Excellent but underrated film

Don't Believe the Hype

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

A mindgames playing couple played by James Caan and Katharine Ross invites an intriguing older lady into their lives. Simone Signoret plays an aging cosmetics saleswoman invited to spice up their lives. The couple thought they were experienced, but could they be outplayed by her? The performances by all three are good. The tension is predicated on the likability of the couple Caan and Ross. That's questionable. They are written with too much callousness. They don't play nice normal people and I don't really care what happens to them. But it's a good exercise of whodunnit for the mind. At its core, it mattered very little the outcome. It makes the movie less than what it could have been.

i've been looking for this movie for years, it's impossible to find. i believe it was removed from public viewing because it's too scary to watch. i don't mean scary in the sense that there are ghosts in the closet, i mean scary in the sense that it portrays real life evil and possible scenarios that you could be in. yeah, you. if you do manage to find it, i defy anyone to watch it alone at midnight in a dark home, it can't be done. i tried it and blacked out from fear about half way through. you'll have to turn it off or you'll be checking the door locks and calling your friends. simone is the most under rated actress in history and you'll be cursing james caan and katherine ross for letting her in the door in the first place. find it and watch it but remember, don't you dare do it alone.

"Games" has barely aged in over forty years. What looked avant-garde in the 1960s endures as quintessentially modern. The art-filled New York City brownstone house could be featured on today's HGTV. The cast is first-rate. Simone Signoret does a variation of her "Diabolique" character - a cold, calculating opportunist beneath the serene, matronly exterior. Katherine Ross couldn't be lovelier - whenever the story's logic becomes a bit shaky, you're too distracted by her exquisite beauty to notice. James Caan does a great job as a slick charmer living off his wife's money. It's all a fun-filled puzzle with lots of suspense. Attention Universal Studios: Put this film on DVD!Update: Finally got my hands on the DVD from the Universal Vault series. I enjoy this film now as much as I did back in 1967. For me it holds up well to repeated viewings. Even knowing every twist and turn of the plot, I find the urbane treachery and artful setting endlessly absorbing. "Games" probably won't be a preferred choice of younger audiences, but remains my favorite guilty pleasure.

This film reminds me of "Sleuth", the movie based on a play by Anthony Shaffer released in 1972. Like in "Sleuth", people play games on each other and do not reveal their alliances, their true intentions or their true self. The story is acted like in a theatre play. The sets, representing a New York town house in a prosperous neighbourhood, are nicely done and give a vivid impression of the middle sixties' trends in fashion design and interior decorating - again you can compare it with the lavish set and the different costumes used by the protagonists in "Sleuth". For once, James Caan plays a slick urbanite, and he does it quite well. Don Stroud has a small part, a good actor whose screen presence and performance are always memorable. And then there is Simone Signoret ... as always she is absolutely riveting, and she puts a lot of charm in her rather pityful character. She uses her French accent very much to her advantage! "Games" is an elegant, suspenseful thriller for people who like to see a play now and then. Only right at the end you will know who has won!