As Good As It Gets

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Although this is not a memorable film, I found it entertaining. Yul Brynner stars as a CIA man who is told that his son has died in a skiing accident in Austria. He, therefore, heads off to Austria to investigate if it really was an accident or something more sinister. A young Britt Ekland is the female lead who he seeks information from because she was one of the last persons to see his son alive. Various character actors of the time (made in 1967)such as Clive Revill, David Bauer, Ronald Radd and Moira Lister appear and the movie jogs along at a nice pace. There are some lovely location shots of the Austrian Tyrol and Yul does a good job in the lead role. Well worth a look!

CIA agent Dan Slater learns that his 16 year old son has been killed in a skiing accident in Switzerland and goes to collect the body . He finds out that his son's death may not have been an accident The 1960s was a decade of wannabe Bond B movies most of them either forgettable or just plain embarrassing . THE DOUBLE MAN is a film that doesn't want to emulate the crazy fast paced antics of James Bond . Instead it has a style similar to something John Le Carre would have written It's not a bad cold war thriller but it is a very and I do mean VERY talkative one with the first hour composed of Dan Slater asking everyone who knew his son if he'd been murdered . Then when the major plot twist is revealed halfway through that the dastardly commies murdered Slater Jnr in order to bring his father to Switzerland you'll find yourself asking some obvious questions like Why did the baddies have to come up with such an intricate plan ? Surely they could have murdered him and home and replaced him with the impostor ?Ah yes the impostor ! How on Earth would this work in reality ? He may know Slater drinks 4 cups of black coffee a day but how would he be able to keep up the pretense for any effective period of time ? It's the sort of film that thinks it's being intelligent but because of the plotting it's far from clever

"Double man" is now overshadowed ,in Franklin J Shaffner's filmography by the double triumph of "planet of the apes" and "Patton" .Although it's not really in the same league as those two classics ,"double man" is an exciting spy thriller:although the cast and credits ape those of James Bond,the story is something completely different .The first part is slow-moving -which is necessary to bring the second one- but the second grabs the viewer and does not let him till the very end ,which is very cynical ,when you really think about it: the "good " man is saved because he has never loved anybody! There are bizarre clues (Britt Ekland to Yul Brynner :"when he met that man,your son seemed very happy") and a very cold atmosphere in every sense of the term;there are curious hints at the Bible : Lazarus,Easter and the resurrection and the ending is some kind of judgment of Solomon updated .Some aspects of the film even predate Brynner's part in "mondwest"("he's the spitting image of yourself "we would say "clone" today) !Shaffner had a good sense of space (which was remarkable in "planet of the apes" ) which shows when the skiers come down the mountain,with their torch in their hand .The political side is very vague ,and it's essentially a suspense thriller ,certainly worth a watch.

Passable spy thriller that's a disappointment considering the talent on display. While it isn't a dud, there's nothing particularly outstanding about it and it emerges as a fairly routine and forgettable film.There are some enjoyable aspects to the film however. I admired Yul Brynner for delivering a lead character that was so uncompromising, cold and ruthless – while he was hardly an admirable hero he was believable and convincing and therefore more interesting as a character. I'm sure if this film were made today the character would've had some more 'likable' elements inserted into him during the film.The weakest aspect is Ernie Freeman's dreadful score – cornball and overdone, regularly undermining the potential suspense in key scenes.For mine, while the film itself isn't particularly noteworthy, in a broader context it has a curious interest. Despite being made by a major studio, having a major star and a director who delivered many top-notch films in this period (especially a certain ape film made the same year), it didn't make much impact at the time and is totally forgotten today, even for a film made four decades ago. Why is this? I actually think it would be much more remembered if it had been filmed as a flashy, goofy spy film that is now considered to be representative of late 1960s film style and culture – the likes of which were spoofed in the Austin Powers films. For example, while imo 'In Like Flint' is a dreadful film, clearly inferior to TDM, because of its glossy and spoofy style I can see how its much more remembered and referenced today.Of course, TDM could've still been remembered on the basis of sheer quality but apart from Brynner's performance, it just doesn't have enough of it.