Deadfall (1968) User Reviews (51)

Michael Caine is splendid as a master jewel thief in this exciting and amazing thriller shot at Majorca Island, Spain

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 21 January 2021]

It deals with a cat burgler : Michel Caine who is hired by a rare and mysterious marriage : Giovanna Ralli , Eric Portman to execute a house theft . He has to carry out a cat burlar at a luxurious mansion at great risk to limb and life . Meanwhile , the burgler falls in love with the young wife of his gay accomplice .Michael Caine stood on a wall.. Michael Caine has a deadfall ! Michael Caine plunges into the world of the adulterious ... the treacherous ,.. and the perverse !

Thrilling and interesting film about house robbery with action , trills , emotion , a love story and replete with a Shirley Bassey theme tune . This is a stop-go thriller being slow-moving at times , but entertaining enough . Of course , the best scenes result to be when our starring bringing off a daring heist intercut with clips from the concert attended by the owners of the house he is stealing , otherwise the action is undermourished . Trio of protagonists are frankly well . Michael Caine is very good in his usual style as the resourceful stealer carrying out dangerous robberies . The beautiful spouse , the Italian Giovanna Ralli , is fine as the woman who has been mentally scarred by his dad's membership of the Gestapo . And Eric Portman steals the show as the good-manners and sophisticated thief . Along with these nice stars , there is a small group of secondaries appearing and delivering brief interpretations , such as : Leonard Rossiter, Philip Madoc , Vladek Sheybal , composer John Barry himself , cameo by prestigious writer who lived in Majorca and Nanette Newman who was Bryan Forbes' wife , as well as Spanish secondaries as Emilio Rodríguez and Santiago Rivero .

It contains a brilliant and colorful cinematography by Gerry Turpin, shot on spectacular location in Majorca Balearic Islands , Spain and Pinewood Studios , Buckinghamshire , England , U K. The motion picture was professionally directed by Bryan Forbes , though it has some flaws and gaps . Being the special mention for the haunting musical score by John Barry , adding a 20-minute guitar concerto to accompany the hold-up . Both , composer John Barry and filmmaker Bryan Forbes collaborated in six theatrical movies , being this Deadfall their final movie . Director Bryan Forbes was also a notorious actor who directed some acceptable movies , such as : "Whistle down the wind , The L-shaped Room, Seance on a Wet Afternoon , King Rat , The Whisperers , The Raging Moon, The Slipper and the Rose , International Velvet , Better late than never , The Naked Face" , among others. The picture will appeal to Michael Caine fans .

"I don't think any of this is very nice"

[richardchatten · 5/10 · 13 November 2022]

After spending most of the sixties specialising in low-keyed black & white slices of life this marked Bryan Forbes' chance to provide a slice of cake. The package of Michael Caine (sans glasses) playing a dashing jewel thief against a backdrop of glamorous Spanish locations with a score by John Barry obviously made it easy to get backing. Just so you get the message it also has a credit sequence complete with a song by Shirley Bassey.

Although the heist itself delivers the goods, the principals spend far too much time languidly talking (and talking) about their emotions. Vladek Sheybal (also a Bond veteran) offers an unsettling cameo as a psychiatrist (who manages to give hitherto unsuspected menace to the single word "ma-ssage"); while in addition to the inevitable Nanette Newman - at one point briefly seen snogging David Buck to Barry's theme from 'Beat Girl' - Giovanni Ralli and Eric Portman (in his last film) are memorably poisonous as Caine's partners in crime.

This one must have shocked a few folks back in the 1960s.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 11 April 2013]

Sure, the late 1960s were a rather permissive time. Nudity and highly realistic violence had crept into films and once taboo topics were becoming more and more commonplace. Still, I think some of the plot elements in "Deadfall" must have shocked a few folks back then. That's because the plot involves more than just burglaries, as one of the main characters is gay---a novel idea for its time.

The film begins with Henry Clark (Michael Caine) in rehab for alcoholism. A pretty lady (Giovanna Ralli) shows up with a business proposition--she knows he's a top burglar and wants him for a job with her husband (Eric Portman). The trio join forces and their goal eventually is to go for a seemingly impossible job--but they do an easier one first. This job does not go smoothly, but seeing this portion of the film is the highlight of the movie.

