I have never heard of this flick but rented it out of interest, being a fan of Dame Judi Dench, Tony Richardson and horses. It's deals with horse tampering and throwing the books in the world of British horse racing. I didn't read the book so I don't have that insight. The acting is good, I have not heard of any of the other in the cast besides Dench. It gives a fairly light look into the actual sport and the physical and mental exertions of it, and the whole "bad guy taxi mob" and what they get away with is, well, totally implausible. That being said, I wasn't bored, it was nice to see the very "dated" fashion and lingo and the "shots" on horseback. I did figure out who the head bad person was early on, but it kept my attention. I do get the comment above about the end but it was just kind of an unfinished thing for me, didn't ruin it for me. It certainly wasn't award winning film-making, it reminded me more of a made for TV movie. I am curious about the lead actor, Scott Antony, who apparently has disappeared off the face of the earth after doing this film and "Savage Messiah" in the same year. He was really good and apparently very good in that movie as well.
6 Reviews
A Well-Made British film... but with one flaw.
tarbosh220001 October 2005
"Dead Cert" is a well-made British mystery. The plot is about Alan York (Scott Antony) who is a jockey. When his friend dies after a race, Alan takes it upon himself to figure out what happened. He uncovers corruption in the horse riding industry and the police force.
The next part of the review does contain spoilers!!!
"Dead Cert" has good acting and directing, but the ending is flawed and weird. At the end, Alan and Sandy (Michael Williams) are racing their horses. They're right next each other and Sandy starts whipping Alan with his racing stick. Then Alan, whips back and makes Sandy fall on a sharp railing, and he dies. Alan wins the race but no one ever mentions that Sandy is dead. I thought that hurt the film a lot.
If you can get past the odd ending, it's a decent film.
For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com
The next part of the review does contain spoilers!!!
"Dead Cert" has good acting and directing, but the ending is flawed and weird. At the end, Alan and Sandy (Michael Williams) are racing their horses. They're right next each other and Sandy starts whipping Alan with his racing stick. Then Alan, whips back and makes Sandy fall on a sharp railing, and he dies. Alan wins the race but no one ever mentions that Sandy is dead. I thought that hurt the film a lot.
If you can get past the odd ending, it's a decent film.
For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com
Wretched
hhartling31 March 2007
At our house we're big fans of Dick Francis novels. "Dead Cert" was this champion jockey's first thriller. I bought this DVD a couple of years ago and we had great expectations. We were hugely disappointed in the way the story was adapted. I am re-reading the novel so I thought it would be fun to try the movie again. Well, it has not improved with age. The only saving grace is you get some idea (or at least Tony Richardson's idea) of what a British racetrack is like. The characters in the movie share some of the same names as the characters in the novel but hardly any of the same traits. There isn't a soul in this movie you would want to know personally (I am talking about the characters not the actors), except perhaps the horses.
A completely different story to the book!
Arthur-nose27 September 2008
Warning: Spoilers
METHOD OF KILLING - in the book, it's wire over a fence, in the film, it's some kind of drug;
KILLER - in the book, it's Uncle George, Alan's girlfriend's uncle - at least, the girl who ultimately becomes his girlfriend - in the film, it's a policeman.
The girl doesn't appear in the film - unless those sequences were cut from the version I saw.
Mind you - I was watching it late at night and I had to keep the telly turned down, so it was a struggle to hear what was going on.
Difficult trying to base a film on a book - bits of dialogue often have to be removed and small liberties are taken with the plot.
KILLER - in the book, it's Uncle George, Alan's girlfriend's uncle - at least, the girl who ultimately becomes his girlfriend - in the film, it's a policeman.
The girl doesn't appear in the film - unless those sequences were cut from the version I saw.
Mind you - I was watching it late at night and I had to keep the telly turned down, so it was a struggle to hear what was going on.
Difficult trying to base a film on a book - bits of dialogue often have to be removed and small liberties are taken with the plot.
This film is a real mess
blakedw17 January 2019
This film is sort of, kind of maybe based on the Dick Francis book of the same name. But only the name has not been changed presumably to protect the guilty. It's a pity because book plot was fairly filmable whereas the mess served up here by Tony Richardson is not.
I have been surprised for many years that the Francis books have not all been put on film or tv. Maybe this rubbish put people off trying.
Go-Pontinental
tc_nafsasp27 July 2017
Interesting film, however this is less a review more a footnote. One of the horses involved was well known to racing enthusiasts of the day, Go-Pontinental, owned by Fred Pontin, who ran in the '68 National as a fancied horse, missed out the next 4 Nationals, returning as a 13 year old in '73, and a 14 year old in '74, by which time he was the proverbial 100-1 rank outsider. Timeform shortly after the '74 National rated him "of no note whatsoever".
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