Michael Caine - the films of

[maninasuitcase]

The Wrong Box (1966)

Filmed in 1965, this superb black comedy farce is a real gem of a movie. Along with Michael we get Peter Sellers, Tony Hancock, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Ralph Richardson, John Mills, John Le Mesurier and Irene Handl.

The plot (from Wiki):
Elderly brothers Masterman (Mills) and Joseph Finsbury (Richardson) are the surviving members of a tontine, an investment scheme set up many years before, in which the last member stands to receive a fortune. Masterman is attended by his medical student grandson, Michael (Caine), while his greedy cousins Morris (Cook) and John (Moore) do their best to keep their annoying uncle Joseph alive.

This film is really stolen by an incredibly funny appreance by Peter Sellers as a cat loving dodgy doctor who will do anything for money. The bit where he has to use "a blotter" on some ink is very amusing.

Caine, Richardson, Mills, Hancock, Cook and Moore are all excellent in this farce well directed by Bryan Forbes. You even get a John Barry score.

This was Hancock's last appearance in a movie. He does a good turn as the hopeless police inspector. But Sellers is the star of this movie even though he is not in it for very long.

Loved it.

9/10

[magnumpi]

Film: Dressed to Kill

What's It All About?

When Liz Blake (Nancy Allen), a prostitute, sees a mysterious woman brutally slay homemaker Kate Miller (Angie Dickinson), she finds herself trapped in a dangerous situation. While the police think Liz is the murderer, the real killer wants to silence the crime's only witness. Only Kate's inventor son, Peter (Keith Gordon), believes Liz. Peter and Liz team up to find the real culprit, who has an unexpected means of hiding her identity and an even more surprising motivation to kill.

This is a great film, scary in places, erotic in others and all with a Hitchcock vibe throughout. Caine has an important role in the film and it is one to watch if you haven't seen it already. Angie Dickinson is, as usual, very hot in this film!

[maninasuitcase]

Just to illustrate how bad the UK print of 'The Holcroft Covenant' is I will do a couple of comparisons with the Region 1 MGM DVD. The UK DVD comes from a bunch of cowboys called Pegasus Entertainment.



Above the Pegasus DVD!



Above is the MGM DVD!



Pegasus.



MGM.

The Pegatuss release is clearly sourced from a very ropey VHS copy. No wonder an Amazon reviewer described this as the worst quality DVD he had ever seen.

[ltd]

I'm going to nominate Harry Brown from a few years back. Caine and the Daily Mail seemed to think it was a film full of serious social comment. It isn't. It's the story of a grumpy old s*d going around wasting chavs, druggies and other low life who are making life hell on the housing estate where he lives i.e. a reactionary vigilante film, and a perfectly good one but let's not kid ourselves it's got anything significant to say. Caine's performance makes it better than it would otherwise have been. The "You Failed to Maintain Your Weapon" scene with Sean Harris is great.

I think there's also a nod to Get Carter when he says, "Now. Tell me what happened with Leonard". As I remember he says something similar to Ian Hendry just before smashing his head in.

[magnumpi]

Jun 3, 2016 15:19:22 GMT maninasuitcase said:

Just to illustrate how bad the UK print of 'The Holcroft Covenant' is I will do a couple of comparisons with the Region 1 MGM DVD. The UK DVD comes from a bunch of cowboys called Pegasus Entertainment.



Above the Pegasus DVD!



Above is the MGM DVD!



Pegasus.



MGM.

The Pegatuss release is clearly sourced from a very ropey VHS copy. No wonder an Amazon reviewer described this as the worst quality DVD he had ever seen.

Good screen shots there. Yes they certainly just shoved out a rubbish copy. The  picture quality
of the film should not be as bad as the actual film! There is a Blu Ray out now with very good picture quality. 

[maninasuitcase]

I have just slung the Pegatuss DVD in the bin and replaced that in the CFA with the MGM version.

[magnumpi]

As Michael Caine was drinking quite heavily during this period if you ask him if he remembers the film his cloudy mind would probably only remember it in Pegatuss picture quality!

[maninasuitcase]

The Holcroft Covenant (1985)

Filmed in 1984 with James Caan originally cast as the hero Noel Holcroft. Caan walked off set the day before production began in July 1984. Caine was a last minute replacement for esteemed director John Frankenheimer.

The plot? Three leading Nazis leave billions of dollars in a trust fund at the end of WWII. Now, 30 years on Holcroft (son of one of those three Nazis) has been entrusted with the money but there are a bunch of neo Nazis after the money........

Caine clearly wasn't interested in this role as he sleepwalks through the movie. He just looks and sounds as though he can't be bothered. The rest of the cast: Lilli (The Zoo Gang) Palmer plays Mike's Mum, Bernard Hepton is a shady MI5 officer, Victoria Tennant plays the daughter of another of the Nazis and Anthony Andrews is her brother. I thought Andrews wasn't particularly well cast either.

The film was mostly shot in Germany with London as its secondary location. The production values are quite high and the Region 1 DVD makes it look rather resplendent.

