Oslo Jargo (Bartok Kinski)
It's based on Friedrich Durrenmatt's own crime novella, "The Judge and His Hangman" (1950). So if you've read Durrenmatt, you'll know he's sort of an absurdist like Samuel Beckett or Eugene Ionesco.I liked the film at the start, it's oddly weird, especially the funeral of Donald Sutherland with musical mourners and precipitation. It's hilarious. Another funny scene is when Donald Sutherland is being driven in a car by a Swiss cop and he keeps falling over in the seat.I think the problem ultimately is that the whole film seemed like some idiotic farce that was entirely pointless, and it threw it an "unexpected ending" type of denouement that was weak.Donald Sutherland is some cop who's found whacked in a car, and a Swiss Kommisar, played capably by Martin Ritt (American director, Hud (1963), The Molly Maguires (1970), Hombre (1967)) snoops around trying to find out who did it. He uses the aid of Jon Voight, who's another cop. Robert Shaw as "Gastmann" is an ominous character who may or may have not done the killing. There's plenty of fine acting and odd moments, good direction, but again, it gets bogged down too much in idiosyncratic reactions or convoluted conversations.Martin Ritt and Robert Shaw made some type of bet involving the death/murder of some woman both of them loved.Look for Friedrich Durrenmatt himself as some old "self-playing chess" crank who helps out Jon Voight.It's worth a look for all its faults.
John Seal
...and Jon Voight is its name. Woefully miscast as a Swiss police officer--no doubt in an effort to secure completion funding--Voight ruins what is otherwise a fine Durenmatt adaptation. The author himself has a cameo role, and Martin Ritt and Robert Shaw are both outstanding. Unfortunately Voight's Beatle haircut and appalling effort at a 'Germanic' accent left this viewer cold. When he's offscreen the film is slowly paced but intriguing. Fast forward through his bits and enjoy what's left, including an odd 'performance' by Donald Sutherland as a corpse.
Tails-5
Two bullets. Twoooo bullets. Interesting? Two bullets. That just about describes the wonderful dialogue in the movie. This movie has something in common with "The Sicilian Clan" in the sense that both try to be tense thrillers, but inadvertently end up being awkward comedies. The movie's potential was severely hampered by Martin Ritt, who possesses the worst table manners in the world. He never hesitates to show the world what his food looks like after it's chewed up. Other than that, all the clumsy direction never fails to pull a chuckle or two out of you when it tries to be intelligent (e.g. when the car comes crashing off the highway. It twirls over in slow motion, then lands on the cab and makes a hilarious, synthetic crash sound.) All in all, for me the movie ranks lower than "The Sicilian Clan".
mirko-2
I saw the movie a long time ago, in a class in (German) highschool. I remember being mesmerized by the book for which I can not find a translation in English. It's one of the greatest whodunits of all movie history. Baerlach the old Police Kommissaire has one more year to live due to illness just when a policeman is found dead on a country road near his native Swiss town. Baerlach lets his over-eager deputy Tschanz handle the investigation, knowing full well it will lead Tschanz to an old nemesis of Baerlach's, a criminal that he could never get his hands on. The investigations seem to be unsuccessful, but Baerlach knows something that Tschanz doesn't, and has a plan.
