Surrender

I've scoured the internet trying to find this on DVD. The chemistry between Michael Caine and Sally Field is outstanding. I don't know if the following line would be called a spoiler....I don't think so I just think of it as one of many funny incidents that happen in this flick. It is the scene where they are tied up together (naked) so funny. Steve Guttenberg as a spoiled rich guy is funny as well. I can't believe this movie hasn't been done on DVD. I've seen so many movies that shouldn't be on DVD. This movie is so much better than those. I believe if given the chance this movie would do well on DVD. If I can't get it that way, I may get desperate enough to get the VHS version...hope it doesn't come down to that. Whoever you DVD gods are, I hope you do this one SOON!

Surrender (1987) isn't much mentioned or remembered nowadays. That being said, anyone who has seen it will probably never forget the scene where Sally Field and Michael Caine are tied-up together, naked.

• I have to breathe.

• That's not what you breathe thru.

The roped-together scene has, HAS, to be inspired, or nicked, from Woody Allen's Broadway Danny Rose (1984), although for my money Surrender's version is funnier, especially when Caine's character, who has already been fleeced by two grasping ex-wives in divorce settlements, tries desperately to persuade the robbers not to pair him with a woman. He knows he only has to get a whiff of perfume or a soft-eyed glance and he's toast, once again. This movie was only a year after Caine had triumphed at the Oscars, winning Best Supporting Actor for his role in Woody's unbeatable comedy, Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). Obviously Surrender isn't in the same class as Hannah, but it is the kind of movie you can stick on as comfort viewing.

Sally Field, the American equivalent of Felicity Kendal, is pretty and pretty adorable in the role of an artist who can't tell a lie without her fluttering eyelashes telling on her. Caine's novelist thinks he's at last found someone who isn't into him for his money and fame, but is he right, and what about her assets?

So wanna know why this movie has aged like wine? Well, I'll tell ya. Because we've all turned to vinegar. Surrender would have been dismissed as lightweight tosh back in the 1980s, one of those movies Caine did for the cash, no other motive. Thing is, lightweight tosh of the likeable, entertaining, genuinely FUN kind, is hard to come by in the po-faced 21st century, and thus Surrender is more appreciable now for being just that, light, frothy, fun, and with familiar, charismatic stars in it. And it's so sweet, so romantic, especially when a nervous Caine comes to Field's house without an invitation, persuades her to have dinner with him, and then comes back several hours too soon, because he just can't wait to start getting to know her. Today he'd be accused of inappropriate stalking, and Field would be all over TikTok venting about her ick.

So here it is, a romantic comedy about love and other banana skins. A good time movie. Wanna have a good time?

Michael Caine and Sally Field--reunited from "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure"!--in a curious but unfunny Rock Hudson-Doris Day throwback. Field has such a rapport with the camera that movie audiences immediately relate to her highs and woes. Her fans didn't turn out for this quickie-comedy from writer-director Jerry Belson, however, and yet it's gratifying to see the actress in a sunny bit of fluff for once in place of dramatic Oscar Bait (and one is nearly tempted to give "Surrender" a pass on the basis on Field's likability alone). It's a film built on an overworked premise--love vs. Money--and yet it goes off into many perplexing directions. Michael Caine does what he can with the silly role of a wealthy writer, taken to the cleaners by women over the years, who meets assembly-line artist Field and pretends to be poor--but, of course, she's the one pure lady who wouldn't care if he had money or not. There are some interesting bits in the film: a date to the airport--to watch the planes fly overhead--is unusual (and looks good on film); there's also the embarrassing way in which the two lovers meet. Still, not enough wit was put into the basic make-up of the story, which plays like something from the Doris Day-Rock Hudson generation. That's fine if the picture has the wit and snap of "Lover Come Back", but "Surrender" is terribly insecure and unsure of itself. ** from ****

If you've seen Intolerable Cruelty, you've already got a pretty good idea about this movie, which achingly examines the possibility of true love triumphing over mere greed.

Sally Field is a low income artist who is just looking for a real romance, not finding much satisfaction in her relationship with Martin (Guttenburg) a self centered lawyer. What a coincidence that Shuan Stein (Caine), a wealthy writer who have written over much of his fortune to gold digging ex-lovers, should be looking for the same thing. With a few moments of good timing, the two find each other. But, Shuan Stein secretly tests his girlfriend's loyatly by hiding information about his wealth, posing instead as a poor, out-of-work writer madly in love with her. And this is where the story is enjoyable, as Sally Field and Michael Caine charm the audience as conveniently matched romantics.

But, the story becomes a drag once the movie gets into seemingly endless bickering among the characters over matters of money when Martin asks Daisy to marry him and when Daisy (as you should expect) will discover Stein's secret. At that point, everything becomes talk about money, money, money and each character (except for maybe Martin who never seems to have a clue about what's going on) doubting if true love really exists. And as a result, the sweet love story we once enjoyed among Daisy and Martin in the first half is never recovered.

As a romantic comedy, it is a tolerably sweet and funny movie, for the first half. But, I think it ran out of steam as characters never quite seem to retain or even redevelop the charm that they had in the beginning, even after they've resolved their problems.

This is a good show by Sally Field (this is just her kind of part...kind of Murphy's Romance styled) and Michael Caine as the sweet English chap. As for Steve Guttenberg, I only didn't like him because his character was such a creep.

Three very likable stars do a great job with an old movie premise...for about two-thirds of the film. Girl falls in love with wealthy man pretending to be poor, discovers his deception, feels betrayed....etc. etc. Sound familiar? It is, and Fields, Caine and Guttenburg do a great job...for a while...but even these three can only take a tired story line so far. The show fall apart after the slot machine scene, and try though they may, the cast is unable to eradicate it from the toilet bowl. There are some extremely funny scenes, especially Guttenburg's post-shower phone call with a client, and a lot of double entendre, but sadly, the whole thing comes apart at the seams.