I hadn't seen this film for 30 years and my views haven't changed. The first two thirds of the film are good but the ending is quite silly and sloppily done.

Not a complete failure and worth checking out. A lot of plot twists!

6/10

[ace5150]

Jun 3, 2016 15:34:12 GMT ltd said:

I'm going to nominate Harry Brown from a few years back. Caine and the Daily Mail seemed to think it was a film full of serious social comment. It isn't. It's the story of a grumpy old s*d going around wasting chavs, druggies and other low life who are making life hell on the housing estate where he lives i.e. a reactionary vigilante film, and a perfectly good one but let's not kid ourselves it's got anything significant to say. Caine's performance makes it better than it would otherwise have been. The "You Failed to Maintain Your Weapon" scene with Sean Harris is great.

I think there's also a nod to Get Carter when he says, "Now. Tell me what happened with Leonard". As I remember he says something similar to Ian Hendry just before smashing his head in.

I fully agree, always had it as an OAP Death Wish, never saw it as a social comment with the decline of Britain.
That said, it's a great film. Plan B aka Ben Drew is particularly nasty throughout. Went on to play George Carter in the much ridiculed Sweeney film a few years back.

[maninasuitcase]

'Harry Brown' is a really, really good Mike movie. Proves there is life in the old dog yet.

[Arch Stanton]

I thoroughly enjoyed Harry Brown.
Didn't care for it on the first viewing but it rapidly grew on me. But that was the technical aspects which irritated me not the content.

[maninasuitcase]

The Island (1980)

Based on the Peter "Jaws" Benchley novel this really is a quite ludicrous tale of a group of old style pirates still on the loose in the Caribbean. You know the type, a yo ho ho and a bottle of rum brigade. You really do expect to see a one legged pirate with a parrot on his shoulder appear at any time. Instead the buccaneering bunch are all played by British character actors hamming it up for our Queen and country. You get David Warner, Colin Jeavons (who looks a right prat in his Compo wellies ), Dudley Sutton and Don "Bulman" Henderson as the nasty brigade.

The plot? Caine and his young son go to investigate all the mysterious disappearances of ships in the Caribbean but end up getting captured by the pirates on their mysterious island.......

This is a very violent movie and one I hadn't seen since 1983. I saw this on ITV would have been heavily cut for violence and bad language. The source novel is not great and the film was off to a bad start by, IIRC, sticking close to it. Stanton, of this parish, will be quite impressed by the gore factor being quite high!

The good? Nice score by Ennio Morricone, lovely photography of the beautiful island (although the day for night shots are awful) and it does move along at a fair pace.

The bad? The story is so far fetched, I was patiently waiting for a crocodile who swallowed an alarm clock to turn up. The acting is so hammy you expected to see less on a fat pig on a spit roast. Caine is OK in this, I think he was miles better than his soporific turn in 'The Holcroft Covenant.

The ugly? Don Henderson, Dudley Sutton and Colin Jeavons.

5/10

[magnumpi]

Agreed, the island is a film you want to be much better then it is. I always watch it when it is on and always abandon it half way through

[felixdeburgh]

Re. Pegasus - I'm sure I've got one of their b&w releases which has their logo in the top left corner throughout the film - obviously to disguise the name of the satellite channel they recorded it from off the TV.

[dscarter1975]

The only thing I liked about The Island was the climax which was rather similar to a Rambo film and the final rescue attempt.

[Lee]

Just watching Escape To Victory complete with Michael Caine 'blow the bl*ody doors off' accent.
I do like him I admit,but I watched a Channel 4 documentary where he was trying to teach kids how to act and I laughed my socks off.He can cry on tap.Hahaha.

[ltd]

I've already waxed lyrical about The Island on page 1 and have nothing to add, except you're all wrong and need to be made to watch it over and over again until you appreciate its sublime brilliance, either that or you can walk the plank. Arr!

[jno]

No mention of this on here - love this tune:

[maninasuitcase]

'Gambit' 1966

A caper movie also starring Shirley Maclaine. This is a really good Mike movie with wonderful on screen chemistry with Miss MacLaine.

The plot? Caine and his male sidekick plan to rob Herbert Lom's character of some of a priceless antique he owns. To do that they get Shirley involved as she is the spitting image of Lom's deceased wife. As in all those movies the plan doesn't quite go as it should.......

The film was entirely made in Hollywood but the fictional Middle Eastern city of Dammuz is convincingly created. You can see on the interior scenes that there is a painted backdrop but it looks pretty darn good.

Herbert Lom, sporting a Jim Kirklace widow's peak toupee , is very good as the rich man that Caine targets as someone they can steal from. Lom rarely gives a bad performance and he is as good as any in this light romantic comedy.

A very enjoyable way to spend an evening or afternoon.

9/10

[maninasuitcase]

Deadfall (1968)

Another Mike film made with Bryan Forbes and Nanette Newman but sadly this is no 'The Wrong Box'. After viewing the superb 'The Wrong Box' I had high hopes for this film shot mainly on Mallorca but it was a bit of a let down to be honest.

