Não Importa que Morram

From the first bit of footage you will know you are settling in to see a winner. Pierre Barouh's title song is enchanting and beguiling and the singer's voice sounds like an angel. George's acting in HOC rivals his performance in Breakfast at Tiffany's and The Blue Max. It's hard to believe his agent steered him to The A Team when he had proven he had real talent. Inger Stevens, who looks as fetching as you'll ever see her, was also at the top of her game in this movie.

The direction felt like Hitch was behind the camera, it's that good. One of my very favorite actors, Orson Welles, also works his magic. If you like Orson, you will certainly enjoy another of his potentially lesser know performances in Long Hot Summer.

What I will never understand is the production company, Universal Pictures, never released this on tape, laserdisc or DVD (if you have some influence with Universal, call in a favor to fix this). Talk about your missed opportunities! A loss for movie lovers the world over. Your only chance to see this is to obtain the CD-V version.

In the sixties, spy stories were galore on screens, more or less 007 like oriented, with cool heroes, or more disenchanted ones. There are also some Hitchcock movies elements in this movie. It begins very slowly then becomes more interesting, but not the John Guillermin's best. With the same Georpe Peppard, I preferd PJ, also from Universal Studios, or still with Peppard, of course the awesome BLUE MAX, for me the Guillermin's ever best, with TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE. The director was not that inspired on this movie, that's my opinion. It's only entertainment and on this point, he succeeded. Mostly set in France, it evokes the war in Algeria, OAS clandestine organization - more or less involved with fascists oriented groups...And Orson Welles is impressive, smashing walnuts with his fingers - fists.....

I understand those who don't like George Peppard in this film. His performance as something of a superman among a regular bunch of crooks is almost unbearable and adds to the film's character of general superficial abominability. Orson Welles' performance is interesting, and Inger Stevens is all right, but the script is very stereotype. Nevertheless it deals with some serious problems, the constant universal problem of a superior race wanting to take charge of the world and turn it into a superstate, the idea of a world government has always been a present issue in history, and was never more actual than today. Still, the issue gets lost in atrocities and too many murders, constantly excelling each other in inhuman cruelty, and there is the objection: An important issue gets drowned in effects, an all too common problem in modern films. What makes film worth watching in spite of all this is the wonderful photography and cinematography - the filming of Paris makes this film enjoyable in spite of the inhuman domination.

I went to see this at age 15 because I enjoyed the Stanley Ellin book it's based on. The movie is imitation Hitchcock of a very high order. (The climax in the Colosseum is pure Hitchcock.) Peppard is supposed to be a washed up boxer, and he has just the beat-up, world-weary sexiness the part needs. Inger Stevens is very glamorous as the lady of the house with her problems and secrets. The Paris setting is very well used, and that's important because the movie has a unique premise. The villains are pied noir terrorists left over from the Algerian revolution, displaced from their colonial home, reactionary, and deeply opposed to the French government of that appeaser DeGaulle. It gives a certain reality to the mysterious goings on. I thought the film did full justice to the novel, except that they unavoidably dispensed with the novel's use of Tarot cards to organize the chapters thematically. The music is great too. There's a title song in French that I'd love to have a recording of. It's sad to see Stevens looking so lovely and giving such a good performance so close to her tragic real-life suicide. She was special, and there's great chemistry between her and Peppard.

I saw this movie with my dad when it first came out at the now long-gone Cinema Theater on Miami Beach.

What I recall most about it was the rare beauty of Inger Stevens. What a beautiful, lovely, sexy, talented actress. It is really a sad state of affairs that her personal demons ended her life so young. I recall hearing about her death on the t.v. news and how I cried a few tears; even though I was a young child of 9.

The movie is fast-paced, exciting, well-acted, and the Paris of the 1960s is in all it's glory.

Unless this movie comes out on DVD, it will be lost to the ages. Most likely it's about forgotten, except for those lucky enough to have seen it. I even have the original movie poster of this film hanging on the wall of my apartment.