By the way, although the plot left me a bit cold, the music by John Barry was great and the director's use of intercutting scenes during the first burglary are quite good. Along the line, Caine falls for his new partner's wife. This isn't a major problem, as her husband is gay. But, oddly, she is very loyal to him and won't leave him. However, there is an odd secret--something much stranger afoot that no one except the husband yet knows. What it is turns out to be kind of weird--and leads to a very anticlimactic and depressing ending. All in all, a creative caper film but one that is, at times, very talky and many won't like the downbeat ending. I think it's worth a look--a decent film but certainly not a must-see.

An Unusual thriller

[tyburn · 15 April 2001]

Watched this film tonight on the BBC for the first time. What an unusual film! Written and Directed by Bryan Forbes it certainly added some new twists to the usual thriller plotline. Some odd mixing of plotlines, particularly mixing up sexuality with perversion, which maybe didn't come off too well, but with some brilliant music by John Barry and a belting Shirley Bassey opening titles song this does deliver great entertainment with good direction from Bryan Forbes.

Michael Caine stars in tepid cat burglar thriller...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 6 July 2007]

DEADFALL is a lushly photographed suspense story with a cat burglar theme, wallowing in a full bodied John Barry score--especially during the major heist involving MICHAEL CAINE's high climbing bit where he's breaking into a playboy's mansion. Clever editing permits cross-cutting between a concert hall suite and the burglary in progress. GIOVANNA RALLI is the pretty Italian woman married to the mastermind of the burglary--ERIC PORTMAN--an aged homosexual.

After the main burglary, the story sags from mid-point onward with talky scenes between Caine and Ralli where she talks about her failed marriage and revelations of a sordid kind. All of this leads toward a downbeat ending with explanations made that are supposed to be shocking but don't have the desired impact because by then the pace of the film has become too lethargic.

ERIC PORTMAN gets the best lines but the dialog is hardly up to the caliber of Tennessee Williams and that's what is needed here, considering the sort of material the story deals with.

Summing up: Handsomely photographed on locations in England and Spain, it's a so-so crime caper after a solidly suspenseful burglary. The John Williams score is its biggest asset.

GREAT SOUNDTRACK, SO-SO FILM

[DD-931 · 6/10 · 3 December 2003]

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.

It sure ain't Gambit

[Popey-6 · 5/10 · 14 July 2001]

After seeing this, I could be persuaded why Caine's is so well known for making dud decisions as to the choice of his films. While comparisons are inevitably made with the earlier and strictly played for laughs Gambit, this is a thief movie with no humour whatsoever and as the film progresses from intrigue to jealousy, and then from drudgery to death.

Overdirected? Most critics say so, but in the main, this was one of the aspects I most liked about the film. An early scene where Caine talks to the a youthful Leonard Rossiter can be noted for the lack of any shot of them both together in conversation. Others however, are sheer melodrama and should never have made it to the final cut.

Interesting for early Caine fans only, as thereafter the attractiveness fades and only the director, Bryan Forbes, nice man as he is, can really be left to carry the can, so to speak. Speeding to a climax which is just plain odd, the film rather leaves too much detail unexplained. While it appears easy to fill in the gaps, not enough time elapses between the final revelations and the dramatic close, to believe that not one of the characters could have really thought sensibly about all of this, and therefore not taken such drastic actions. Bewildering though not without charm.

not a classic but worth seeing

[ib011f9545i · 6/10 · 13 January 2019]

I have understandably always confused this film with Gambit. Both heist movies starring Michael Caine. I am a huge Caine fan but somehow never saw this until today. It is as I say a heist story set in Spain. No plot spoilers but it is not totally an action film,there is a romance and psychological angle.

The cast is great and the film makes Spain look fantastic. The soundtrack is wonderful. I don't understand why this film gets such bad reviews,it is as good as The Thomas Crown affair and similar films.

