chriswright1969 Reviews

Psycho (1960)

We all go a little mad sometimes

[10/10 · 21 June 2020]

It is almost impossible to explain to today's generation that Psycho is the greatest horror movie ever made. Probably also to yesterday's generation. Why ? Because Psycho twisted every rule of movie clichés in 1960. The lead is unexpectedly killed in the first 3rd part of the film. The private eye who usually solves these kind of mysteries gets slashed. The mismatched couple who solves the mystery are unlikable characters. The most identifiable and sympathetic character in the film is Norman Bates. In the final twist this boy-next-door turns out to be a sexually deranged serial killer. His creepy close up in the end scene shows him talking to himself in self-delusion. The greatest terror of all is that nice Norman Bates is insane. There is nothing we can do about it, except to watch out.

Trinity Is Still My Name (1971)

Son of a buzzard.

[8/10 · 20 June 2020]

In 1971 Trinity is Still My Name became the most successful Italian movie ever made. It is my favourite Spencer/Hill flick. Now you could say it's more of the same than They Call Me Trinity. But it's also better and funnier.

Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)

I need another Italian song like a giraffe needs a strep throat.

[9/10 · 20 June 2020]

Kiss Me, Stupid is a must-see for lovers of the cynical Billy Wilder comedies which he wrote together with I.A.L. Diamond. As in The Seven Year Itch (1955) and Avanti (1972), Billy Wilder tells us once again that adultery can save a marriage, not destroy it. The plot of Kiss Me, Stupid is a farce wherein a housewife and a prostitute end up switching places for one night. This was pushing it over the limit in 1964 and the film was attacked for being offensive. That may still be the case for some people today. I consider this a gem. Because Kiss Me, Stupid is a biting satire on role plays, celebrities and showbiz ethics.

Casablanca (1942)

I'm shocked! Shocked to find that gambling is going on in here.

[10/10 · 20 June 2020]

For decades people have been trying to explain what makes Casablanca THE great Hollywood classic. It broke no rules, nor made it any new rules. What I find unique and brilliant about Casablanca is that no one can take credit for this movie. Casablanca has no great "auteur". It's the product of the Warner Bros assembly line of the Forties. Yet, it's the perfect film where everything works and nothing disappoints. Because everyone involved was doing their job. Everything just clicked and that's why the film keeps working with multiple viewings. So stop trying to explain the greatness of Casablanca. It just is.

From Russia with Love (1963)

You may know the right wines, but you're the one on your knees.

[10/10 · 20 June 2020]

From Russia with Love is my all time favorite James Bond movie. Because it is the only film in the franchise that has a real spy plot. No outrageous gadgets, no comic book villains looking for world domination and no over the top action set pieces. But a complex Cold War spy thriller with great characters, clever locations and a mysterious atmosphere. Sean Connery in his 2nd round as 007 never looked better. He is sharp, ruthless and always cautious. As with all the Bond films of that decade, it is also a terrific time capsule. You have to appreciate the hilarious fact that there used to be a time when James Bond would suspect a communist infiltrator merely because he ordered red wine with fish.

The Cowboys (1972)

I wouldn't make it a habit of calling me that, son

[9/10 · 20 June 2020]

John Wayne is a joy to watch in The Cowboys as a cantankerous rancher who is forced to employ schoolkids to complete his cattle drive. He's stubborn and stern, but also fatherly and self reflective. The Cowboys is a coming-of-age version in the western format. The Duke clashes violently with Seventies greatest psychopath: Bruce Dern. As the despicable villain, Bruce Dern made an unforgettable impression on me by doing the improbable: killing John Wayne.

For me, The Cowboys is a more fitting testament for Wayne than True Grit (1969) or The Shootist (1976). A film career that spanned 5 decades. It's also the only true Seventies style western that The Duke has ever starred in. Today's sensitivities may find the morale and the violent conclusion of The Cowboys unsettling. The Duke becomes one with the land and the torch is passed on to a new (but different) generation.

For those who don't like the demise of Wayne in The Cowboys, they can always take comfort in the more heroic epitaph he did 4 years later in The Shootist. This would indeed be John Wayne's final film. The only difference is that while The Shootist is a good western, The Cowboys is a great one.

Shaft's Big Score! (1972)

When this baby starts kicking, it won't stop. So, nobody get cute!

[7/10 · 23 March 2019]

Now I know that these kind of macho driven movies are no longer popular or in fashion, but I think that Shaft's Big Score is the best of all the Shaft films.

