Duffy

This film features gorgeous photography on the Mediterranean and a plot that I never found predictable. It's very stylish and has cool music, including a great tune by soul singer Lou Rawls. James Coburn, James Fox and James Mason are all very good in it, as is the beautiful Susannah York. The plot involves the theft of money from a ship on the Mediterranean Sea. It's James Mason's sons that steal his money, and it's what follows that gives the film it's intrigue. Definitely worth watching.

This is a "feel good" movie. It has a fun plot, the actors all put in a good performance, and it was filmed in gorgeous Mediterranean locations. If you like vacationing in the Mediterranean area, this movie whets your appetite for another visit. Most of the movie was filmed in and around the city of Almeria, located on the south coast of Spain. This area has been used frequently for "spaghetti westerns" because of desert-like scenery. The scenes of "Tangiers" were filmed right in the city of Almeria. I visited here in 1984, and the city still had many winding alleys and whitewashed houses that looked like they could have been Tangiers. The lighthouse and rocky beach scenes were filmed at nearby Cabo de Gato. I revisited Almeria in 1999, and it was unrecognizable - all ugly hi-rise buildings. The Cabo de Gato area is still gorgeous, though. There are many beach houses near the lighthouse, but it is now a protected natural reserve area. I've never been able to find the beach club in the movie, although the scenery is very much like the area around the nearby town of San Jose.

When "Duffy" was released, I was working in one of my father's theatres as the projectionist. As a projectionist I saw a lot of movies...over and over again. I can tell you that when you screen the same movie six to eight times a day for two, three, four weeks or more, most films soon lose their lustre. Not so with "Duffy". Of course I was just a kid then, and the sixties "counter-culture" was my adolescent fantasy. James Coburn, already extremely cool from "The Magnificent Seven" and "The Great Escape" was riding a wave of popularity from the campy "Flint" movies, but "Duffy" was a very cool and fun movie that I never tired of watching. It never took off as a hit and I've often wondered why. It was just as effective as other caper movies of the era, such as "Topkapi" or "Gambit". I think the reason it never took off was because 1968 was an eventful, tumultuous year, and "straight" America was frowning hard upon hippies and counter-culture. Too bad. I think the owner of this film would be surprised and well rewarded by releasing it to DVD.

This was a very hip, very funny movie. The plot zig-zags around in completely unexpected turns, and the dialog is full of off-beat humor that you really have to pay attention to get.

The photography is gorgeous as are the locales. It recreates the breezy easy-going style of the Sixties and the overall effect is like having a vacation on the Mediterranean.

Susannah York never looked better. James Mason is laying down his elder statesman's foundation. James Coburn and James Fox are forsaking pretenses of movie idol-hood and are really acting. The under-rated John Alderton shines.

I was born in Almería, Spain. Many movies were filmed there many time ago. "Duffy" was one of them. Many Spanish people made shorts roles in these movies. My grandfather, Manuel Hernández Asensio, was a waiter in "Duffy". He told me the story about his "adventure" in this movie. He worked in a bar en Almería, in his own bar, and the American people that were filming "Duffy" needed a guitar to use it in a scene. My grandfather had one hanged in a wall of his bar and he lent it to them. Then, the director offered him to make a role as a waiter in the movie, and my grandpa accepted. He didn't speak English, so he moved his mouth doing the necessary movements and after someone would speak over in English. He only did a scene in a restaurant and said one phrase. A curious story of this movie to remember.

And now he is in de crew of the movie in IMDb!! I'm very happy!! Thanks to every people in IMDb!!!