That was an excellent one.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Every now and again you come across a film that's somewhat a letdown, even when those expectations are kept at bay. Don Siegel's mid-70s espionage-thriller 'The Black Windmill' that starred Michael Caine falls in that category. If anything it was that title (which the story is adapted off Clive Egleton's novel "Seven Days to a Killing") which caught my eye. Siegel's adapt, controlled workhorse direction tackles the subdued material with little suspense, but constructing something tight, sullen and dry with the main focus on building something out of its elaborately knotty (but dubious) premise. It's a true pot-boiler entangled with twists. While the material is stimulating (with some good work by the solid support performances and an occasionally witty line) and the sturdy set-pieces are competently crafted, however the pacing is too blotchy and in the end it builds to really nothing. It loses some weight due to the lack of suspense and urgency with a crackerjack climax that's just too quick. Michael Caine's composed performance is strongly delivered, and John Vernon makes for an ideally icy and conniving villain. Donald Pleasance is delightfully squirmy (which his character likes to really fiddle with that moustache) and Janet Suzman provides some fire. Delphine Seyrig and Clive Revill offer able support too. Roy Budd's sizzling, but low-key music score works well and Ousama Rawi lenses it with a great illustrative eye. Siegel's touch is evident in both of those devices. An unexceptional feature, but still its well organised and performed.

I usually enjoy Michael Caine's films, but though this one started promising enough, its second half made the overall effect disappointing. The most dissatisfying aspect was how Tarrant and his wife worked out exactly where their son was being held on the basis of a phone call from the Brighton area and the villain's reference to a "pleasant farm" and two "rather unusual windows"; this defied belief.Other contributors have already noted one witty reference, to "Sean Connery"; there is another, in that the Tarrants rendezvous outside a cinema where "Battle of Britain" (starring Caine) is showing.And wasn't that Richard Attenborough playing the jeweller visited by the two men from New Scotland Yard; this role appears not to feature in the filmographies I've glanced at.

This early 70's British thriller is presented by a famous director (Don Siegel of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "Dirty Harry") and stars a couple of very prominent and contemporary popular male names like Michael Caine, Donald Pleasence and John Vernon. Yet it somehow ended up in total oblivion and it has not been released on DVD so far. Perhaps this can partly be explained because it's a very slow and largely action-free movie that came out in era dominated by rough and extravagant exploitation efforts. Still, if you're a fan of espionage or political thrillers in general, you might want to look for "the Black Windmill" after all, since it definitely contains some redeeming elements. Although completely implausible, the story is fairly compelling with some inventive plot twists and – most notably – some excellent examples of dry British humor. Caine plays an agent working for the country's secret service, a job that already cost him his marriage. When his 7-year-old son gets kidnapped and the culprits demand an extremely high ransom to be paid in diamonds, John Tarrant starts the rescue mission on his own. While his supervisors still wonder about where the leak in their organization comes from, Tarrant steals the diamonds himself and heads for France to meet the kidnappers. Nothing spectacular happens for a long, long time and it's only Donald Pleasence's (and others) wit remarks that keep you mildly interested in the film. The entire middle-section is painfully boring and, although the ending makes up for much, it can't possibly be called a classic. Oh, and don't start looking for the mysterious titular black windmill right away, as this uncanny building is just a tiny aspect in the story and not even that relevant. Not trying to spoil things here, just advising the people that are, like me, attracted by the ominous windmill on the box cover not to expect too much.

I've read several comments that point out the clumbsiness of the action editing in "The Black Windmill." I think what is being overlooked is that what we have been seeing for the past thirty years on tv and video has been a pan-and-scan version of a Panavision film. The action was designed for a widescreen and we've only been seeing half of it, sloppily panned-and-scanned, making it seem jumbled. I believe that the widescreen dvd release will prove me right.Admittedly, in terms of Siegel action-drama quality,this flick falls in the middle ground between the great "Dirty Harry" and the so-so "Telefon." But even the low-budget Telefon is much more exciting in its original wide aspect ratio than in "full" screen.