That was an excellent one.

Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

I am surprised the film won the Golden Bear at Berlin. I have loved Polanski's "Chinatown,"" Tess," and "Death and the Maiden." Polanski in Cul-de sac, presented great performances from two actors: Lionel Stander (whose career was wrecked by the McCarthy commission) and Donald Pleasance. Little else. The Jacqueline Bisset role was a cameo, nothing more and yet some posters have her name alongside the main actors.What irked me most was the fact that film was supposed to be set in America but the filming was in UK. Can American telephones and telephone lines make UK look like USA? Are there 11th century forts in USA? That's part of the Polanski script!!!

I was reading some of the messages posted by members who express their regret that they couldn't find the film on DVD here in the UK. Now you can. I bought mine about three years ago, an edition from Odeon Entertainment. Together with "Knife in the water" and "Repulsion" it makes the collector's trilogy of Polanski's pre-Hollywood films, all of them digitally remastered and presented in their original aspect ratio, and accompanied by some interesting behind- the-scenes documentaries and archive interviews with Polanski. Cul-de-Sac was filmed entirely on location in one of the most remote corners of England and a place that seems the product of some fantasy tale -I was there in 2001, drove a hired car from Edinburgh and got to the island during the low tide, a nice experience to remember. The film opens with a view of the long, deserted road. A car in the distance is slowly advancing towards the camera in a rather erratic way. We soon meet the burly, raspy-voiced Dickie(Lionel Stander), who is pushing the car along, and the skinny and ridiculous-looking Albie (Jack MacGowran) sitting at the wheel. We can just figure out they are two crooks on the run after some failed hit, for Albie has been shot in the stomach and Dickie in one arm. The stolen car has run out of petrol and they don't know where they are. Albie is "fed-up" –a line he will repeat now and again throughout the film-, and Dickie then decides to follow the telephone wires,leaving Albie to wait in the car. He almost bumps into a young semi-naked couple idling in the dunes, and avoiding them he next comes to a castle on the shore. He hides in a chicken house and falls asleep. Meanwhile we have met the castle's owners: the weird couple formed by the foolish Donald Pleasance and his frustrated young wife Francoise Dorleac. It is soon clear to us that the relationship between these two is anything but a happy marriage. They don't seem to have any common interests, the whole place is an absolute mess with the chickens roaming all over the house, and Teresa is continuously making fun of George while he acts like a total idiot. Dickie wakes up, enters the house in the dark, helps himself to some milk and makes a phone call to his boss. He is careless about all the noise he makes, and soon the proprietors come downstairs to investigate. He faces them with great cheek and even sense of humour, and George proves to be a coward as he lets himself be bullied by the thug. Teresa stands up to Dickie with loud words and insolence, but he regards her just as a very noisy hen but harmless. He then makes the pair to go help him him to collect Albie back in the beach. Later he gets to speak to his boss, and after being told he will be collected by the gang in the morning he makes himself comfortable, humiliating George now and again while developing a liking for Teresa's nagging at his husband and her absolute lack of fear of Dickie. Albie dies during the night, and they bury him in the grounds. In the morning, rather than Dickie's mates, who arrives,unannounced, are some friends of George instead, getting on the nerves of the three protagonists as they don't know how to get rid of the party now. The nosey, self-inviting guests prove to be a real nuisance. When the hyperactive child shoots with a gun and destroys one of the medieval windows,George throws the clan out of the castle at last. Dusk comes, and Dickie's gang didn't show up at all. He phones his boss again, only to be passed a "fuck off" message from him through a third part. Totally mad and feeling he has been betrayed, he takes George's car to get away, but gets shot and killed by George during a rather pathetic confrontation. One of the afternoon guests then appears; he is coming to pick up the gun he forgot behind earlier. Teresa goes away with him. George, totally cracked-up and now alone in the deserted castle smashes the place, and then ends up running in the beach until he gets closed-up up by the rising tide. At the first viewing one thinks: "And this is it? One hour and three quarters of kinky nonsense with the most stupid people, to come to such idiotic ending? What a total crap". I first saw the film when I was thirteen. I didn't understand it and I actually thought it was idiotic. The second time, many years later and after I had seen a lot of really idiotic crap films, I just loved it: Polanski's stylish direction, those wonderful long takes, the stark black and white cinematography, the musical score, the black humour, the comic relief provided by Albie (how long does it take to die with a belly full of holes, for god's sake??!!...) and the unique setting provided by Lindisfarne. A surrealistic cinematic experience.

When many hear Donald Pleasance, they immediately think of Dr. Loomis in Halloween. It is a shame that they have not seen one of his early roles where he does some fantastic comedy.He and his wife, played superbly by Françoise Dorléac, elder sister of Catherine Deneuve. This film was released the year before her tragic death at 25 in a car accident. She showed great talent here, and would have probably risen to great heights had she lived.Lionel Stander, who was derailed from his acting career for 10 years after being branded a communist, came back in time to do this film. He is hilarious as a dumb criminal Stander is best know for his long run on Hart to Hart. He is really funny.One of Polanski's best.

A wounded criminal, Dickie and his dying partner Albie find an old seaside castle.That castle is full of chickens and it is owned by the meek and a bit neurotic George and his sensual young wife Teresa.Now these two are the hostages of Dickie, who's waiting for his boss to come.Cul-de-sac (1966) was the second film of Roman Polanski in English.It's a fascinating movie, and a bit bizarre, perhaps.You have to like Donald Pleasence's work as George.His character is comical but also tragic, shy and sensitive, someone who's easy to be manipulated.The way George is ridiculed by his woman, who dresses him as a woman and puts on some make-up on him tells a lot about what kind of a man George is.Francoise Dorléac is perfect in the role of his Mrs.Lionel Stander is somewhat sympathetic as Dickie.Jack MacGowran, who's also remembered from Polanski's Dance of the Vampires from the next year, plays Albie brilliantly.Ian Quarrier plays Christopher.Jacqueline Bisset makes her second film appearance in a small role.This movie has a lot of memorable stuff.It's great to watch when they have unexpected guests of George's friends and Dickie has to portray a butler.Or the moments on the beach with Teresa swimming nude in the background.This movie has some comedy.It has some psychological thriller.It has some drama.It has everything to keep you captivated.