The Black Windmill

Every now and again you come across a film that's somewhat a letdown, even when those expectations are kept at bay. Don Siegel's mid-70s espionage-thriller 'The Black Windmill' that starred Michael Caine falls in that category. If anything it was that title (which the story is adapted off Clive Egleton's novel "Seven Days to a Killing") which caught my eye. Siegel's adapt, controlled workhorse direction tackles the subdued material with little suspense, but constructing something tight, sullen and dry with the main focus on building something out of its elaborately knotty (but dubious) premise. It's a true pot-boiler entangled with twists. While the material is stimulating (with some good work by the solid support performances and an occasionally witty line) and the sturdy set-pieces are competently crafted, however the pacing is too blotchy and in the end it builds to really nothing. It loses some weight due to the lack of suspense and urgency with a crackerjack climax that's just too quick. Michael Caine's composed performance is strongly delivered, and John Vernon makes for an ideally icy and conniving villain. Donald Pleasance is delightfully squirmy (which his character likes to really fiddle with that moustache) and Janet Suzman provides some fire. Delphine Seyrig and Clive Revill offer able support too. Roy Budd's sizzling, but low-key music score works well and Ousama Rawi lenses it with a great illustrative eye. Siegel's touch is evident in both of those devices. An unexceptional feature, but still its well organised and performed.

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.

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.

An interesting spy thriller starring Michael Caine.

The film is interesting and well depicts the atmosphere and look of those years. The cinematography is excellent and here we have an authentic look from that time. The music is great and fits in perfectly with the atmosphere of the film.

The characters are interesting, and the story slowly builds and the atmosphere becomes more tense as the film progresses. The details are subtle and realistic and enhance the impression of the film.

Michael Caine is excellent in the role of a cold-blooded spy who tries to save his son.

An interesting film with a tense atmosphere.

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.