John Frankenheimer made a lot of great to good movies. This one isn't one. The Holcroft Covenant is a mildly entertaining waster of time. It has interesting people, a plot that has pared down from one of Robert Ludlum's labyrinthine novels, and green European settings.
Yet, it is bland to the point of walking away. Michael Caine is a pair of comfortable shoes, Victoria Tennant is pretty, and the rest of the cast seem earnest enough.
It's an "almost" movie. Kind of like the story Harry Truman liked to tell about the black man in Independence, Missouri who Truman saw drinking a bottle of whiskey on a curb. Truman asked how he got the whiskey, and the man on the curb said from his employer.
Harry asked, "How is it?"
The black man said, "Almost."
"Almost?"
"Yessuh, if it was any worse, I wouldn't drink it, and if it was any better, he wouldn't have given it to me."
That's The Holcroft Covenant.
Almost.
Yet, it is bland to the point of walking away. Michael Caine is a pair of comfortable shoes, Victoria Tennant is pretty, and the rest of the cast seem earnest enough.
It's an "almost" movie. Kind of like the story Harry Truman liked to tell about the black man in Independence, Missouri who Truman saw drinking a bottle of whiskey on a curb. Truman asked how he got the whiskey, and the man on the curb said from his employer.
Harry asked, "How is it?"
The black man said, "Almost."
"Almost?"
"Yessuh, if it was any worse, I wouldn't drink it, and if it was any better, he wouldn't have given it to me."
That's The Holcroft Covenant.
Almost.