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Summary: A young man is tormented by a secret organization, run by a sadistic Nazi doctor trying to smuggle priceless diamonds into his possession (imdb)
You can't achieve suspense without first establishing sympathetic characters; well I couldn't of cared less if Hoffman died in the first frame or the last. The film became more and more irritating as the logic holes and characters became increasingly more annoying. Not even glad I saw it to see it.
Similar to Chinatown, various paranoid levels shift and collide beneath the film: like tectonic plates forcing an inevitable eruption of convulsive sentience; of twitching sounds and interpersonal 'untruths'. Yet for all Schlesinger's ambition, the film just feels very, very tacky. Its moments of intensity are marred by a confused story, and many scenes feel like a caricature of themselves, as though they don't live up to the grandeur befitting the ideas within. Interesting, but unsuccessful.
Except 4 the famed "Is it safe?" "exam" & an even more riveting sequence involving a defenseless Hoffman inside a bathroom, the action sometimes plays a bit clunky, as if the title came first & a story was built around having a scene where a marathoner must run 4 his life. There r many clever ideas 4 the time (& can now seem cliché), but 2 many of the misdirections, reveals, dramatic ironies & double-crosses rely on 1 too many contrivances, forced location changes, & coincidences 2 flow smoothly
I don’t if it was just me, but I had no idea what the hell was going on for the first, like, hour of this film. I mean, I understood what was happening basically in each scene, but as to what it meant and its relevance to the characters and why I should care… I was clueless. It did thankfully get better in the second half and had some pretty cool, suspenseful scenes. So, overall, I’m not entirely sure what I thought about it, but I can’t say it’s one of my favourite films I’ve ever seen.
Well, it didn't totally hold up to the test of time by me, but there were some very iconic scenes. I can see why you hear its name thrown around every now and then.
Good performance by Hoffman (as usual), but the story is pretty lame and some of the writing is really lazy and contrived. All in all, it's well-crafted but it won't stick with you.