Art-house heist - neither heist nor art-house

[Chrid-909 · 3/10 · 29 January 2015]

This movie has been described as a heist movie. May you be warned, dear reader, there is very little heisting here. The one real sequence, which comes after about forty minutes of turgid and unnecessary build-up, is intended to be tense and exciting, as the director cross-cuts repeatedly between the heist action and a concert hall (where house-owner is) with a performance of an absolutely horrendous Barry-composed piece for orchestra and guitar, in which the guitar is mostly drowned out by the loud and bombastic noises of the orchestra. The guitar music itself is very insipid, featuring mostly plain chords, with none of the fluid runs or flamenco riffs that one expects, especially in Spain, from the classical guitar. Nevertheless the performance receives thunderous applause and a standing ovation. Why?!

As for the heist itself, we are expected to swallow a lot here. Firstly, the supposedly expert cat burglar (Caine) when shown a picture of his proposed entry window, opts for a torturous route whereby he has to use a grappling hook to climb up to the balcony of a higher floor and get himself over to the roof above said window, hang from the edge of this roof and then let himself fall and catch hold of the windowsill a floor and a half below - a marble windowsill mind which is not square but is ribbed and rounded at the edge!

Caine then has to pull himself up from this position – and remember, he's a very big man – and onto the windowsill. When you're watching this you go WTF! All they needed to do was have a small extending ladder with them and he could have got to the windowsill in a fraction of the time, without having to risk his life to do it.

Once inside he lets the old man in, whose job it is to open the safe, but he complains that the old safe has been replaced with a new one. Time ticks by, the concert is finishing (signalling return of house owner). Safe cracker admits defeat but not Caine, who proceeds to noisily smash the surrounding brickwork with a hammer and chisel.

We now have to swallow that the three servants in the house hear nothing of this because they are eating and listening to the concert on the radio!

Caine lugs the safe out to the car and they avoid in the nick of time the previously drugged but now awake guard dogs along with the returning house-owner.

After this 'heist' Caine and the old man's wife start to get friendly, Caine gets a snazzy E-type and the film descends into a series of conversational set-pieces which totally fail in their desired intention of instilling fascinating and thought-provoking dramatic content into the movie.

To give an example: Caine in one scene is lying motionless on his back on the bed and listening to the lead actress, who with mask-like expression (perhaps adopted to evoke high drama but more probably an expression of the actress's complete lack of personality) is droning on and on and on about some old personal history that is meant to be hugely significant but which is so boring that you (I did anyway) just turn off and stop listening and you see Caine lying there and you see that he's done the same and is presumably daydreaming about getting his final scene wrapped so he can collect his cheque and get out of there.

The film stretches on in similar manner until the 'sad' and 'dramatic' ending where you don't feel sad but happy because it finally finished and you can leave the cinema/switch off the TV! Would have given this film two points but have to give three because of the beauty of the E-type Jag!

Moody jewel-heist thriller

[thehumanduvet · 6/10 · 20 June 2001]

Michael Caine plays a typically taciturn cat-burglar hooking up with a shady couple to pull off some posh country-house robberies in this atmospheric thriller set amongst Europe's aristocrats. Some nice scenery and a few tense robbery scenes fill in between a complex relationship story at the centre of things, as Caine has an affair with his gay employer/partner's wife. Interesting, a bit weird but not enough for cult interest, no classic but a good little movie.

A waste of time crime thriller.

[NEIL-213 · 1/10 · 15 June 2003]

This may not be Michael Caines worst film,but it is almost certainly his worst performance.It has to be said the writing does not help him ,he comes across as a charmless cad with little to no humanity in evidence.Eric Portman as the sexually challenged partner in crime tries hard,but can find nothing in the script to help make a rounded character.Although caine was only in his 30s when he made this some of the physical abilities required in this crime movie would be beyond the efforts of a professional athlete.All in all a really bad movie with a dreadful if not deserved ending.Most movies have something going for them in this case it is the music.

A winner, though dismissed as a loser at the time

[HEFILM · 9/10 · 28 March 2005]

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.

