The Faust legend retold (loosely) and applied to a mentally disturbed patient in a hospital run by a doctor (Sir Peter Ustinov) of dubious sanity. The patient (Richard Burton) offers the inn... Read allThe Faust legend retold (loosely) and applied to a mentally disturbed patient in a hospital run by a doctor (Sir Peter Ustinov) of dubious sanity. The patient (Richard Burton) offers the innocent orderly (Beau Bridges) vast riches if he'll help him escape.The Faust legend retold (loosely) and applied to a mentally disturbed patient in a hospital run by a doctor (Sir Peter Ustinov) of dubious sanity. The patient (Richard Burton) offers the innocent orderly (Beau Bridges) vast riches if he'll help him escape.
- Awards
- 1 win & 2 nominations total
Bob Harks
- Make-Up Man
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
I saw this film years ago and it is one of the insecurities I remember best along with "The Man w/ the Balloons" and "Always Leave Em Laughing".
Tho not an especially good movie (way over the top to be "good") it is memorable! Some scenes stick in my head 40 yrs after seeing it! If you get a chance to see it, take the dive. It's fun, just don't take it seriously.
I saw the UK-EC version of this film in 1972. Very funny, well acted and directed and worthy of the awards given it by the Berlin Film Festival. HOWEVER, I took some friends to see it in the States and was shocked to see that some cretin(s) had re-cut this work of art to conform to what they perceived as the sophistication level of the USA audience. This USA release was beyond belief! "They" had changed the entire premise of the movie from a black comedy into an action/thriller cutting out the best comedic efforts of the actors. I can resonably assume that the Matlin review reflects this version. If ever the actors and director had a reason to sue for artistic perversion, this was it! My question is "Does anyone have another example of this happening?" While certainly aware of nude scenes being cut from USA films of this era I have never heard of the entire genre of a film being changed.
I must admit that I did not see this film until around 1995, when the film was already 23 years old.
I have never read Faust, or even had an understanding of his works, but that did not lessen the pure escapist joy I had watching this film. The theme music stays with me to this day, and I have only seen the film ONCE! That's right, saw the film ONCE 15 years ago, and I can still hum the theme song, even with the campy 70's chorus...
Burton is solid as always - not quite up there with "Where Eagles Dare", but certainly watchable. Ustinov and Bridges (and Taylor) do a decent enough job in keeping up.
This film is a (very) rare gem, I have only seen it on television ONCE, and I have never seen it on VHS or disc. This film has achieved cult status with myself, mainly due to the fact that I saw it once only, and watched it with my wise-cracking comedian brother. Whenever we need to make a hippie in-joke, we'll start singing the theme tune.
A film so strange (not Eraserhead strange, but odd and out-of-place) that it rightly deserves a cult-film status. I gave it a 7 rating, but this may have been as low as 4 if I had been subjected to repeated viewings... like "It's a Beautiful Life"! Enjoy it if you can ever find it...
I have never read Faust, or even had an understanding of his works, but that did not lessen the pure escapist joy I had watching this film. The theme music stays with me to this day, and I have only seen the film ONCE! That's right, saw the film ONCE 15 years ago, and I can still hum the theme song, even with the campy 70's chorus...
Burton is solid as always - not quite up there with "Where Eagles Dare", but certainly watchable. Ustinov and Bridges (and Taylor) do a decent enough job in keeping up.
This film is a (very) rare gem, I have only seen it on television ONCE, and I have never seen it on VHS or disc. This film has achieved cult status with myself, mainly due to the fact that I saw it once only, and watched it with my wise-cracking comedian brother. Whenever we need to make a hippie in-joke, we'll start singing the theme tune.
A film so strange (not Eraserhead strange, but odd and out-of-place) that it rightly deserves a cult-film status. I gave it a 7 rating, but this may have been as low as 4 if I had been subjected to repeated viewings... like "It's a Beautiful Life"! Enjoy it if you can ever find it...
By the time Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton made this film in 1972, they were the most famous stars in the world as well as the richest. In short, they could do anything they wanted and at this point in their career they did one odd thing after another and this film may well be the oddest. There may be a parallel for it, but I cannot think of any. As the film progressed I kept thinking how odd the story was and also how original. I cannot think of a single film before it that comes as close to how original this film is. I can certainly understand why Taylor and Burton decided to do it. It simply was unlike anything they had ever done before. Telling the story in a review is pointless because it is virtually impossible to actually tell it, there are so many twists and turns and I think this is the one thing that is compelling about the film is the fact you just do not know what happens next and when it does happen you are always surprised. And it definitely keeps you at the edge of your seat but at the same time it is also very funny so I think it can at least be called a black comedy.
Certainly with a cast of this caliber, you expect much, much more. Maybe the problem is with the uninspired directing, awkward screenplay, thin story line and some very choppy editing. Maybe all the money was spent on the stars' salaries giving it a low, low production budget feel. Maybe Burton and Taylor should have quit acting together after 'Virginia Woolf.' But something sure went wrong with this project.
The cassette version I watched recently was just under 102 minutes of running time, but the cassette itself was labeled 108 minutes. Makes you wonder what was left out. I saw this film when it originally played in 1972 and could see no differences between that version and the cassette. So who knows what went on here. Maybe it was just meant to be a quickie, 'What the hell. Let's make it anyway.' turkey.
The cassette version I watched recently was just under 102 minutes of running time, but the cassette itself was labeled 108 minutes. Makes you wonder what was left out. I saw this film when it originally played in 1972 and could see no differences between that version and the cassette. So who knows what went on here. Maybe it was just meant to be a quickie, 'What the hell. Let's make it anyway.' turkey.
Did you know
- TriviaThere appears to be no truth in the rumor that spread in the 1980s to the effect that Richard Burton had so disliked this movie that he had bought the negative and had it destroyed so that no one would ever see it again. However, it is a very hard movie to see, despite its stars.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Andy Hamilton's Search for Satan (2011)
- How long is Hammersmith Is Out?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Hammersmith Is Out
- Filming locations
- Santa Monica, California, USA(I was there.)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $90,933
- Runtime1 hour 48 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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