The first part this second Shaft film is slow and tedious, mainly because of an uninteresting plot. But when John Shaft visits the nightclub and gets beaten up, the film shifts gears. Then Shaft's Big Score becomes everything you want and expect from an early seventies action flick. Exciting fistfights, dynamic camera angles and a killer soundtrack composed by the film's director Gordon Parks. The only thing that's missing is the iconic music theme of Isaac Hayes.

Nobody will ever surpass Richard Rountree as the super sleuth John Shaft. He has the ideal combination of athleticism, good looks and macho confidence. The last 20 minutes of Shaft's Big Score is one long chase containing cars, a speedboat and a helicopter. In this climatic chase, Rountree is dressed in a black leather suit. He looks fantastic in that suit while he fires a shotgun, kick the bad guy's ass and outruns a helicopter. It's a joy to watch, even if we don't believe for one second that all those bullets keep missing him.

Chris Wright

Charade (1963)

Of course, you won't be able to lie on your back for a while but then you can lie from any position, can't you

[9/10 · 7 February 2019]

The greatest compliment you can bestow on Charade is that it is often mistaken for an Alfred Hitchcock film. Charade's greatest asset is the ingenious screenplay by Peter Stone. A romantic/mystery/comedy story that sometimes comes very close to being a parody, but never crosses that line. That Stone did not even receive an Oscar nomination for best screenplay will remain a mystery.

Despite their age difference of 25 years, the pairing of the irreplaceable Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn is gold and paid off at the box office. They were two of the biggest stars in 1963 and this is their only film together. They are supported by memorable performances of then upcoming stars: James Coburn, George Kennedy and a clever Walter Matthau in one of his first comedic parts.

Director Stanley Donen had already made his mark in film history with classic musicals like On the Town (1949) and Singin' in the Rain (1952). This sidestep was not only successful, but I consider it his best film. His lightweight tone makes it all seem effortless. Donen tried to repeat the success in 1966 with Arabesque. This time Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren were matched in the leads. But I found this one forced because of an inferior screenplay and the absence of Cary Grant.

Maybe it's just me but I also had an early sixties James Bond vibe with Charade. But this must be a coincidence since the second Bond epic From Russia With Love was just released a few months before Charade and the James Bond-formula would not be defined until 1964 with Goldfinger. The similar tone could be that the title design was done by Maurice Binder, who did all the title designs for the official Bond films from 1962 till 1991. But especially the surly George Kennedy with his mechanical arm would have been a great Bond villain. Grant and Kennedy have a Bondian fight scene on a rooftop.

Charade does give you a good indication of what Cary Grant would have been like as 007. Grant was on the (long) wish list of the Bond producers. But Cary Grant was too expensive for a modestly budgeted English thriller and a star of his stature in those days did not sign for a series of films in which he would play the same character. In the end they settled for a Scottish amateur body builder with some acting experience who was cheap enough and was willing to sign a six picture deal.

And the rest is history......

Funeral in Berlin (1966)

"I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating"

[7/10 · 10 January 2019]

The sixties spy thriller Funeral in Berlin is an excellent example of how the star charisma of Michael Caine can save a film from obscurity. Because the plot of Funeral in Berlin gets so complex and convoluted with double-crossing and triple-crossing that Caine becomes a beacon and guide in the maze.

Funeral in Berlin is the second of three 1960s Harry Palmer movies (let's pretend those 2 TV movies from the 1990's don't exist). British agent Harry Palmer was the bespectacled working class answer to the glamorous globetrotting James Bond. As an alternative to spending time in prison for a theft he committed during his army years, Palmer is forced to work for British intelligence. Which makes Palmer an expendable commodity and thereby revealing how isolating the life of a secret agent must be.

Funeral in Berlin was partly filmed on location in Berlin which makes the film historically interesting, as it shows a Berlin that no longer exists.

The Harry Palmer trilogy are the thinking man's spy adventures. Heavy on plot and character, humor and mystery. Michael Caine excels in pretending that he knows what it is all about in his second round as Harry Palmer. He is well assisted by some great supporting actors who seem to be chosen because of their unusual faces: Oscar Homolka as the Russian Colonel who pretends to defect, Hugh Burden as a perverted version of Q, Günter Meisner as the West German criminal who manages escapes from East to West Berlin. Also Guy Doleman returns as Palmer's humorless boss.

