I love this movie so much

Good movie but grossly overrated

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Mostly, I just didn't care. With both Paul Newman and James Mason, this should have been an interesting and entertaining movie. Yet, somehow, it just never clicks. I knew not to expect a short-term up or chase scenes, but u did expect at least some character development.

Just when I thought I had seen every Newman movie, this one popped up. When I saw Paul Newman and James Mason in the cast, I thought I would be looking at a near classic. Despite the caliber of talent in the cast, they are let down by a lackluster script.The looks and scenery here are good. The biggest problem with this John Huston directed film is choppy sequences. I found several times where the scene changes made little sense and seemed to lose my way in the film. As I was watching the film commercial free, I was surprised how this happened.The spy story is filmed in the UK and Ireland and the scenery is good. Newman is okay and since this is PG an actress turns down his request for "a poke." The film opens with James Mason making a speech in Parliment. Then we go into the cloak and dagger plot.It just never really gets off the ground which is too bad, though I think the problem has to be the script, unless this novel is just bloody dull. That might be why they beat up Newman in one sequence, just to liven up the film a bit.

Paul Newman is the hero in this 1973 British espionage thriller. He is Rearden, an undercover agent who goes from one ID to another, with appropriate accent changes. The movie doesn't a have large cast, but all are very good in their roles. Dominique Sand is one of the main players, Mrs. Smith (code name for the daughter of Mackintosh). James Mason is Sir George Wheeler. Harry Andrews is Mackintosh. Michael Hordern is Mr. Brown. One gets a sense of the cloak and dagger early on. And, one can guess that if Newman and Andrews characters are the good guys, this is another one of those James Mason roles as culprit. Other than that, the story has some good intrigue, with modest action and some chase scenes. The ending is a surprise. The movie is based on a 1971 Novel by Desmond Bagley, "The Freedom Trap." This is the only film success of his four novels that were made into moves. The movie has some nice scenic shots of sites in Europe. It was filmed in Ireland, Malta, London and Liverpool. "The MacKintosh Man" is a fun mystery that most should enjoy.

British society is under assault according to the opening scene which has James Mason as a Conservative MP addressing Parliament about social decay. Of course when it comes down to it, he's about as corrupt as they come, a fact suspected by the British police, who orchestrate a plan to infiltrate a criminal gang by getting one of their own (Paul Newman) sent to prison. Hollywood talent of writer Walter Hill (great 70's and 80's director), John Huston and Paul Newman mingles with British sensibilities and a really nice soundtrack to create a whole that exceeds the parts. The story starts take off at about the middle of the film, out somewhere on the Irish moors with Newman having infiltrated the criminal gang who had sprung him out of prison. The viewer is lulled into thinking this is a lighter film than it actually turns out to be, which has some surprisingly tough parts, especially the ending.