The Domino Principle (1977)

Wonderful character development!

Excellent, smart action film.

A Masterpiece!

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

"The Domino Principle" has all but been forgotten today. Seeing it, it becomes clear why it hasn't become a cult movie to any degree. I will admit that it's not a terrible movie; in fact, it has some positive attributes. Gene Hackman is, as usual, solid. And Candice Bergen, who has been criticized many times for her bad performances in this time of her life, actually gives a decent performance. The movie also starts off fairly well, with quite a bit of mystery that slowly unpeels. But the movie ultimately unfolds TOO slowly. It takes forever for Hackman to get out of prison, and takes much longer for Hackman to understand what the mysterious organization wants from him. And we never really learn who the target is, and why he is targeted! I never would have guessed a famous filmmaker like Stanley Kramer was behind this movie, not just for its unusually slow pace but also for the fact that aside from some bad language and some violence, the movie feels exactly like a made-for-TV effort.

First, it takes a full half hour to get Hackman out of jail and to start doing the job. What a waste of time, we all know Hackman is getting out to do some job for his masters, why waste almost a third of the movie on these sequences. Then Hackman stays in a hotel and the story arc again goes nowhere, simply proving to us that Hackman is under close watch and anything he says or does is know by the masters. Again, another 20 minutes. Then more wasted time showing the reunion with his wife. All of this should have taken 10-15 minutes at most simply as a set-up for the real action, intrigue and plot twists. By the time the real action gets going, I was so bored that I just wanted the movie to end. Hackman is great as usual, and the other actors as well, but this is a dud of the first magnitude.

People are being too hard on the film. Sometimes we should just sit back and enjoy the story without attempting to "review" it.The whole thing comes together when Hackman decides not to pull the trigger but his target still goes down. Then the fun begins as everyone about him also "go down".Just think JFK and all the people associated in any way with his assassination, who's lives ended abruptly and in questionable ways and you'll appreciate what is implied in this film.I think it's an excellent interpretation of what may well have occurred. Though the EXACT story line my not have been followed (hindsight here after reading Jim Maars "Crossfire") but it's what is implied that is of interest.I'd love to get a copy of it to view it again. In light of what is known today, The Domino Principle is right on.

The odd man out (in quality), Stanley Kramer's The Domino Principle taps into the some of the same paranoiac conspiracy gunk that glops up our thinking to this day, and drives the same ground as The Parallax View, Executive Action, Enemy of the State, JFK, etc.Should I go on? And yet, I remember enjoying the book and the movie, not only because I was one of the unwashed masses way back when, believing in anything conspiratorial, but because it seemed out of the norm. I was raised on TV cop dramas, where everything was wrapped up in 52 minutes and I could count the times the bad guys won on one hand.I won't give enough away to have to mark the spoiler box, but The Domino Principle, headed by Gene Hackman and followed by a really strong cast, has bad guys fighting worse guys--a concept foreign to my prime time sensibilities.I remember liking the movie, but after thirty years, I'll be lying if I told you I can remember much about it.With that in mind, I'd say rent it--if you can find it--and throw in Parallax and Executive for a triple-header of evil industrialists, mind-controllers, and sad, little heroes trying to avoid getting squashed.Then return to the real world and repeat the following: "Oswald acted alone."