Games (1967)

Simply A Masterpiece

Great Film overall

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Paul (James Caan) and Jennifer (Katharine Ross) Montgomery are wealthy boho socialites who amuse themselves with elaborate parlor games in their Manhattan townhouse filled with pop art and vintage arcade games. Lisa Schindler (Simone Signoret) is a down on her luck German aristocrat who gains entrance to their house (and into their minds) after Lisa takes pity on her and allows the admittedly dishonest door-to-door saleswoman into their lives. The glamorous and amoral Lisa scoffs at their harmless pastimes and arranges more decadent and deadly amusements that will put Jennifer's sanity to the test. Signoret, in a role that was written for Marlene Dietrich, chews the scenery and spits out the upholstery tacks, proving that no film ever suffered from her presence, however miscast. James Caan blends into the carpeting as the not so better half of a pair of dissolute dilettantes, while Katharine Ross's beauty gamely steps in to act. 'The Game' is a stylish, well-paced thriller that combines Harrington's 'queer' art house sensibilities with a master draftsman's assured and nimble hands.

****SPOILERS*** Well to do yuppie, before that word became part of the English language, couple Paul & Jennifer Montgomery,James Caan & Katharine Ross, enjoy playing games on their friends and neighbors in their upper East Side Manhattan townhouse that has given the pair a reputation as neighborhood jesters. It's when Lisa Schindler, Simone Signoret, shows up at the townhouse unexpectedly selling cosmetics that the games that both Paul and Jenny have been playing go to a much higher level.Lisa somehow gets Paul & Jenny to let her stay at their place until she, in being evicted from her apartment for being behind on her rent, finds a place to stay. Having dabbled in the occult in the past Lisa soon shows the pair what games of faith and chance really are. It's non other then the neighborhood deliver boy Norman Fields, Don Strod, who gets involved in Paul and Jenny's game of misdirection, That's when Norman is set up by the two as the "other man" in Jenny's life and ends up getting his brains blown out by an outraged Paul who caught the two in the act!Thinking that his gun was loaded with blanks Paul in just trying to show the terrified Norman, after he got two harmless shots off at him, that it's all a joke lets go with the third shot that turned out to be the real deal! A .38 slug that bores into his brain through his right eye killing him instantly! Now with a murder or at the least homicide staring them in the face both Paul& Jenny are desperate to hide Norman's body and keep the police from finding it. While all this is happening Lisa who's totally in the dark to what happened to Norman starts to get suspicious of the couple in the very strange actions they do in preventing her from going in the house in her by chance finding evidence of Norman's death!***SPOILERS*** It's later when everything seemed to be cleared up in what happened to Norman that he somehow comes back to life terrorizing Jenny while she's awake and Paul in his sleep. It's Jenny who really starts to get spooked in Norman's return from the dead that leads her to suffer from a number of paranoid episodes. They get more and more severe as Norman finally comes out of the shadows and is about to strangle Jenny. By then the poor and confused young woman loses it and in the process ends up losing her mind as well!A lot like Simone Signoret's 1955 horror flick "Diabolique" the movie "Games" has the audience guessing if what their seeing is real or imagined just like both Paul & Jenny in the movie. The shocking ending is nowhere as good as that in "Diabolique" but still packs quite a punch in how we in the audience were manipulated into not seeing it coming a lot earlier in the film.

This movie about a young couple who engage in psychological games with a door-to-door saleslady who collapses in their home and becomes their houseguest is intriguing and almost fascinating to watch. Simone Signoret is wonderful as the saleslady, Lisa Schindler. After the film is over, you want to go back and watch her performance all over again. It's one of those types of stories. The sixties era in which the movie was filmed is captivating, too. Definitely for those who enjoyed such movies as "Night Watch" with Elizabeth Taylor, "The Usual Suspects", and "Diabolique", which also starred Simone Signoret. A very good thriller, with interesting twists, a cool sixties atmosphere, and Simone Signoret stealing every scene she is in from James Caan and Katharine Ross, who, at times, looks in awe of her co-star.

Stylish photography, very well acted and very well written and directed thriller that will keep you guessing until the end. Katherine Ross and James Caan as the bored kinky NY couple are outstanding in one of their early roles. Made in 1967 this film was way ahead of it's time with it's themes. If you like offbeat mysteries "Games" is a game you will want to play! Hard to find on tape, not on DVD and rarely on TV. Too bad because this film is like one of those lost cinematic gems. Hopefully a DVD distributer will release in a (hopefully)widescreen. Recommend this one highly.