The greatest movie ever made..!

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

James Coburn is a slick white collar heavy in this twisty thriller, scripted by future directors Barry Levinson ("Rain Man"), who also produced, and Jonathan Lynn ("Clue"). Coburn again projects incredible cool as Robert Elliot, a "professor" who has a major opportunity for advancement in the government. The catch is, he can't afford to have anybody alive who's got knowledge of his past. There are four of these people, and Elliot arranges for all of them to kill each other over the course of a single night. Despite his intricate planning, things don't always go that smoothly.The excellent cast is the major draw of this film, capably directed by Ken Hughes ("Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"). It's very well paced and sometimes reasonably suspenseful, with a story that might not stand up to a lot of scrutiny, but does solidly entertain for its duration. Another asset is the eclectic soundtrack composed by Roy Budd ("Get Carter" '71).Coburn is fun to watch in the role of an anti-hero, a man who initially is taken aback at the idea of eliminating these skeletons in his closet, but quickly makes up his mind to be cold-blooded about the whole affair. Lee Grant is fine (and looks very nice, to boot) as the aggressive, feminist journalist with whom he was once involved. Ian Hendry is wonderfully antsy as the diabetic Alex, Christiane Kruger is delectably sexy as Christina, Julian Glover has a good, brief role as a TV host, and Keenan Wynn is endlessly amusing as usual as tycoon E.J. Farnsworth. But the shining star of the production is Harry Andrews as a masseur named Bert Parsons. The character is an angry misogynist, and the viewer may be intrigued and wonder just how this character came to be this way.Overall, good entertainment. Nothing special, but there are much worse ways to spend an hour and a half.Seven out of 10.

James Coburn (gaunt, and with a thick mustache) plays an American diplomat and future adviser to the US President who needs his former life as a secret agent permanently scrubbed; unfortunately, he has four acquaintances in London (a civil servant, a prostitute, a thuggish masseur and a scientist doing research on a device that kills with a high-frequency sound) who know too much about his past. He orchestrates a plan to have the four unwittingly eliminate each other, though a sideline romance with former-flame and uptight writer Lee Grant might be his undoing. Very clever thriller from screenwriters Barry Levinson (who also produced) and Jonathan Lynn, adapting Mort W. Elkind's book "Internecine", though it does take a while to get this plot into motion (and involves a great deal of telephone ringing). Director Ken Hughes is attracted to intricate details and technicalities, but a snappy pace doesn't seem to be his thing. At least one of the killings (with the victim in the shower) is especially ungainly, however the film isn't terribly violent or bloody--Hughes and his writers are more interested in plot development than circumstance. Good performances all around, including Grant as the lover. Grant matches up well with Coburn, and she has a funny, natural reaction when he tells her she should be working on something more her speed--a cookbook. **1/2 from ****

This is a fantastic 1970's thriller set in England staring James Coburn in one of his best roles as Robert Elliot, an economics expert who is doing a little dirty work on the side for the US government. The motive of industrial espionage is interesting and this movie unlike most similarly plotted movies of the time does not focus on cold war paranoia. When presented with an opportunity to progress in his role as a government fixer he is required to completely detach himself from the network of low level spies he has recruited. Unfortunately for them this means they all have to be killed. The clever script has Coburn arrange for all his contacts to murder each other. As none of them know each other he is able to play on their various fears and weaknesses to coax, cajole and blackmail them into submission. His elaborate plan involves strict timing with each of the the victims phoning Coburn at set times over the duration of one evening while he sits in his office ticking off the preplanned murder sequence he has typed up. Of course the plan doesn't quite work out and the film ends with a superb twist.The only fault i have with the movie is the presence of Lee Grant. Her character (as a journalist) is introduced to show that she once had a relationship with Coburns character, that they still have feelings for each other and that he once may have been a more wholesome person before becoming corrupted. However her characters continual interjections as she investigates Elliot only serve to slow down the story.DVD releases in both the UK and the US have failed to do this movie justice even the most recent "special edition". The low number of reviews posted reflects the relative obscurity of a movie that deserves a wider audience.

This largely forgotten film from the darkest days of the British film industry probably deserves to be better known, if only for the fact that it manages to make a long sequence in which one man sits alone in a room waiting for the phone to ring quite suspenseful.James Coburn plays Robert Elliott, a former secret agent who must erase all evidence of his dirty past before taking a job as adviser to the US president. That past comes in the form of four former colleagues – nervy diabetic Ian Hendry, misogynistic cat-lover Harry Andrews, scientist Michael Jayston and call-girl Christiane Kruger. Eliot hits upon the ingenious idea of getting each of his intended victims to do the deed for him, leaving him completely unconnected to the murders. It's a fairly unique idea, and quite well-handled with some quirky characters thrown in (not of least of which is Harry 'A *woman*, Sir?' Andrews), and it is to writer Barry Levinson's credit that he manages to stretch what is a fairly thin plot over a reasonable running time without losing the viewer's interest.The ending belongs in a James Bond movie – although given the recent murder of a dissident Russian journalist, maybe that's not quite true – but it is a delicious pay-off and a fitting fate for an urbane character who is totally lacking in scruples.