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Cat burglar Henry Clarke and his accomplices Richard and Fe Moreau attempt to steal diamonds from the chateau of millionaire Salinas. However, Henry's partners in crime aren't the most emoti... Read allCat burglar Henry Clarke and his accomplices Richard and Fe Moreau attempt to steal diamonds from the chateau of millionaire Salinas. However, Henry's partners in crime aren't the most emotionally stable people.Cat burglar Henry Clarke and his accomplices Richard and Fe Moreau attempt to steal diamonds from the chateau of millionaire Salinas. However, Henry's partners in crime aren't the most emotionally stable people.
Emilio Rodríguez
- Police Captain
- (as Emilio Rodriguez)
Renata Tarragó
- Solo Guitarist
- (as Renata Tarrago)
Paul Beradi
- Concert Audience
- (uncredited)
George Ghent
- Stresemann
- (uncredited)
Robert Graves
- Extra
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
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Henry Stuart Clarke (Michael Caine) is a cat burglar who has his work down to a fine art. While under cover in a retreat for recovering alcoholics, he is approached by an alluring woman Fé Moreau who has a proposition for him, he's suspicious but agrees to meet her aging husband, Richard,(Eric Portman)himself a professional burglar who is now struggling to pull off the big jobs due to his age. Together they agree to pull off a seemingly impossible heist. Derided on its initial release, Forbes' film is nonetheless an interesting if slow film, especially if you like films of its ilk, its also beautifully filmed and makes wonderful use of the stunning Spanish setting, it also has a memorable score by the great John
After spending most of the sixties specialising in low-keyed black & white slices of life this marked Bryan Forbes' chance to provide a slice of cake. The package of Michael Caine (sans glasses) playing a dashing jewel thief against a backdrop of glamorous Spanish locations with a score by John Barry obviously made it easy to get backing. Just so you get the message it also has a credit sequence complete with a song by Shirley Bassey.
Although the heist itself delivers the goods, the principals spend far too much time languidly talking (and talking) about their emotions. Vladek Sheybal (also a Bond veteran) offers an unsettling cameo as a psychiatrist (who manages to give hitherto unsuspected menace to the single word "ma-ssage"); while in addition to the inevitable Nanette Newman - at one point briefly seen snogging David Buck to Barry's theme from 'Beat Girl' - Giovanni Ralli and Eric Portman (in his last film) are memorably poisonous as Caine's partners in crime.
Although the heist itself delivers the goods, the principals spend far too much time languidly talking (and talking) about their emotions. Vladek Sheybal (also a Bond veteran) offers an unsettling cameo as a psychiatrist (who manages to give hitherto unsuspected menace to the single word "ma-ssage"); while in addition to the inevitable Nanette Newman - at one point briefly seen snogging David Buck to Barry's theme from 'Beat Girl' - Giovanni Ralli and Eric Portman (in his last film) are memorably poisonous as Caine's partners in crime.
Watched this film tonight on the BBC for the first time. What an unusual film! Written and Directed by Bryan Forbes it certainly added some new twists to the usual thriller plotline. Some odd mixing of plotlines, particularly mixing up sexuality with perversion, which maybe didn't come off too well, but with some brilliant music by John Barry and a belting Shirley Bassey opening titles song this does deliver great entertainment with good direction from Bryan Forbes.
After seeing this, I could be persuaded why Caine's is so well known for making dud decisions as to the choice of his films. While comparisons are inevitably made with the earlier and strictly played for laughs Gambit, this is a thief movie with no humour whatsoever and as the film progresses from intrigue to jealousy, and then from drudgery to death.
Overdirected? Most critics say so, but in the main, this was one of the aspects I most liked about the film. An early scene where Caine talks to the a youthful Leonard Rossiter can be noted for the lack of any shot of them both together in conversation. Others however, are sheer melodrama and should never have made it to the final cut.
Interesting for early Caine fans only, as thereafter the attractiveness fades and only the director, Bryan Forbes, nice man as he is, can really be left to carry the can, so to speak. Speeding to a climax which is just plain odd, the film rather leaves too much detail unexplained. While it appears easy to fill in the gaps, not enough time elapses between the final revelations and the dramatic close, to believe that not one of the characters could have really thought sensibly about all of this, and therefore not taken such drastic actions. Bewildering though not without charm.
Overdirected? Most critics say so, but in the main, this was one of the aspects I most liked about the film. An early scene where Caine talks to the a youthful Leonard Rossiter can be noted for the lack of any shot of them both together in conversation. Others however, are sheer melodrama and should never have made it to the final cut.
Interesting for early Caine fans only, as thereafter the attractiveness fades and only the director, Bryan Forbes, nice man as he is, can really be left to carry the can, so to speak. Speeding to a climax which is just plain odd, the film rather leaves too much detail unexplained. While it appears easy to fill in the gaps, not enough time elapses between the final revelations and the dramatic close, to believe that not one of the characters could have really thought sensibly about all of this, and therefore not taken such drastic actions. Bewildering though not without charm.
I first came across this film in Ankara, Turkey in the 1970's and have been looking for it since. It's a "heist" film on the surface, a cat burglar after jewels. But it's far more than this, with troubling, dark sexual overtones. It features the actual "deadfall" against the background of Aranjuez' guitar concerto, and the suspense is terrific, especially the acting, with Caine at his underplaying best, and Eric Portman stealing the show with a subtle, great performance. Why this film is not a cult classic I don't know, unless its dark side is too much for viewers. It's really unforgetable, as proven by its 25 year hold on my imagination.
Did you know
- TriviaThis film was one of a whole series of expensive box-office failures released by Twentieth Century Fox in the late 1960s, eventually leading to a major financial crisis in the company. Some time after its release, Michael Caine told interviewers that he and Bryan Forbes had both agreed to make the film because each of them owed Fox a movie under old agreements. It is highly likely that Forbes was anxious to have a box-office hit following his previous film, "The Whisperers", a very personal low-budget project which had, as he had anticipated, failed to find audiences, but which had also (as he had not anticipated) failed to win laudatory reviews, in the main. The two films Forbes had directed immediately before that - "King Rat" (1965) and "The Wrong Box" (1966) had also been flops, and rather expensive ones. A glossy heist thriller with a popular leading man must have seemed a good way for him to restore his fortunes, but it performed very badly, financially, and was, for the most part, poorly reviewed. After its failure, Forbes made an even more costly movie, "The Madwoman Of Chaillot", which was generally deemed a fiasco, both financially and artistically. Forbes continued to direct intermittently for another twenty years, but his career never recovered.
- GoofsAt 56:13, during the applause at the end of the concert, John Barry accidentally but very visibly steps on the long flowing gown of the featured guitarist lady.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Naked Angels (1969)
- How long is Deadfall?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Runtime
- 2h(120 min)
- Color
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