Mike plays a cat burglar who gets involved with Eric Portman's character and his beautiful younger wife. They plan a robbery. This is no caper movie like the brilliant 'Gambit'. It is a melodrama with a controversial (for its day) homosexual relationship between Portman and his "young male friend". The storyline was written by Forbes and I just think he should have concentrated on a bit more action and less on the not very likeable characters who you don't really care about.

The cast? Caine and Portman are good despite the rather dull lines they have to say. Leonard Rossiter, Vladek Sheybal and David Buck all make brief appearances. I am really not sure why Nanette Newman bothered to turn up as her part was so brief.

John Barry (who appears in a very boring cameo as the orchestra conductor) does a superb job with the film's score. There are definitely touches of James Bond in it.

It is not a bad movie but over long at 98 minutes and well outstays its welcome.

6/10

[ace5150]

Try these out.

[ace5150]

There's a few others, but you get the idea.

[jno]

Jun 3, 2016 17:59:47 GMT maninasuitcase said:

I have just slung the Pegatuss DVD in the bin and replaced that in the CFA with the MGM version.

Well done for posting the differences here mias. Pegasus clearly just looking to make a quick earner putting that print on the market.

ace5150: had completely forgotten about Harry Enfield taking the wotsit with this character.

[ltd]

Jun 10, 2016 17:42:48 GMT ace5150 said:

There's a few others, but you get the idea.

Probably my favourite sketches from that series. I read somewhere that him looking out of the upstairs window is a nod a scene in the Ipcress File.

[KarinB]

A lot of kids won't know Caine's good acting performances, many of which were early in his career. My son noticed Caine in a film on tv and promptly said "That's Alfred from Batman Begins !"

(I've since educated him with 'The Italian Job').

[magnumpi]

Just seen this nice picture from The Italian Job of Michael with Valerie Leon. Would be a good one to get signed by the both of them.
Valerie was without a doubt one of the hottest models/actresses in the 1960s. If I had a time machine I would head back then and knock on her door. Now there is a real woman!

[magnumpi]

Currently enjoying the much under-rated Without a Clue

[maninasuitcase]

I've seen a few Mike movies of late, I must post my thoughts!

[maninasuitcase]

1964 Zulu
1965 The Ipcress File
1966 Alfie
1966 The Wrong Box
1966 Gambit
1966 Funeral in Berlin
1967 Hurry Sundown
1967 Billion Dollar Brain
1968 Deadfall
1968 The Magus
1969 The Italian Job
1969 Play Dirty
1969 Battle of Britain
1970 Too Late the Hero
1970 The Last Valley
1971 Get Carter
1971 Kidnapped
1972 Zee and Co.
1972 Pulp
1972 Sleuth
1974 The Black Windmill
1974 The Marseille Contract
1975 The Wilby Conspiracy
1975 The Romantic Englishwoman
1975 The Man Who Would Be King
1976 Peeper
1976 Harry and Walter Go to New York
1976 The Eagle Has Landed
1977 A Bridge Too Far
1978 Silver Bears
1978 The Swarm
1978 California Suite
1979 Ashanti
1979 Beyond the Poseidon Adventure
1980 Dressed to Kill
1980 The Island
1981 The Hand
1981 Escape to Victory
1982 Deathtrap
1983 Educating Rita
1983 The Honorary Consul
1983 The Jigsaw Man
1984 Blame It on Rio
1985 Water
1985 The Holcroft Covenant
1986 Hannah and Her Sisters
1986 Sweet Liberty
1986 Mona Lisa
1986 Half Moon Street
1986 The Whistle Blower
1987 The Fourth Protocol
1987 Jaws: The Revenge
1987 Surrender
1988 Without a Clue
1988 Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
1990 A Shock to the System
1990 Mr. Destiny
1990 Bullseye
1992 Noises Off
1992 Blue Ice
1992 The Muppet Christmas Carol
1994 On Deadly Ground
1994 Then There Were Giants
1995 Bullet to Beijing
1996 Blood and Wine
1996 Midnight in Saint Petersburg
1998 Shadow Run
1998 Curtain Call
1998 Little Voice
1999 The Cider House Rules
2000 Quills
2000 Shiner
2000 Get Carter
2000 Miss Congeniality
2001 Last Orders
2002 Austin Powers in Goldmember
2002 The Quiet American
2003 Quicksand
2003 The Actors
2003 Secondhand Lions
2003 The Statement
2004 Around the Bend
2005 Batman Begins
2005 Bewitched
2005 The Weather Man
2006 Children of Men
2006 The Prestige
2007 Flawless
2007 Sleuth
2008 The Dark Knight
2008 Is Anybody There?
2009 Harry Brown
2010 Inception

Stanton and I have been busy adding to our Mike DVD list however those not emboldened we still need. If you have a DVD of any of those films can you please PM me?

[magnumpi]

The Holcroft Covernant is on TNT right now (repeated at 10pm on TNT +1+). It appears to be the MGM print they have, screen quality is good.

Have to say, I'm actually enjoying it. Caine is good, the story is shaky at best but it's good fun. I like the soundtrack too.