Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round

This film deals with a con-man named Eli Kotch, (James Coburn) who just gets out of prison and decides to lay out his ground work for a large bank robbery at the Los Angeles, California airport. Eli also knows that a Russian Prime Minister will be visiting Los Angeles and flying into the same airport which will distract the police force away from a bank holdup. Eli also meets up with a very sexy blonde named Inger Knudson, (Camilla Spary) who works for very rich people and cons her into doing all kinds of things, Eli even marries her with a fake ID. There is plenty of comedy and some tense moments in a police station. You will never be able to figure out how this picture will end. It will definitely surprise you. Enjoy.

"Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round" is probably mostly of interest to us nowadays due to Harrison Ford's bit part as a bellhop. Apparently, after the movie bombed, a producer told Ford: "Kid, you ain't got it." Of course, Ford went on to star in the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" trilogies, so he clearly had lots of "it".

Anyway, the movie casts James Coburn as ex-con Eli Kotch, plotting a heist in LAX while the Russian prime minister is visiting. Coburn seems to be mirroring his Derek Flint character, right down to being surrounded by hot babes (specifically Camilla Sparv and Nina Wayne). The good ol' Cold War, when the US and USSR could play all sorts of tricks on each other, and there were plenty of beauties to go around.

Overall, "DHOAMGR" isn't a great movie, but it's worth seeing. You may notice that playing Mrs. Kirby is Rose Marie, better known as Sally on "The Dick Van Dyke Show".

Nina Wayne. Hubba hubba...

I saw this film at the cinema in the 1960's and years later, although I had never forgotten the title of the film, I could not remember anything else about it. I decided, therefore, to buy the DVD and pay a long time return visit to this film. In it James Coburn plays a con-man and is at times quite amusing, but I must say, however, that the movie is rather tame and slow and pretty much forgettable. Still it brought back memories of a time now gone, but a time I often wish would return. If you are wanting thrills and excitement, then this film is not for you. However, for those of you who enjoy watching 1960's films then this rather overlooked movie is worth a look.

This film is all in the how. Dead Heat On A Merry Go Round casts James Coburn as one ruthless and amoral ex-convict who has no plans to go straight by any means. In fact he's got a score lined up on the outside that some like James Westerfield thinks he's absolutely nuts to even try. Coburn's so anxious to get out he successfully uses and seduces his prison psychiatrist Marian McCargo to get an early release.

In earlier times the lead in a film like Dead Heat On A Merry Go Round would have been played by a charming rogue type like Tyrone Power, Robert Montgomery, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., even Errol Flynn whose real life persona as a seducer would have worked in the lead. One of the elements I found interesting was that James Coburn who has played some really deadly killers on the big and small screen only broke hearts in this film. But he's just as deadly with them as with heads.

Coburn's scheme is to rob the bank at Los Angeles International Airport while the Russian premier was arriving for a state visit. I believe the premier would have been Alexei Kosygin at the time of Dead Heat On A Merry Go Round. Of course that's going to bring law enforcement on all levels out in force at the airport. But that's the whole idea, Coburn's going to make all the extra security precautions work for him.

The whole last half of the film is the caper itself and it's one intricately plotted affair. Here's one big hint as far as the film goes. Remember some of James Coburn's early roles. As part of the plan he has to adopt the accent of a foreigner, a nationality he had played successfully on the screen before. He pulls it off beautifully.

I would also note the performance of Carmilla Sparv, the beautiful woman he actually marries and who he uses unwittingly to help case the airport before robbing it and of Robert Webber the very nervous State Department official who is truly relieved that its only a robbery taking place and not some incident involving a visiting head of a foreign government.

If you like intricately plotted caper films you will absolutely adore Dead Heat On A Merry Go Round.

"Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round" is a fun film, especially if you remember the '60s. It looks just like a movie from the '60s too - beautiful women, casual sex, calling the cops "the fuzz," and as everyone else has mentioned, Harrison Ford as a messenger. Blink and you miss him.

James Coburn plays a man of many names and professions who needs to raise $90,000 to buy building plans of a bank next to the airport so that he can commit a robbery.

He gets it by seducing women, making copies of their keys, and then robbing them. Once he has the plans, he and his cronies decide to rob the bank the day the Soviet premier is due at the airport.

This film really held my interest, and it had some very tense moments toward the end of the film. James Coburn does a wonderful job in the lead, and there's nice acting in a supporting role by Robert Webber as the self-important head of the security force at the airport.

Camilla Sparv, as one of Coburn's women, received some big publicity in the '60s, but her U. S. career never went anywhere.

Great twist ending. Baby boomers will get a kick out of this one.