The Naked Runner (1967)
Sam Laker is an American industrialist, working in Britain, who has just been awarded an international award for industrial design. He is planning to travel to East Germany to attend a trade show and show off his invention, taking his 10 year old son with him for a holiday. Meanwhile a British Intelligence officer who served with Laker in the Second World War decides to use the opportunity of Laker's trip and his lack of an intelligence profile to coerce him into carrying out an assassination.
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Surprisingly incoherent and boring
Excellent, Without a doubt!!
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
Frank Sinatra plays an American industrialist and widower based in London who is contacted by an old war buddy who needs his friend to deliver a message to a woman they were both acquainted with, now working in East Germany. After passing a microfilm to her hidden in his watchband, Sinatra is caught and then blackmailed into committing murder. Icy, depressing adaptation of an espionage novel, written under the pseudonym Francis Clifford, with a narrative so murky we are never sure how much of a dupe the Sinatra character is, or if indeed he was conned at all. Sidney J. Furie is responsible for the mechanical direction, usually filming the action in scenes from as far away as possible. Sinatra is either delivering a very low-keyed performance or is completely indifferent to the material--with nary a wink to the audience to tell us he knows this is junk and that he's just cashing a paycheck. *1/2 from ****
There were harsh words written of that movie on the site and I think it's a bit unfair.Sure the screenplay looks like a cross between " The man who knew too much" and "the Mandchourian candidate".Sure the symbolism is somewhat ponderous: the lady and her puppets,the tunnel and daylight again.But it's an entertaining thriller,ideal for a rainy day :the screenplay is certainly smarter than that of the average thriller of today;Frank Sinatra does a good job,supported by a good cast ,particularly Darren Nesbitt as Colonel Hartmann .Not a masterpiece but not a dud either.People who like the movies I have mentioned can have a look.
This is an excellent spy thriller. The plot gets tangled at times, like what was that all about at the airport and the rifle? Sinatra is great and a well chosen international cast. It may be a B grade movie but you will certainly be entertained. The director uses a plethora of different camera angles which I thought were very good. It is too bad they didn't know how to end it.
This is definitely a typical B-type 1960's European spy thriller, but certainly not bad. Convoluted plot, but the use of extreme close-ups, tasteful melancholy score, and an excellent performance by Sinatra make it worthwhile viewing for fans of Sinatra dramas. His performance is very intense and believable. While the plot is needlessly tangled and premise is farfetched, the film is not at all corny - its presentation is perhaps more difnified than the plot and payoff deserve. Sinatra's performance is the best thing about it. A lengthier, better plot and bigger payoff would have lifted the film up into something near "The Iprcess File" league. The other good aspects of that film are in place here, but this remains a B-level spy thriller despite an obvious attempt to make an A-level thriller. Still, a must-see for Sinatra fans - but perhaps on cable or rental.