Of course, every spy story has to have woman. In Funeral in Berlin she is played by Eva Renzi as an Israeli agent with her own hidden agenda. But in contrast to James Bond is that when a beautiful woman is interested In Harry Palmer, he suspects right away it's a trap.

And that's because it always is.

Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

A fun non-political correct ride and time capsule.

[7/10 · 11 March 2018]

The 7th official James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever does not have the reputation of being one of the better Bond epics. But I must admit for having a soft spot for Diamonds Are Forever despite the fact that in hindsight the film has missed some great opportunities.

It was decided to ignore the events of the previous Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) which ended with the murder of the wife of James Bond by his nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld. It could have been a great revenge movie, but it's not.

Diamonds Are Forever starts with a very short fight scene in a Japanese decor, telling us that it's starting where the 5th Bondfilm You Only Live Twice (1967) left off. At the time On Her Majesty's Secret Service was considered a failure (it wasn't) and the rumor was that the new James Bond actor George Lazenby got fired (he wasn't, he decided not to go on, much to his regret later). Ever since then, the reputation of On Her Majesty's Secret Service has surpassed Diamonds Are Forever.

But on the plus side Diamonds Are Forever is one of most efficient Bond films made. The tone is (a little too) lightweight, it has that smoothly early seventies style and shows what Las Vegas looked like in 1970/1971. The greatest asset of course is that Sean Connery returned to the franchise after being absent in the previous film. Older and a little too out of shape, Connery is at his most relaxed in this one and even here he is still the best cinematic interpretation of the character. A James Bond who has seen and done it all. The only time Bond is really surprised in this film is when he meets Blofeld again, whom he thought he had killed in the prologue.

Diamonds Are Forever may have discarded the revenge plot but It was a financial successful revenge for Sean Connery on the Bond producers. Connery always felt short changed by the producers but was lured back by United Artists for one more film for an enormous salary (which he donated) and benefits (including a two movie deal).

Diamonds Are Forever is also a guilty pleasure nowadays because Bond gets to do things which today's cinematic heroes can no longer get away with: he hits women, kicks Blofeld's cat and disposes easily of two stereotypical gay men (including finishing it off with a one liner). So, unless you're easily offended, Diamonds Are Forever can also be recommended as a terrific time capsule.

The Bridge at Remagen (1969)

Who is the enemy ?

[8/10 · 24 November 2016]

The Bridge at Remagen (1969) is a cynical World War II epic. In the last months of the war, the soldiers at both sides have to deal with incompetent, misguided and insane leaders. The German Officers realize that the war is lost, but they want to keep the last remaining span across the Rhine intact: the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen. They disregard the order from the Fuhrer to blow up the bridge so they can save the lives of 50,000 of their soldiers from the on-coming Americans.

In the late sixties the US was involved in the Vietnam war, there were political assassinations, civil unrest and demonstrations. After the enormous success of The Dirty Dozen (1967) it was clear that movie audiences were no longer interested in the classic red-white and blue heroes in the mold of John Wayne and Gregory Peck. During this period it was not a problem for American war movies to sympathize with the enemy.

At the start of The Bridge at Remagen the Germans are more rational in their actions. But when we get introduced to the American leads however, one of them is robbing a dead German soldier and there is very little camaraderie in the American platoon. The three leads are excellent as the edgy and war weary characters. Robert Vaughn is the desperate German major who in the end asks the most important question to himself: "Who is the enemy". On the American side we have Ben Gazarra as the scavenger. But the best battle fatigue face and performance belongs to George Segal as the American platoon leader.

The Bridge at Remagen was directed by John Guillermin and it's undoubtedly his best work. Guillermin is best known for the all-star disaster movie The Towering Inferno (1974) and the underrated updated seventies version of King Kong (1976).

As is usually the case, the film takes liberties with the real events. You can watch documentaries and read books about how it all really happened. But when Hollywood is at its best, the dramatized version of these events are more compelling and nowadays The Bridge at Remagen is important because it defines an era in American films. As the saying goes: "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend".

Day of the Evil Gun (1968)

Renegades is a better word. It implies a spirit of adventure.

