OK. I'm the lone voice on this one. I've tried countless times to watch the entire movie. Last night I tried again. Restored directors cut ... Still couldn't make it to the 45 minute mark.
Film noir classic? Pulp genre classic? Please. Hammy, cartoonish, absurd, not believable characters ruin it for me. If I can't relate to the characters, how am I expected to follow the nonsensical plot? Heston in dark skinned make up as a Mexican. The Grandi / toupee clownish bad guy Tamiroff was pathetic. Looks like the Coen brothers liked his act, however. Didn't the similar looking Jon Polito in one of their movies have the bad toupee thing going on?
Kinda had a bad feeling about this one very early on, During the long shot opening sequence, a young man opens the trunk of a car in a parking lot and places a car bomb in it. OK. But there's a slight problem. The two approaching car occupants can see him do it and then see him run away suspiciously. They're just a few feet from the car.
One particular scene early on will illustrate the campiness I see in the movie. Either Janet Leigh or Heston's character is being followed by a bad guy as h/she crosses the street. The bad hombre does zero to hide the fact he's following him/her. In cartoonish style, he dances from light pole to telephone pole to "hide behind" as he tails his target. Whatever.
Only watchable aspect of the movie is Janet Leigh. I think it's her best film performance.
Film noir classic? Pulp genre classic? Please. Hammy, cartoonish, absurd, not believable characters ruin it for me. If I can't relate to the characters, how am I expected to follow the nonsensical plot? Heston in dark skinned make up as a Mexican. The Grandi / toupee clownish bad guy Tamiroff was pathetic. Looks like the Coen brothers liked his act, however. Didn't the similar looking Jon Polito in one of their movies have the bad toupee thing going on?
Kinda had a bad feeling about this one very early on, During the long shot opening sequence, a young man opens the trunk of a car in a parking lot and places a car bomb in it. OK. But there's a slight problem. The two approaching car occupants can see him do it and then see him run away suspiciously. They're just a few feet from the car.
One particular scene early on will illustrate the campiness I see in the movie. Either Janet Leigh or Heston's character is being followed by a bad guy as h/she crosses the street. The bad hombre does zero to hide the fact he's following him/her. In cartoonish style, he dances from light pole to telephone pole to "hide behind" as he tails his target. Whatever.
Only watchable aspect of the movie is Janet Leigh. I think it's her best film performance.