tomsview I have always thought this a classy movie. It gets a bit convoluted before the end, but it's one I always remembered.Set in Spain, cat burglar Henry Stuart Clark (Michael Caine) joins forces with veteran safecracker Richard Moreau (Eric Portman) and his delectable young wife, Fe Moreau (Giovanni Ralli), to break into the home of a mega wealthy gent named Salinas (John Buck).Stealing jewels becomes almost secondary when Henry attempts to steal Fe. However there are complications and "Deadfall" has an ending that would be hard to get major stars to commit to today.The robbery sequences smack of Hitchcock's "To Catch a Thief", but "Deadfall" isn't as light, there is a dark side to this film.However it's the concert, "Romance for Guitar & Orchestra", which takes place while Henry scales walls and drops onto perilous ledges during the first robbery that really conjures up the Hitchcock deja vu. The composer of the film's score, John Barry, actually conducts the on-screen orchestra, as did Bernard Herrmann in Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much".This is a tense sequence and Barry's score is one of his best. During the 60's he was one of the most innovative composers around, and the title song, "My Love Has Two Faces", sung by Shirley Bassey makes you realise how weak most songs written for the movies are these days - just listen to the nominations on the Academy Awards.The film has terrific locations, Michael Caine at the top of his game and Giovanni Ralli, an Italian actress who is hard to take your eyes off. Even at 80, if recent photographs are anything to go by, she is still a serenely elegant woman.Then there is Eric Portman. I would defy anyone to name an actor who had more gravitas than Eric Portman, although he probably wasn't well here; "Deadfall" was his last movie, he died shortly after.Director Bryan Forbes came up with some intriguing movies in the 60's, "Seance on a Wet Afternoon", "King Rat" and "The Whisperers", a run that seemed to come to an end with "Deadfall"; things were more hit and miss after that.But "Deadfall" is unique; it seems even better now than it did back then.

morpheusatloppers All of the sexual politics - which is what this piece is REALLY about - has dated to the point where it's farcical now. But this movie is still worth watching for...The Heist. The family piles into the Merc 600 and heads for town to attend a concert, leaving the servants behind to listen to it on the radio.What we then get, is a sequence where the legendary John Barry (Forbes convinced him to make one of his RARE appearances) steps up onto the podium to conduct his own Rodrigo-style concerto, with a lovely woman playing solo guitar, while Caine and co do their botched robbery (in the real World, they usually are) back at the family's house.And of course, by switching back and forth from the concert to the house, The Job gets a SOUNDTRACK! Then, when the piece is over, the family gets BACK into their Merc and returns HOME - PASSING the escaping heisters (is that a word? I'm sure the SpellChecker will say no).But what I LOVE about this sequence is the sheer IMPRACTICALITY of the whole thing. Like the bit where Caine DROPS two floors and catches a window-sill with his FINGER-TIPS. His arms are at full stretch, which means it would have been IMPOSSIBLE!And what about the concert itself? Barry's concerto is shown as being the ONLY item on the programme - and it lasts (in REAL TIME) just SEVENTEEN MINUTES! Whoever heard of a concert that only lasted seventeen minutes?And the family don't even go ON somewhere afterwards (like a restaurant or club). Apparently, they BOOKED tickets, got DRESSED up, TRAVELED into town, PARKED up, got to their seats, sat - then REVERSED the process - for a SEVENTEEN MINUTE CONCERT. BONKERS!!!You've GOT to love it.

HEFILM Bryan Forbes is an underrated director, almost forgotten today for a string of well reviewed films that ended with this one. The good reviews did that is. Perhaps at the time the direction seemed "overboard" but by today's standards of course it is merely stylish. It features lots of interesting camera angles, almost like a Joseph Losey film at times visually, and a lot of well written dialog.Caine is very good. He played a series of almost expressionless villains and near-villains in the late 1960's. This roll is one of those, crook who falls for the wrong woman, deals but he totally sells it. Even the tone of his voice is different than you'd expect. He also gets to display both surprise and rage towards the end which gives the character more of a place to go than in the more highly regarded say Harry Palmer films and the soon to be made and good but over rated GET CARTER. He really makes the film work.The odd character relationships also help a great deal as does John Barry's music. Fans of his probably know the main robbery scene is inter cut with a specially composed piece of pseudo classical music he wrote and which the scene was edited to later. It's a fascinating sequence and not like anything else Barry ever composed and worth watching for any fan of film music, meaning music in a film connected and interacting with it, not just as a CD to buy and enjoy. The whole score has a touch of the Spanish setting the film lushly invokes. You do have to ignore the lyrics and slightly heard it before nature of the Title song.This is not an action crime film, more of a corrupted souls and the crimes they commit type of approach with an interesting Spanish setting. It's disguised film noir with realistic occasionally funny dialog and cool oddball sinister angles and editing choices that maybe play better today than at the time. Well worth watching, but good luck finding it.

Darryl Cox (DD-931) It's a shame this movie was such a failure, because subsequently one of the greatest 60's film scores I've ever heard has been buried along with it. John Barry has never done finer work, and even appears on-camera to conduct one of the brilliant pieces he composed. If you ever get a chance to see this film on TV, and you get bored by it, just leave the sound on. You'll get quite a treat.