Il ritorno delle aquile

The Holcroft Covenant takes its cue from a bestseller by the prolific Robert Ludlum. I've read the book and it's pretty good, with lots of globe trotting adventures and some startling twists and turns. It also takes upwards of 600 pages to tell its complex tale. The film version misses out most of the events from the book, yet tries in vain to remain faithful to the key plot points.... however, any film which tries to tell a 600 page story in less than two hours is doomed before it even begins. There's no surprise that this film is a muddled, intractable, poorly developed misfire. The story involves an inheritance in Nazi money which falls into the hands of several German descendants in the 1980s. The money is supposed to be a sort of compensation payment for the suffering and misery caused by WWII, but some of the inheritors are evil people and intend to use the money for nefarious purposes. Michael Caine plays one of the inheritors, Noel Holcroft (hence the title), and he sets out to ensure that it is used for good causes, but he finds that various others will kill to keep him from getting his hands on his rightful share.

The film is a terrible mess, and it's only too apparent that those involved were in it for the money. Every single performance is lazy. Frankenheimer once made great movies like The Manchurian Cnadidate and The French Connection 2, but here he is guilty of directing a listless hodge-podge that bears no trace of originality or flair. Caine has made too many bad movies, but this ranks amongst the very worst. No questions about it: this is a surefire low point for just about everyone involved.

After reading nothing more than bad reps, I can see why. I find director John Frankenheimer to be a very capable action director, but here he's lost in a sea of murky conspiracies (involving a fourth Reich) and idle performances (Victoria Tennant and Anthony Andrews are unconvincing) in this very lukewarm, but drearily complicated political thriller. The problem mainly was contributed to the confounded screenplay (a Robert Ludlum adaptation), which lacked probability; efficient enough thrills and consisted of one-note characters. For most part it's about globe trotting (some striking international scenery), Michael Caine looking like a fish out of water, meeting up with important figures, those involved reminding each other how much danger they are in and shady scheming being set in motion for this 4.5 billion dollar Nazi fund. Too bad it's not as exciting and gripping, as it might sound. It lumbers along in quite an repetitive manner, even though a committed Frankenheimer tries his best to inject some stylishly, go-for-broke action suspense; when he does (and this few and far between) it shows his great eye for details and precision with the camera (he loved the tilting camera). Nonetheless he can only work what he has and what the source material allows (one or two stirring moments occur). No one really stands out from the cast; but Bernard Hepton has some amusing dialogue exchanges with Caine and Lilly Palmer has a small role. A frustratingly, unsatisfying mystery thriller.

All of the elements for a great thriller are there. An outstanding director, John Frankenheimer, An excellent source author, Robert Ludlum and a great leading man for thrillers, Michael Caine. What went wrong? The biggest problem I had with this film was the cinematography. The film was grainy and the sub-titles were very hard to read when the actors were speaking German. There were plenty of the usual Ludlum plot twists and misdirections, but somehow the feel of this film was not up to the usual standards of Frankenheimer or Caine. A lot of it is just too kinky for most people, but an accurate portrayal of Berlin during the cold war years. It would have faired better had it been released ten years earlier rather than later. It does deserve an E for effort.

In some ways, this film is reminiscent of "North By Northwest" because it, too, is about an ordinary guy who is tossed into the middle of some sort of dangerous intrigue and he has no real idea who to trust or even what's going on during most of the film. I am NOT saying that the quality of this film even approaches the quality of the older Hitchcock film...just noting the parallel.

When the film begins, there is a black and white prologue which is shocking to watch. Three Nazis are making some sort of a pack...after which the leader of the three kills the other two and then himself!! What IS this all about anyway? It was a wonderful way to pull in the viewer.

Next, the film jumps to the 1980s. Some schmuck, Noel Holcroft (Michael Caine) is doing what any good 'ol American is doing-- working and enjoying life. However, he's soon approached by some weird folks who tell him a weird tale about Noel's Nazi father. It seems he and two other Nazis were disenchanted by the party and felt horrible about the war crimes. So, they siphoned off a few billion so that years later it could be used to pay for the damage done by the Nazis. It seems that Noel is now the executor of this agreement and the letter he's given indicates that he needs to find the sons of the other two dead men from the beginning of the movie in order to get to these funds which are locked in a Swiss bank account. But he needs to find them...and folks suddenly start dying all around them...and it seems highly unlikely Noel will live very long-- especially since he has no idea who to trust. He also has no idea if this convoluted story is even true.

Because the story is MEANT to be confusing, I cannot fault the film for leaving me baffled repeatedly. What I can fault the movie for is having Noel behave so strangely. You would think if you were told this weird tale and folks started dying all around you that you'd go to the police or FBI or the local embassy. Yet, inexplicably, Noel gets pulled deeper and deeper in and even kills someone...even though he's not 100% sure if he's killing the right person! His weird acceptance of what folks tell him is mighty strange and is a shortcoming in the plot though late in the film he FINALLY starts to think. Additionally, I was totally confused by the casting of Michael Caine. After all, he was supposedly born in Germany but came to America as a young child and yet speaks like a Brit! And finally, in 1984 we are to buy into the idea of a new Fourth Reich!! This is a bit preposterous to say the least.

So it sounds like I didn't love the film...and that certainly is the case. But did I like any of it or would I recommend you see it? Not really...but I didn't hate it either. I clearly see this as one of the great director John Frankenheimer's biggest disappointments and could say the same for Robert Ludlum since it's his story. Also while I love Michael Caine, he was wrong for this film. Watchable but nothing more...and you definitely would have expected more from this film.

I have not read the novel(though I'd like to, as well as other books by Ludlum), so I cannot draw comparisons, but I do understand that this adaptation does not stick that closely to the source material. And this continues my running tradition of me getting the lesser of the films that Frankenheimer directed. Seriously, Ronin, Reindeer Games, and now this... on the plus side, Ambush was awesome, and Path to War was excellent. This one is fine, not great. Editing and cinematography are reasonable, and this does have a couple of sophisticated moments. The plot is interesting enough. This is well-paced, and there are exciting and tense scenes. The music helps to ensure that the mood is established, and it arguably tries too hard at times, revealing itself to be manipulative. Caine is impeccable, as usual, and the acting in general is quite good. The dialog holds numerous well-delivered lines that are marvelous, memorable and worth quoting. There is moderate to strong language in this, a little disturbing content and some mild violence. I recommend this to the biggest fans of John and Michael. 6/10