Twisty jewel heist thriller with a swerve that predates a famous film

[udar55 · 6/10 · 26 September 2023]

Jewel thief Henry Clarke (Michael Caine) is hired by a husband and wife - Richard (Eric Portman) and Fé Moreau (Giovanna Ralli) - to do a job for them. Clarke proves himself on a test robbery, but soon finds himself falling for the lovely Fé before the big job. The "Unseen Michael Caine Train" charges on with this Bryan Forbes adaptation of Desmond Cory's 1965 novel. It is a bit of a mixed bag as there is an excellent 15 minute sequence sandwiched in between some pretty ripe drama. The sequence in question is a burglary pulled off by Henry and Richard that cuts back and forth with a concert the victim is at. John Barry leads the orchestra with accompaniment by guitarist Renata Tarragó and the whole sequence is brilliantly done as the slow and bombastic sections mirror the suspenseful bits during the robbery. In fact, Barry's score is right up there with his best Bond work from the era (and Shirley Bassey even sings the opening theme). Unfortunately, the onscreen drama isn't as good as this section. Also, I can never fully get behind a film where women think Caine is this drop dead gorgeous stud. I will give the film points for its downbeat ending and there is a twist at the end that makes me wonder if the makers of a certain more popular film released six years later grabbed it. In the end, it is revealed that Fé is actually Richard's daughter. This came out a whole two years before Chinatown (1974) was written. Robert Towne, you got some explainin' to do!

A cat burglar who has 9 lives?

[kingsgo4th · 4/10 · 21 June 2013]

Michael Caine plays a slim and trim--but not athletic--cat burglar who has to get inside a mansion by climbing the exterior in order to provide access to his accomplice, an aging safe-cracker. During Caine's climbing, balancing and close calls, he gets to one spot where he does a 'dead-fall' drop: as he faces the sheer side of the mansion, he takes a step back and drops to a narrow cement ledge a story below. We next see him clinging for dear life by his fingers, his face in anguish, then pulling his fully stretched out body up to the ledge. Burt Lancaster, maybe. Daniel Caine, maybe. Michael Caine, no. If director Forbes had only worked the stunt as an accidental slip, maybe one could reason that adrenalin lent some strength, not that it was part of the plan. I can't imagine a veteran cat burglar planning such a stunt with the assumption his dead-fall would not be his last fall. I guess despite the film's positive points, if I can't accept this burglar's logic, then the caper becomes fantasy at best.

A neglected, wonderful film, apparently a thriller, but filled with interesting and troubling subplots.

[bobbybey · 21 October 1999]

I first came across this film in Ankara, Turkey in the 1970's and have been looking for it since. It's a "heist" film on the surface, a cat burglar after jewels. But it's far more than this, with troubling, dark sexual overtones. It features the actual "deadfall" against the background of Aranjuez' guitar concerto, and the suspense is terrific, especially the acting, with Caine at his underplaying best, and Eric Portman stealing the show with a subtle, great performance. Why this film is not a cult classic I don't know, unless its dark side is too much for viewers. It's really unforgetable, as proven by its 25 year hold on my imagination.

Deadfall

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 3 June 2023]

This is quite a curious film from Bryan Forbes. On the face of it, it's just a well produced "Topkapi" (1964) rip off without the humour or the style; but if you give it a chance it's a bit more sophisticated. Michael Caine is on good form as a petty thief who is recruited by the enigmatic Giovanna Ralli and Eric Portman (Fe and Richard Moreau) to carry out a heist that will net them millions of pesetas from a safe in Spain. This does't quite go to plan, indeed it's at time quite comical - but they then move on to an even more daring challenge and that's when the characterisations start to make more of an impact on the rather ordinary plot. Eric Portman is the star here for me. Even though his delivery can be a bit annoying at times, this was probably the only time I ever saw him playing a part that reflected his own personality, and as we discover more about the rather quirky, shall we say, nature of the marriage between the two then things begin to make a bit more sense and the film a bit more intriguing. It is way, way, too long - lots of beautiful photography that advances the story not a jot, and I didn't love the conclusion, that seemed unnecessarily finite, but for a film I'd never heard of until yesterday, I think it is well worth a watch.