[8/10 · 31 October 2016]

Day of the Evil Gun (1968) is an enjoyable pulp western with two over the hill actors in the lead. Glenn Ford became a star in the forties and fifties with Film Noirs like Gilda (1946) and The Big Heat (1953), westerns such as 3:10 to Yuma (1957) and The Fastest Gun Alive (1956) and with the classic social drama The Blackboard Jungle (1955). Arthur Kennedy had built up an image of sympathetic bad guy in westerns like Rancho Notorious (1952) and The Man From Laramie (1955) and in drama's like The Lusty Men (1952) and Some Came Running (1958).

The plot of Day of the Evil Gun is a variation on The Searchers. Glenn Ford is looking for his kidnapped wife and his two children. He gets unwanted help from the lover of his wife, played by Arthur Kennedy. On their search they meet some colorful characters, all played by some of the best standard supporting actors Hollywood had to offer in that period: Dean Jagger, John Anderson, Royal Dano, Nico Minardos and a very young Harry Dean Stanton. The search and the finding of his wife and children become less interesting as the film progresses. The relationship between the two leads and the characters they encounter are far more compelling.

The story was written by two veteran TV writers: Charles Marquis Warren and Eric Bercovici. The screenplay may be formulaic, but they provided an efficient story-line with lively characters and enough surprises to keep it entertaining all the way.

Glenn Ford would continue to act until the early '90 in films and TV. After Day of the Evil Gun he still managed to participate in one classic, the very first big budget comic book epic: Superman (1978). He was excellent and is still the most memorable film interpretation of Jonathan Kent, Superman's adopted earth father. Despite the fact that he had only about two scenes. Arthur Kennedy would also keep on working until his death in 1990, but nothing memorable.

Day of the Evil Gun may not belong in the section of the great classic westerns, but fans should check it out because it contains some good set pieces, especially the vulture scene. Day of the Evil Gun was released in the period when the Italian westerns were dominating the box office in Europe. These spaghetti-westerns were light years ahead when it came to violence, nihilism and memorable set pieces. But Hollywood had not caught up yet. Soon however the American classic westerns and action films would be replaced by spaghetti westerns imitations.

My Name Is Nobody (1973)

Continuing and ending the western in his own funny little way

[9/10 · 28 July 2016]

My Name is Nobody (1973) is sometimes silly, sometimes clumsy, often brilliant, but always entertaining. The basic story line is about a young gunfighter who manipulates his idol into a final grand act that would make him a legend. My Name is Nobody is a remarkable unique addition to the Spaghetti western genre, although maybe that uniqueness grew of circumstances. The film is much more complex than just another comic film with Terence Hill. It is four types of the westerns rolled into one:

1) A classic American John Ford western represented by Henry Fonda. 2) A revisionist western from the late sixties/early seventies with references to Sam Peckinpah and The Wild Bunch (complete with slow motion deaths, not standard in Italian westerns). 3) A Sergio Leone western with another memorable score by Ennio Morricone. 4) A Trinity-style western with Terence Hill (but without Bud Spencer) parodying the Italian "Man-With-No-Name" icon.

John Ford was from Irish descent and is considered the most important director of westerns in American cinema. He did not invent the genre but he certainly defined it. Maybe one of Leone's fantasies was that he would produce the last western of his idol John Ford. My Name is Nobody ends with a long monologue which is very unusual for a western and even more unusual for a Sergio Leone production. The monologue is delivered off screen by regular Ford-actor Henry Fonda. It could be that this monologue was Leone's wish of how he wanted to be remembered and appreciated by his idol: continuing the western genre in "his own funny way" and becoming a Somebody like his idol. Which is the basic theme of the film. Of course in reality the last film John Ford directed was released in 1966 and by then the old master had long lost interest in the movie business. So he probably never heard of Sergio Leone. Also in the monologue Henry Fonda calls himself a National Monument (which Fonda certainly had become at that point), during that line behind Fonda a boat passes with the name: President. The point being in case we still didn't get it: one of the early starring roles for Henry Fonda was Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) directed by John Ford.

The uneven tone of My Name is Nobody can also be contributed to the fact that the film had two directors. After Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) and Duck You Sucker (1971), Leone wanted to continue producing Sergio Leone-westerns, but mainly directed by one of his assistants/admirers. The name of Sergio Leone appears three times during the credits of My Name is Nobody, just to make it clear who is the true author. It is still unclear who directed what, but the input of Tonino Valerii should not be underestimated. He had previously proved to be a good director with the Italian westerns Day of Anger (1967) and especially The Price of Power (1969), the first film ever that supports the theory that the President Kennedy assassination was a conspiracy. So Valerii was much more than a glorified assistant.

