A man who completes compiling a dossier on a mysterious billionaire begins to get the feeling that he is becoming the victim of a conspiracy.A man who completes compiling a dossier on a mysterious billionaire begins to get the feeling that he is becoming the victim of a conspiracy.A man who completes compiling a dossier on a mysterious billionaire begins to get the feeling that he is becoming the victim of a conspiracy.
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I remember seeing this film as a 12-year-old and being blown away by it. I probably haven't seen it for 20 - 25 years, but I can still recall much of it and would love to see it again. I'm a bit hesitant to call it a "forgotten masterpiece", but it sure was a good piece of entertainment, with shades of James Bond and 1984. See it if you can!
This movies was so very cool, wry, challenging, ahead of it's time. Young man gets into a escalating war of nerves/ competition with the haughty, ubber mench father of his summer girlfriend, Things get very out of hand. It's a shame this is not out on a loaded DVD; maybe with Robert Wagner's star glistening on high someone will pop it out. Hope so- it's BRILLIANT. I would cast Tobey MaGuire and Dennis Farina in the remake. Chris Browne
Robert Wagner is very good portraying directionless young American, living abroad and working as a bartender, who chances to run into Jill St. John, a former girlfriend from college. She invites him to vacation with her family in Monte Carlo, which begins a series of oneupmanship games with Jill's father, a fanatic for competitive sports. Once Wagner realizes the wealthy titan is only vulnerable against one other person, he turns amateur sleuth in the hopes of exposing his host and his weakness. TV-made film with an apparently large budget, imaginative visual tricks and gorgeous locations. Though quite necessarily told in flashback, it is too bad the script and story are so ritzy that they occasionally confound the viewer, with a nervous breakdown/brainwashing midsection which seems an abstraction. Still good, however, and Wagner is more animated than usual (he often looks wounded or confused, which suits his handsome stoicism). Jill St. John is once again a curvy, haughty dish (in a variety of wacky sunglasses) and Peter Lawford is amazingly controlled and enigmatic as Wagner's adversary.
What a shame that "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" is not available on video. As other's have mentioned, in the "good old days" our local UHF-TV outlets would play it a few times a year. Now one is a home shopping outlet and the other a UA affiliate that rarely plays movies.
This is one of those "B" movies with Austin Powers and Derek Flint appeal. It was made when I was only 14 years old and it was very cool (or "tough" as we would say) to see Jill St.John lounging on the deck of a yatch and Robert Wagner save himself by being able to hold his breath longer than anyone else.
Well, maybe when all of media is databased, digitized and archived, some company will let me download a copy for $10.
This is one of those "B" movies with Austin Powers and Derek Flint appeal. It was made when I was only 14 years old and it was very cool (or "tough" as we would say) to see Jill St.John lounging on the deck of a yatch and Robert Wagner save himself by being able to hold his breath longer than anyone else.
Well, maybe when all of media is databased, digitized and archived, some company will let me download a copy for $10.
I can see that I am not alone in thinking that this was a superior story, handled very well (except for the very last shot!). The same spooked atmosphere of THE PRISONER pervades; I recommend FRAGMENT OF FEAR for the same what-is-reality take. Anyway, just wonderful. That scene on the yacht! Film noir lives!!
Did you know
- TriviaRobert Wagner (Jack Washington) later married Jill St. John (Nikki Pine) 26 May 1990.
- GoofsThe script writers don't seem to have done their homework. Jack tells NikKi that they seem to be traveling north along the coast of Crete in the Aegean, and that if they want to go to Istanbul, they need to "turn north". Crete is in the Mediterranean not in the Aegean, and if they're heading north along the coast of Crete they're already heading straight for Istanbul.
- Quotes
Jack Washington: [repeated to self] ... the only thing I was ever better at than anyone else, was holding my breath!
- ConnectionsFeatured in Death Carries a Cane (1973)
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- Der geheimnisvolle Dritte
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- Runtime
- 1h 40m(100 min)
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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