Turning Point

[EdgarST · 6/10 · 6 November 2016]

If one draws a map of Bryan Forbes' directorial career it is obvious that it went through a winning streak that ended in less than ten years. Once an actor, Forbes declared in an interview that an actor had to have "arrogance, conceit… I would never have made it as an actor, but I still have conceit." Unfortunately this conceit was probably the cause that led him from solid dramas to concoctions as «Deadfall», a crime melodrama with a touch of James Bond's gymnastics among the rich in Mallorca, set to John Barry's ponderous score. The effort turned out to be a hard fall. Forbes was also a fine screenwriter, and he signed scripts for others, as Guy Green's «The Angry Silence», Seth Holt's «Station Six-Sahara», and 1964's «Of Human Bondage» (a troubled production with three directors, including Forbes for a week), as well as his own, all resulting in good movies: «The L-Shaped Room», «Séance on a Wet Afternoon», «King Rat», «The Wrong Box» and «The Whisperers». But then came this international project based of a novel by Desmond Cory and produced by American Paul Monash, and Forbes gave his wife Nanette Newman (a good actress) a small role with top credit, and led her through embarrassing scenes (as dancing proto-disco in a millionaire's villa), he gave composer Barry carte blanche (including a quite visible role as orchestra conductor), and --inspired by the James Bond craze and by Cory's flair for secret agents' tales-- he entered the territory of male chauvinistic fantasies, with a leading character Henry Clarke (Michael Caine) who is a bland, homophobic fool endowed with abilities beyond any human being's (except Bond, Dracula, or Cory's own Johnny Fedora, of course). Forbes had used incredibility in realistic plots since his first movie, «Whistle Down the Wind», a fable among children (almost ruined by Malcolm Arnold's score), which worked for its good performances and the sincere portrayal of children's innocence. This time, taken or not from Cory's novel, the script contains no innocence at all, and has instead a parade of peculiar characters with secret agendas, all in a single plot: a romantic thief, an adulterous wife, a homosexual husband, an alcoholic millionaire, an ill-mannered gay hustler, a British informer lost in Mallorca, an aspiring actress or whatever she wants to do in films… not to mention a Polish actor passing for a Spanish doctor. Of all the actors portraying these people, Eric Portman is the best thing in the movie, because Caine and Giovanna Ralli are unconvincing as lovers, with no evident chemistry between the two. Newman, David Buck and Carlos Pierre all look pretty, while Barry overflows the proceedings with sickly sweet violins and guitars. They were all now in the international spotlight and that was good for them, because in spite of its shortcomings and excessive running time, «Deadfall» somehow worked, thanks to Forbes I guess, who followed this with another balloon filled with stars, «The Madwoman of Chaillot»… which was not an improvement at all. He had to wait until 1975 for the fine «The Stepford Wives» which was undeservedly besieged by confused feminists and William Goldman.

An obtuse film

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 19 May 2018]

DEADFALL is one of those late 1960s films that seems a little unsure of itself. It's meant to be a heist film but there's too much character baggage getting in the way and no amount of suspense at all, so it's certainly not a thriller. The presence of Michael Caine as the film's lead means that he spends most of the time romancing ladies like Nanette Newman, making this a sub-ALFIE type picture. There are some elements of sex and perversion in the story but these only seem to existent due to the loosening of censorship during the era. Certainly it's a film in which the actors are wasted, not least poor old Caine himself, making a dud before the decade was out.

for Michael Caine and John Barry

[happytrigger-64-390517 · 6/10 · 16 July 2019]

Arty and chatterbox movie directed by Bryan Forbes in 1968 only saved by the heist sequence, another one with no dialogues. And there is suspensful editing with the musician's concert and the heist at his place by Michael Caine. the orchestra is conducted by John Barry himself in this masterful sequence that saves that soporific movie. We also hear a short passage of the great intro of "Beat Girl" composed by the John Barry Seven with great Vic Flick on guitar (same guitarist on James Bond Theme).

