No wonder it was Free in the Sunday Express
It started with a Groucho Marx look alike, and quickly went down hill.
I noticed that this film is always free in some newspaper it was free in The Sun newspaper a couple of years ago.
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MovieChat Forums > The Jigsaw Man (1983) Discussion > No wonder it was Free in the Sunday Expr...
I caught this film on (UK) TV late last night, settled down to watch the 'greats' in action and slowly but surely lost the plot ... it probably looked great on paper in a producer's office but the execution of the story wobbled off in all directions. One suspects the break in production, due to financial problems, may have caused it to lose focus.
The bit about Charles Gray accusing Powell of being a gay hitman who then goes off with Susan George at the end, without any explanation of back story, was a complete confusion. Or padding because the film came in under length. Not one of Mr. Caine's best.
"don't just stand there, get one up!"
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I watched it last night, too. I thought: What a cast! What a reputable director! What a lot of James Bond-related people involved, actually! And soon: Er... what on EARTH am I watching here?
I see here on IMDb that the film ran out of budget and there was a production hiatus. Before that, I thought ITV4 had perhaps cut a chunk out of it. Oh dear! It was obviously cobbled together from available footage. Hardly the perfect final movie for such a once-great director – which actually it wasn't quite, I note.
Caine's accents are terrible (Was this deliberate? Meant to be in character?), his whole performance is well below his usual par. This contrasts with some other people doing stirling work with an undeserving script that has some real clunker lines – even the basic story is all over the shop. It's so UNEVEN.
Having started, I am glad I watched it to the end. Just about glad. Because the car chase through the safari park and the crash etc. has some really decent direction/editing (at last – I'd been waiting!). Other than that – and a vague suspicion that one copper Caine clobbers might have been Roger Moore in an uncredited cameo(!) – I can't say anything else for this sad effort. SHAME!
Let's not be prejudiced against the Sunday Express.
I believe they also handed out Hardy Kruger's film "The one that got away", which I thought was rather good.
I remember reviews being awful when this first came out. This is what happens when your financing company runs out of money and stops the film, and then re-starts it later with a curtailed budget.
I'm surprised that it made any sense at all.
I have one off-beat question.
The dead supposed lover of Milroy's (Gray's) character was named 'Ted Carraciola'. I seem to recall that this was the name of one of the double agent's in Alisatair MacLean's Novel 'Where Eagles Dare'.
Was this a nod (homage) to MacLean?
"Then we have the production company Evangrove who's only film was The Jigsaw Man."
This doesn't necessarily mean much. When making a feature film it is very common to set up a new company to make the film. This is partly because the money for a film often comes from different sources so a new company is set up in which the various investors are partners in order to safeguard their investment. It also means that if anything goes horribly wrong or if the film's production company is sued then the parent company/companies remain unaffected.
Very often, for example, a film called "Indifferent Spy Movie II" will, according to the small print, have been produced by "Indifferent Spy Movie II Ltd." rather than Megaworld Studios who, for all practical purposes, made the film.
Reuniting the cast of Sleuth seemed like a good idea at the time. Shame this film was nowhere half as good.
Its that man again!!