Having been impressed by J. Lee Thompson's direction of 'Northwest Frontier', Gregory Peck recommended him to replace Alexander Mackendrick on 'Guns of Navarone' which was followed by 'Cape Fear'. So far, so good but their next two collaborations represent something of an anti-climax as 'Mackenna's Gold' was marred by drastic editing and this one is just plain awful.
The film is very much of its time and the passage of time has rendered it a period piece in which the subject matter is far-fetched, naive and rather silly.
Under Thompson's uninspired direction the entire enterprise is plodding, pedestrian and is devoid of tension and momentum. The makers are obviously banking upon Mr. Peck's undoubted star quality and upright persona but he is fighting a losing battle here. They have also slipped in an obligatory and underwritten 'love interest' with an impossibly twee Anne Heywood which is a damp squib.
I lost the will to live whilst watching the ludicrous spectacle of Peck's physicist playing ping-pong with Californian-born Conrad Yama as mass-murderer Chairman Mao so decided to make a cup of tea. To endure this lamentable opus in its entirety however requires something much stronger!
The film is very much of its time and the passage of time has rendered it a period piece in which the subject matter is far-fetched, naive and rather silly.
Under Thompson's uninspired direction the entire enterprise is plodding, pedestrian and is devoid of tension and momentum. The makers are obviously banking upon Mr. Peck's undoubted star quality and upright persona but he is fighting a losing battle here. They have also slipped in an obligatory and underwritten 'love interest' with an impossibly twee Anne Heywood which is a damp squib.
I lost the will to live whilst watching the ludicrous spectacle of Peck's physicist playing ping-pong with Californian-born Conrad Yama as mass-murderer Chairman Mao so decided to make a cup of tea. To endure this lamentable opus in its entirety however requires something much stronger!