In 1964 A Fistful of Dollars put unknown director Sergio Leone, Italian composer Ennio Morricone and American TV actor Clint Eastwood on the map. The sequel For a Few Dollars More (1965) defined the Italian western and broke all box office records in Europe. It became the most successful Italian film ever made. Even the third sequel and more famous The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966) released a year later did not break this record. The main reason was that in 1965 Leone had little competition, but because of the juggernaut success of For a Few Dollars More, everybody in Italy was making westerns the following years. Among them was Django of Sergio Corbucci, which was also a big smash at the box office.

Five years after the release of For a Few Dollars More, two comic spaghetti westerns pushed the two Sergio's from their number one spot: They Call Me Trinity (1970) and the even more successful sequel Trinity Is Still My Name (1971).

The Trinity films were comic spaghetti-westerns for all ages and they are considered to be the death of the serious spaghetti western. But in truth the genre had already peaked in the years 1967-1968. After Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) and Corbucci's The Great Silence (1968) there was nowhere to go but down. So if the genre had to be killed, then there was no better way than to do it with big belly laughs. The Trinity films broke all box office records in Italy and would hold that record for more than a decade. It made international stars of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer and although it was already their fourth and fifth collaboration, this was the first full time comedy they did. They would repeat this formula mostly in modern day settings with 10 more movies, until 1985 when the Trinity formula had played itself out. Spencer and Hill would have one more reunion in 1994 with the disappointing Troublemakers.

Sergio Leone in the early seventies must have thought: "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em". So he produced a film with the star of the Trinity films in the lead. It kind of worked, since My Name is Nobody made more money than the first Trinity film, but did not break the record of the sequel. So Leone did not reclaim his throne at the box office. But appropriately My Name is Nobody was the last western Henry Fonda did and was released in the same year Leone's idol John Ford died. It was not the last Italian western released, but My Name is Nobody should be considered as a remarkable epitaph to the spaghetti western.

Haywire (2011)

Steven Soderbergh's answer to On Her Majesty's Secret Service

[8/10 · 11 July 2016]

After reading the appreciation of Steven Soderbergh on his website for the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service, I always felt that his own spy movie Haywire (2011) was his answer to the biggest issue of the film: George Lazenby. He writes about Lazenby: "What seems obvious to me, though, is no one was helping him during the shoot or the edit" In his spy film Haywire, he gives the lead to an inexperienced actress (Gina Carano) and gets a good performance out of her (there were however some tweaks to her voice in post-production, but this is not an uncommon technique).

The fight scenes are very much like the early James Bond movies such as From Russia With Love, Thunderball and of course On Her Majesty's Secret Service (there even is a beach fight scene).

Other than the fight scenes and the globetrotting plot, Haywire is not very Bondian. It is more an update of the paranoid conspiracy movies from the seventies in Soderbergh style. The plot has a lot of twists and turns: a black ops agent is being setup for assassination.

The other issue Soderbergh has with OHMSS is the length of 142 minutes: "the film is too long, the longest Bond film until Casino Royale nearly three decades later". Meanwhile Spectre (2015) has broken this record with 148 minutes. Haywire closes curtains very satisfying at 93 minutes.

The Boys in Company C (1978)

"Living has got to be more important than winning"

[8/10 · 27 June 2016]

In 1978 there were five American movies released dealing with the Vietnam War:

• The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino) - Coming Home (Hal Ashby) - Who'll Stop the Rain / Dog Soldiers (Karel Reisz) - Go Tell the Spartans (Ted Post) - The Boys of Company C (Sidney Furie)

The first two were big box office hits and were awarded with a slew of Oscars. The next three are less known and in the case of The Boys in Company C difficult to find. These movies were released five years after president Nixon ordered the evacuation of American troops from Vietnam.

It's interesting to see how Hollywood has rewritten the US involvement in Vietnam at least three times. The first Vietnam movie was The Green Berets (1968) in which John Wayne presented the Vietnam conflict as a noble cause betrayed by the media and the protesters back in the US. Then in the aftermath of the war there was the shameful outrage with Tracks (1976) and Dog Soldiers (1978). The third trend was the tragic mistake/loss of innocence thesis with The Deer Hunter (1978) and Apocalypse Now (1979). In the eighties it became full circle with the Rambo sequels and their imitations and returned to the doubtful The Green Berets judgment. The second half of the eighties became a combination of all these trends.

