Three huge stars get an all expense paid trip to France. The audience gets beautiful Parisian scenery and a ton of action. There's also a bit of comedy, romance and Beethoven. What is missing is a solid mood that keeps this flowing sensibly. Another element that they get are pieces of recent hits jumbled together in a film that can be entertaining, but lacks in structure that makes memorable cinema.
As head of an American agency involved in investigating drug trafficking, Anthony Quinn must find a hit man to knock off powerful drug cartel leader James Mason, and ironically he hires old pal Michael Caine who utilizes his wiles with women to break into Mason's circle. That's through his daughter with whom he has an impromptu drag race with on the mountain roads heading into Marseille. The scene is almost erotic, and just one sequence where this feels like a cartoon.
Finding out that Caine is wanted allegedly in Paris for murder and bank robbery, Mason has him do an impromptu hit that is beyond comical. An architect standing on a skyscraper under construction gets a simple push off the roof, and when Caine encounters his body, he's face first in dirt. The way this is filmed you half expect them to remove the corpse yo leave the man shaped hole in the ground exposed. But wait...there's more! By this point the film just falters in its obvious attempt to emulate "The French Connection" where it fails miserably.
I was more interested in the scenery than the plot, although these are three of my favorite actors. But the veteran stars were showing up in the 1970's in all kinds of trash, and it's obvious that this was not made with artistic integrity in mind. Still, the opportunity to see real streets of Paris and the parks and rivers surrounding the Eifel Tower and the train system (where Quinn jumps off and fools several of Mason's men) is fascinating.
There are certainly memorable single sequences than the ones I mention, including one with Quinn being chased by Mason's men through the underground after they abduct him that concludes with them in a lavish but abandoned train station. Even at only 90 minutes, however, I was hoping for more than just moments, particularly a story with structure, character and real motivations, not just the thought design that "If it's written down on paper, then people will believe it."
As head of an American agency involved in investigating drug trafficking, Anthony Quinn must find a hit man to knock off powerful drug cartel leader James Mason, and ironically he hires old pal Michael Caine who utilizes his wiles with women to break into Mason's circle. That's through his daughter with whom he has an impromptu drag race with on the mountain roads heading into Marseille. The scene is almost erotic, and just one sequence where this feels like a cartoon.
Finding out that Caine is wanted allegedly in Paris for murder and bank robbery, Mason has him do an impromptu hit that is beyond comical. An architect standing on a skyscraper under construction gets a simple push off the roof, and when Caine encounters his body, he's face first in dirt. The way this is filmed you half expect them to remove the corpse yo leave the man shaped hole in the ground exposed. But wait...there's more! By this point the film just falters in its obvious attempt to emulate "The French Connection" where it fails miserably.
I was more interested in the scenery than the plot, although these are three of my favorite actors. But the veteran stars were showing up in the 1970's in all kinds of trash, and it's obvious that this was not made with artistic integrity in mind. Still, the opportunity to see real streets of Paris and the parks and rivers surrounding the Eifel Tower and the train system (where Quinn jumps off and fools several of Mason's men) is fascinating.
There are certainly memorable single sequences than the ones I mention, including one with Quinn being chased by Mason's men through the underground after they abduct him that concludes with them in a lavish but abandoned train station. Even at only 90 minutes, however, I was hoping for more than just moments, particularly a story with structure, character and real motivations, not just the thought design that "If it's written down on paper, then people will believe it."