The Black Windmill

Like a forerunner of Taken crossed with a '60s espionage movie (Harry Palmer with a dash of Bond), The Black Windmill stars Michael Caine as Major John Tarrant, an MI6 agent whose son is kidnapped and held for ransom. When his superiors refuse to part with the asking price - half a million in uncut diamonds - Tarrant goes rogue, stealing the stones to make the payoff.

Even though the plot for this thriller isn't quite water-tight, the assured direction from Don Siegel (Dirty Harry) and strong performances from a great cast (which includes Donald Pleasence, John Vernon, Clive Revill and Joss Ackland) ensure that the film is an entertaining ride, with some well staged action sequences and plenty of intrigue.

Fans of star Caine will not be disappointed - he puts in a fine performance as the calm, collected spy pushed to take matters into his own hands - whilst Vernon makes for a suitably cruel foe. Both actors meet for a mid-movie engagement in which Tarrant test-runs a very Bond-esque briefcase armed with a rocket, and again for a satisfying shootout in the titular structure.

While not a 'classic' like Dirty Harry, largely thanks to the awkward questions that arise from the twisty plot and uneven pacing, there is still plenty to enjoy here for fans of the genre.

6.5/10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

Don Siegel acknowledges one big mistake in his autobiography: due to a writers strike he ended up rewriting the script while he was also preparing the shoot as a Producer-Director. He should never have rushed to make this movie under such conditions. Then he puts the blame on Universal who, in the beginning, suggested he managed all three jobs, then, decided to release it as The Black Windmill, a title which bears no relevance with what the movie is about.

Sure, the storyline is far from flowing and it's a pity since there are so many fine performances in it. Donald Pleasance, John Vernon, Delphine Seyrig, Catherine Schell to name a few. Roy Budd's score is wonderfully in line with the atmosphere too. With all these, Don Siegel should really have been able to blame himself for his trademark flaw: used to shoot low budgets with lots of energy he forces a minimalistic loner hero inside the story. In his previous movie, Charley Varrick, it worked much better since the plot was more simple (aftermath of a bank robbery) with only a couple of important characters. Charley Varrick already lacked character development, but with Michael Caine, a counter-espionage civil-servant stuck between his bosses, his wife and the villains, it really bogs down the whole narrative.

It's a real pity so many things just don't add up to a tense situation. There is nice interaction in some scenes involving female characters, but basically the plot is not streamlined. One final word, Don Siegel style: the ending, as in Charley Varrick, is quite unsatisfactory. Not that it should be changed to some other outcome, but all good directors know how to close an action movie shortly after the ending climax. I don't know why Don Siegel would add some "post-coïtum" shot, having you wondering about some final twist, but no, it was just some fancy shot demonstrating how much the screenplay wasn't polished enough.

I've read several comments that point out the clumbsiness of the action editing in "The Black Windmill." I think what is being overlooked is that what we have been seeing for the past thirty years on tv and video has been a pan-and-scan version of a Panavision film. The action was designed for a widescreen and we've only been seeing half of it, sloppily panned-and-scanned, making it seem jumbled. I believe that the widescreen dvd release will prove me right.

Admittedly, in terms of Siegel action-drama quality,this flick falls in the middle ground between the great "Dirty Harry" and the so-so "Telefon." But even the low-budget Telefon is much more exciting in its original wide aspect ratio than in "full" screen.

In 1965, Caine created the role of Harry Palmer in the Ipcress File. It was good enough to spawn two follow-ups: Funeral in Berlin and the Billion Dollar Brain. By 1974, the movie-going public was used to seeing him in the role of a secret agent. Here he gets in trouble, and although you know that by the end of the film he will emerge victorious, or will he? I'm not telling. But the excruciating fun is in trying to figure our what will happen next. Filmed in Europe, Black Windmill" is directed by Don Siegel. Clint Eastwood credits Don for his success as a director, and, of course, Siegel also directed some of Clint's best movies. The pacing is even throughout and builds to a suspenseful climax. Let it not be overlooked that Donald Pleasence in a supporting role is at his usual best. The human chameleon that adapts beautifully to whatever role is given him. John Vernon is especially menacing. To me, seeing old movies a second or third time is like visiting with old friends. Everybody has their own "Casablanca" and "Shawshank Redemption." If you haven't seen this one yet, please do. It will become one of your "old friends" which I'm sure you will visit again and again.

Don Siegel will always be remembered as the man who gave us Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers and Dirty Harry, as well as being the mentor of Clint Eastwood when he was just starting out in the acting business. Here he tackles very atypical material with a low-key British spy thriller based on the book Seven Days To A Killing by Clive Eggleton. Although this is not really Siegel's kind of thing, he manages to coax sound performances from an impressive cast, and gets across a certain degree of excitement. From time to time the suspense slackens a little, but on the whole this is an engaging enough potboiler.

Major John Tarrant (Michael Caine) is a secret agent who is distraught to learn that his son has been kidnapped by a gang who want a batch of diamonds for his safe return. Tarrant's boss Cedric Harper (Donald Pleasance) has never got on well with Tarrant, and even goes so far as to suggest that maybe the kidnapping is an elaborate double-cross hatched by Tarrant himself in order to get hold of the diamonds. Supported by his wife Alex (Janet Suzman), Tarrant steals the diamonds needed for his son's safety, and attempts to elude his own colleagues plus the police long enough to secure the return of the young boy.

Critical opinion at the time seemed to be of the view that The Black Windmill was a bad film. Generous critics were kind enough to call it average. Perhaps everyone still had Siegel's extraordinarily good Dirty Harry fresh in their memories and were unable to accept that he couldn't always make films of that standard. The Black Windmill, while stilted and a touch dry in parts, is certainly not a full-scale dud. It has interesting plot twists, good acting (always good to see John Vernon in any of his '70s villainous roles), intriguing character clashes, and a nice sense of genre. I'd rather have a low-key thriller like this than one of the modern spectacular-but-empty popcorn actioners. Try not to be influenced by the negative buzz.... give The Black Windmill a try. It's no classic, but it's better than you might expect.