Dreary Deadfall instantly forgettable

[mark-whait · 2/10 · 22 December 2010]

I have only ever seen Deadfall twice. There was at least a decade between both viewings, and it was only when watching it for the second time that I realised that I remembered absolutely nothing about the movie whatsoever. Not a single scene. And as I decided to watch for a second time for the purpose of writing about it, I knew why. Deadfall is dreary, dull and monotonous. Caine struggles manfully to make some sense of it all, and whilst his dialogue is delivered reasonably well, one gets the distinct impression that, coming four years after Zulu, he was still agreeing to roles such as this one for fear of his elevation to stardom suddenly ending. The irony of course is that many more roles in films such as this one and that would have been the very thing that did happen. There was one mildly amusing piece of dialogue. When asked why he doesn't like dogs, cat burglar Caine replies: 'Because they remind me of the last time I worked. I had a paper round'. Although quite what non-European audiences made of that remark remains to be seen. So, what's wrong with Deadfall? Caine plays a highly intelligent burglar Henry Clarke, who is persuaded by ageing criminal Richard Moreau (Eric Portmann) and his strangely youthful yet delectable wife Fe (Giovanna Ralli) to steal diamonds from a local château owned by a millionaire playboy. Fine so far. But after the 18 minute scene showing the heist which is interspersed with a concert performance conducted by John Barry (in person no less), the film falls apart badly. Directed by Brian Forbes, there are far too many pointless scenes which fail to inspire. The continental location (in this case Spain) almost reminds one of the similar backgrounds in The Magus, and we certainly don't want to go there. As already mentioned, the film is scored by John Barry, and virtually every note feels like it is about to turn into the theme from You Only Live Twice. There is even a title song by Shirley Bassey to try and turn the movie into something it clearly won't ever be. It's almost as if Forbes has found a load of film on a cutting room floor from one of the Bond movies and pieced it together to make Deadfall. Caine aside, the rest of the cast just look hopelessly out of place. Leonard Rossiter inexplicably pops up in just one scene, and Portmann hams it up like a failed Shakespearian. But it's Ralli that must shoulder some of the blame here. She is mind numbingly awful as Caine's lover, and whilst her appearance is certainly easy on the eye, her delivery is deadpan and dreadful in equal measure. Forbes even casts his wife Nanette Newman in the film, and it sums it all up when her character in the cast list at the end is referred to as 'The Girl'. She is cringingly bad and serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever, although in fairness, she, like Ralli is certainly pleasing on screen until she's given something to do or say. Difficult to know what this films wants to be, and perhaps it is that lack of identity that does for it. Thank goodness Caine made The Italian Job the following year.

many surprises keep you interested

[gwg-7 · 7/10 · 12 September 2021]

Having only seen this movie recently I was surprised by some of the more negative reviews.

The film has excellent acting, very good music and many surprises along the way to keep you interested.

The sexuality angle was more integral to the story than modern day sensationalism.

Guitar Concierto De Juan Barry...

[morpheusatloppers · 5/10 · 12 December 2008]

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.

Still lands on its feet

[tomsview · 9/10 · 28 June 2017]

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.

Good for a while, but loses steam

[Jeremy_Urquhart · 6/10 · 24 November 2022]

The first half of this movie is honestly pretty good. It has a nice energy, it's fairly well-paced, and I liked the big heist scene that it spends a good deal of time building up to.

The second half, unfortunately, didn't entertain me nearly as much. The story takes some strange turns which I can sort of appreciate, but it doesn't really work 100%. It also slows down a great deal when it comes to pacing, and feels a bit lifeless - almost as though it's limping towards the finish line.

Maybe that's a bit harsh. It's not like the other qualities of the film fall away entirely in the second half. It's still technically competent and the acting stays alright, but yeah... it's a shame it couldn't keep the energy it had in the first half going for all two hours.

A James Bond or not a James Bond? That is the question.

[skoogs-3 · 2/10 · 14 April 2019]

I've never had an inkling of this film yet from the first few notes of the introductory music (John Barry) the singer (Shirley Bassey) and the opening credit animation were the all the hallmarks of James Bond. After that the story deteriorated into self indulgent scenes of, well, self indulgence actually. I did enjoy the the cameo scene of John Barry conducting the orchestra but unfortunately not the music. He hasn't changed since his days with the 'John Barry Seven'. A handsome man and usually a beautiful music maker.