So 1978 was the turning point between the first two trends. The Boys in Company C was released almost 10 years before Full Metal Jacket (1987). Not only do both films have the same structure, but The Boys in Company C also has the first acting role of the most memorable character of Full Metal Jacket: R. Lee Ermey as Sergeant Hartman. R. Lee Ermey was a real Marine Corps Drill Instructor before he became an actor/technical adviser. But the acting in both films are great from a then largely unknown cast.

What sets The Boys in Company C apart from other Vietnam movies is that the climax is a not big battle scene but a soccer game. This soccer game could mean life or death for the American soldiers if they throw the game. The message at the end may be a bit naive, but that doesn't make it less true.

Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)

This will begin to make things right.

[8/10 · 4 June 2016]

After Return of the Jedi in 1983 we have been asking for more Star Wars movies. What we did not realize was that we never really wanted new Star Wars adventures without Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Chewbacca and especially without the Millennium Falcon. We found this out the hard way in 1999 with The Phantom Menace and the next two chapters.

The first sentence spoken in The Force Awakens is: "This will begin to make things right.". And it certainly did. Even the biggest hater of the franchise cannot deny that everybody involved gave their best and most sincere efforts. The Juggernaut success at the box office of The Force Awakens and the acceptance of the fans of the original trilogy more than justifies the start of this new trilogy. The pressure for the directors and writers of the upcoming chapters must be enormous.

Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)

Powerful underrated sequel.

[8/10 · 27 May 2016]

Beneath The Planet of the Apes (1970) belongs in that list of sequels that could have been as good or even better than the original film. The first sequel to Planet of the Apes (1968) has two strikes against it. The film had only half the budget of the original film and Charlton Heston has a supporting part, while the screenplay was clearly written with his character as the lead. In those days a star did not do sequels, but apparently he was grateful for the success of Planet of the Apes that he did a cameo and donated his salary to charity. Heston became a science fiction icon and would go on in the seventies starring in the SF classics The Omega Man (1971) and Soylent Green (1973).

The writers Paul Dehn and Mort Abrahams and director Ted Post took Beneath The Planet of the Apes serious enough and did excellent work despite these limitations. A couple of years later Ted Post would direct another sequel: Magnum Force (1973). The first Dirty Harry sequel which could also be rated as a sequel almost as good as the original.

The first 30 minutes of Beneath The Planet of the Apes is a quick rerun of the plot of the original film, but when the lead characters get underground (hence the title), we get a first rate science fiction parable. The underground ruins of New York city are inhabited by mutated humans with psychic powers and worship an atom bomb as a God. This story line does make the ape race secondary characters in the second half.

The ending is very nihilistic and seems like a very definitive ending to the series. But because of success at the box office and the ingenuity of the writers, we got three more sequels/prequels. All of them are very enjoyable, but nowhere near as powerful as this first underrated sequel.

The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)

Whodunnit with more surprises than usual

[7/10 · 21 May 2016]

It's almost a pity that The List of Adrian Messenger is a good film. Otherwise you could have fun with the title and call it The Mess of Adrian's List. In fact, an episode of Get Smart does this (to be exact, the episode is called The Mess of Adrian Listenger). But under the direction of the legendary John Huston, this old style English whodunit is a fun murder mystery. With the excellent George C. Scott in the lead speaking with a British accent.

A writer named Adrian Messenger believes a series of apparently unrelated accidental deaths are linked murders. He asks his friend, a recently retired member from MI5, to help clear up the mystery.

Spoilers ahead: The real fun of The List of Adrian Messenger and what makes this film still unique is that then famous movie stars play cameos in disguise. Frank Sinatra, Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis and Robert Mitchum all appear in heavy makeup. Robert Mitchum is the most recognizable and the only one who uses his own voice. He certainly gives the best performance of the star cameo's (he has two scenes), but he does not give a typical Mitchum performance. He is the only one we can be sure of, because there have been claims that some of these stars just appeared in the revealing epilogue and that their scenes in the film were done by stand ins.

The other actor we can also be sure of is Kirk Douglass who takes on different disguises. Douglass makes himself recognizable early in the film when he changes masks in the restroom of an airport. But his part is not a cameo, it is the second male lead and in the last act he appears without a disguise. The fact that Kirk Douglass is so recognizable does not make it much of a whodunit, but it doesn't really matter. It's still a fun guessing game why he is doing all the killings. The director John Huston himself makes a cameo at the end, although not in disguise.