Seeing Sidney Lumet listed as director, and thinking of his brilliant work in "Network," "Fail Safe," "12 Angry Men," and "The Verdict" (one of my all-time favorites), and seeing the interesting plot premise, I tuned in this movie on TMC with great anticipation. The result was more like cinematic constipation. As it turned out, the flick proved the truism that even brilliant artists turn out the occasional flop. This ranks right up there with Woody Allen's "September" in the category of Great Directors Directing Badly. It was one of the exceptionally few films that, after a certain point I have said "what is the point of watching any more?", and switched it off. The words turgid, glacial, boring, and pointless come to mind. None of the main characters is interesting, nor engages the viewer's interest in any way. The story line moves with the alacrity of molasses in December. Even a key plot development like the revelation of Fendi's lawyer friend that he suspects his fiance Carla of being a high priced prostitute, is revealed with all the dramatic tension of the quotation of the price of pork belly futures on the commodities market. What is evidently supposed to be Fendi's growing romantic fixation on Carla comes off more as the onset of a severe case of constipation, and intentionally or not, Omar Shariff conveys an overwhelming sense of pusilanimity in Fendi's character. Nothing moves, nothing advances, nothing happens. Nice atmospheric shots of Italian street life, though.
Avoid this like poison.
Avoid this like poison.