Le Contrat

I would say I took a gamble by purchasing this movie, but it's hard to constitute $6.99 as a gamble. It came in a boxed with set with another old DeNiro movie, "Born to Run," which I haven't watched yet. Well, like I cynically expected, DeNiro is NOT the star of this film. Sure, his name appears first in the opening credits, but I'm guessing that's because the film was re-issued in 1980 and by then, DeNiro was already a moderately big star. The story basically centers around his character, but we only see him once in the first scene, and then momentarily in flashbacks. This was back when DeNiro had that Tom Selleck-like moustache, looking like an out-of-work porn star.

Not to be totally negative, the unknown actor who plays the main character gives a pretty good, though one-note, performance. The rest of the actors--except for DeNiro--could've been just as effective reading their lines off cue cards. And judging by the way this film was made--like a third-rate student film--I wouldn't be surprised if they were.

The cheap production values are as clear as day, but the film could've saved its integrity with a good script. Some of the dialogue is horribly laughable. But for $6.99, you often get what you pay for. At least it will serve as good filler for my extensive video collection.

My score: 4 (out of 10)

Okay the story is this: De Niro made some lame movie name around 1969 Sam's Song that never saw the light of day. Fast forward a few years (say around 1980) and De Niro is a star so some joker gets a hold of Sam's Song, recuts it, adds some footage and viola! The Swap was born! Which is probably even worse than Sam's Song.

So if you are a De Niro diehard, you have been warned. But hey, so was I and I saw it anyway.

The revised title, "The Swap", introduces a certain amount of confusion. The viewer will spend the entire duration of this poor movie wondering what the producers are referring to as a "swap" and not come up with anything plausible. But where a neutral or bland lack of point to support the title would be bad enough, this production actively makes matters worse. This happens in the following way: one of the main characters (Ann) is portrayed by two actresses, one of whom is supposedly 10 years younger than the other. Infuriatingly, the younger actress looks nothing at all like the older actress, and the viewer is led to the FALSE conclusion that the character played by the older actress is an impostor, so that the "swap" concerns one person stealing another's identity. Nothing so interesting turns out to be the fact, of course, and nothing else turns up as a better candidate for the "swap." There are lots of GOOD movies to see; there's no reason to waste time with this one.

A lot has been said here. But almost none of it is about Sam's Song, and even if it is, it often isn't rue.

Sam's Song is not unfinished. At least, I saw a movie that had opening credits, closing credits, and the rest made sense as well. And Sam's Song is NOT, I REPEAT: NOT "The Swap". Even though I saw the movie on a DVD which promoted it as "The Swap", and even if the cover said it would be about a porn director being killed: it isn't.

It's a fairly simple love story told in an uncommon way. Not much really happens, but that doesn't stop you from being intrigued. The film is not very much concerned about plot, but more about atmosphere and the characters. The film shows us four characters which are all unpredictable and yet very recognizable, maybe just because they are unpredictable and are not Hollywoodlike at all. The fact that De Niro plays a wannabe director hardly plays any part in this movie. It's a pleasant story about two couples: one that just met en one that has been together for years, seemingly destined to live happily ever after.

The film is intriguing because of the unpredictable dialogs, the weird pace, the uncommon silences and, of course, because it's a very honest en typical 60's/70's film, a time document. The director en the editor were clearly not untalented. De Niro plays very differently from his well known parts, but I would call it a different style, not per se worse.

The ending is a bit abrupt and feels weak. It denies the title "Sam's Song". Sam (De Niro) is the protagonist but the movie, in the end, is about the other three characters. That's where the main weakness lays: Sam is the main character, and he is intriguing (De Niro's talent already showing?) but in the end, he is unimportant.

Most votes and comments here are about "The Swap", a version with extra material which doesn't resemble Sam's Song in the slightest anymore. Don't be fooled. Even though that's hard: Sam's Song is sold as The Swap and vice versa. Sam's Song itself is definitely worth to be seen even if it's far from a master piece. 6.5 out of 10

Just to let you know: Sam's Song is in fact a finished movie. In my country you can buy a very cheap DVD release which is actually titled The Swap, but it does contain the full movie Sam's Song.

Not that you guys are missing out on anything if they only released The Swap in your country. Sam's Song is also a horrible movie which doesn't seem to have any kind of plot.

De Niro plays some kind of amateur screenwriter/director who is invited by a befriended couple to some big mansion for a party. He meets a girl there and most of the movie is basically De Niro and this girl falling in love (which is translated on screen as the two of them just running around on a beach and stuff like that). Maybe they did in fact run out of money at a certain point because there doesn't seem to be a real ending to this mess.

The dialogues are laughable most of the time, the scenes just seem to jump from one thing to another with no real meaning or purpose. And I couldn't call it acting either what those people on screen are doing.

I can only assume this was some lame and cheap attempt at making an arty farty movie but they failed miserably. Or maybe this "style" of movie was just popular in the sixties, because there's another De Niro movie out there (Greetings, which is in fact directed by Brian DePalma) that's just as bizar as this movie.

Maybe some real hardcore De Niro fans would appreciate to see some early De Niro work like Sam's Song, but I can say without a doubt that this is a strong contestant for the first place in my top 10 of worst movies of all time.