the kidnappers hideout. He is able to help the police track down the kidnappers following the sounds. To this day this movie stands out in my mind because of them noting the geese sounding like people at a party. Grab some popcorn and enjoy it if you are lucky enough to catch an airing of this on TV.

This is a pleasant mystery thriller with some light comedic moments and as such is typical of a lot of movies made in the same period of the middle to late sixties, most with one word titles such as this one has. Partly inspired by the popularity of the stylish "Charade" of a few years earlier, and more obviously influenced by Hitchcock, this is a mixed group of films with often middle aged or lesser known actors in the lead. This one has a biggie: Rock Hudson. He plays a psychiatrist with the wonderfully slick, Hollywoodish name of Bartholomew Snow, who gets in trouble up to his ears and, more to the point, eyeballs, when one of his patients turns out to be a prominent scientist who's being trailed some rather unsavory characters.

Hudson's ably supported by the luscious Claudia Cardinale, and the two make a very attractive couple. Also good is the late Jack Warden in a key role, and Guy Stockwell as a man who stutters. There's really no need to go much further into the plot except to say if one is in the mood for stylish, anodyne entertainment, this is a good one to catch. It has good credentials, too: directed by Philip Dunne, from a Lucille Fletcher story, photographed by the legendary Joe MacDonald. Though not on the Hitchcock level, the movie exudes class. While I wouldn't call this a brilliant film, it never insult the viewer's intelligence.

Blindfold is a clever and entertaining film with an interesting moral to it about some folk's paranoid obsession with security. As lead Rock Hudson plays a psychiatrist he's in a perfect position to diagnose the problem. Can he find a cure though when security is compromised?

Hudson's practice includes some of New York's society bigwigs and he's quite the lady's man within that set. But one day he gets a call from a general in civilian attire played by Jack Warden who wants him to treat a former patient of his who is now a government scientist and who has had a nervous breakdown. But we can't let the Commies or anyone else know about it.

So Hudson is flown a couple hours to an old mansion where Alejandro Rey is being held and he does his psychiatrist thing and he's blindfolded as well. Two other people are concerned, Claudia Cardinale as Rey's sister who is telling the world about her brother's kidnapping and in point of fact he was. And there's the stuttering Guy Stockwell who convinces Hudson that Warden is a fake.

A great deal of the film is spent with poor Hudson trying to get answers to questions with no one 'authorized' to tell him. So who is real and who is fake, Warden or Stockwell? That you see the film for.

Blindfold is a delightful comedy and suspense film in the Hitchcock tradition. As is the mark of a good film, supporting the charming leads is a flawless cast of memorable performances. Besides those I've already mentioned there is Anne Seymour as Hudson's secretary, Brad Dexter as a thick as a brick NYPD detective, Vito Scotti and Angela Clarke as Cardinale and Rey's parents and a mule named Henry who gives the plot a kick in the right direction.

For fans of Rock Hudson and those who will be after seeing Blindfold.

This thriller/comedy never reaches great heights but is solidly entertaining throughout and that is more of an achievement then one might give it credit for. To be sure, the plot elements and romantic element of two people who can't stand each other for most of the film but eventually fall in love has been done a million times before in various films over the years.

But usually, films containing these elements come across as hackneyed, tiresome and dreary in some shape or form but Blindfold never feels like that and is consistently good fun throughout its journey. Credit for that must go to Hudson and Cardinale who work well as a team and Hudson is especially effective in the film's more comic moments. Jack Warden is reliably effective in his supporting role.

While Blindfold is no classic on any level the solid entertainment it provides is something Hollywood consistently struggles to achieve to this day in films created for that purpose.

If you want to see a really bad example of this genre, see the abysmal pseudo-hip caper comedy A Fine Pair starring Hudson and Cardinale again which is a disaster on all levels.

I saw this movie many years ago and yet I have never forgot it. If it comes out on DVD I will probably buy it since Rock Hudson, Claudia Cardinale, and Jack Warden did good characterizations. The sets and music add to the suspense. The movie moves along and has some interesting moments like when Rock Hudson tries to relocate the place he was taken blindfolded. Interesting how geese and people laughing sound similar. This one is rarely on TV so rent it if you can or buy it.