reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (07/23/85)
"The Jigsaw Man" has had a very troubled history. Original-
ly, the money for this spy drama was put up on the basis of a re-
teaming of Lawrence Olivier and Michael Caine, who had worked so
brilliantly together in "Sleuth". Halfway through production,
the money vanished, and it was some time before any new money
turned up. Judging by appearances, the new money was barely
enough to finish the film in any shape at all. Once it was fin-
ished, "The Jigsaw Man's" release was delayed for over a year.
Now it has finally arrived, limping into town in the middle of a
busy summer and hoping to get by on its stars. Unfortunately, as
far as I'm concerned, "The Jigsaw Man" is no more than an example
that there is no excuse for a bad work of art, just explanations.
Many things are wrong with "The Jigsaw Man", starting with
the script. The story concerns an aging British agent who de-
fected to the Russians. The Russians use miracles of plastic
surgery and who knows what else to turn him into Michael Caine.
Caine is to go back to England, under the watchful eye of the
KGB, to retrieve a list of Soviet agents which he had hidden be-
fore defecting. Caine escapes from their surveillaince and tries
to cut a deal with his old friend (played by Olivier), who now
runs the British secret service. Since Caine looks nothing at
all like his old self, and the Russians reported his death, and
there may be a mole in Olivier's department, there are many plot
complications, added to by the presence of Caine's daughter (Su-
san George), the only person he can really trust.
The plot, while no world beater, could have been made to
work. The script doesn't have very many new ideas to spice it
up, though. It also requires some supposedly intelligent people
to do very stupid things. Nor is the dialog particularly good.
The film's continuity is extremely poor, but I will generously
excuse the script for this, putting the blame on the film's
financial troubles. One flaw that definitely comes out of the
screenplay is that it only gives Olivier and Caine 3 scenes to-
gether, one an action scene in which they have little interac-
tion. Since the selling point of the film was the Caine/Olivier
reunion, I would have thought that a major restructuring to get
their characters together would have been in order.
The direction is flaccid. No doubt the financial problems
hurt here, too, but even the scenes and sequences which appear
unaffected move slowly and with little inspiration or enthusiasm.
Terrence Young is one of that company of hacks who made one or
two good films years ago, and have been making mediocre films
ever since. Their early hits make them respectable, and their
willingness to work quickly and cheaply on garbage scripts makes
them popular with producers. No one seems to notice that their
film don't make very much money any more, nor get good reviews.
Young's early hits were "Dr. No" and "From Russia With Love", but
anything they taught him about spies and suspense he has forgot-
ten. Knowing his name, and the names of some of his fellow
hacks, can save discerning viewers a few bucks, as their films
invariably can be missed with no loss, nowadays. They have been
making markedly fewer films since the US and Canada tightened up
the tax laws to prevent tax writeoffs on the basis of film flops.
(Here's a couple more names to watch for and avoid: Richard
Fleischer, who once made "The Vikings" and now makes ridiculous
sword and sorcery movies for Dino de Laurentiis, and Andrew V.
McLaglen, who directed "Shenandoah" and went on to make most of
John Wayne's late, bad Westerns.)
The acting in "The Jigsaw Man" is good, by and large, but
some of it suffers from the fragmentation. Caine seems to have
had most of his scenes shot, as does Olivier, but the supporting
cast looks like much of its performances were never committed to
film. Caine is good, he's almost never bad. Olivier relies a
bit too much on eccentricities, but he has some good moments.
Much of Charles Gray's part seems to have disappeared, as does
the more interesting portions of Robert Powell's part. Susan
George struggles with the daughter's part, bringing it to the mat
but not pinning it.
The photography is surprisingly bad, when one considers that
it was done by Freddie Francis, one of Britain's premiere cinema-
tographers. (After an extended but undistinguished flirtation
with directing Hammer horror films, Francis is back running the
camera, where he belongs.) No other technical detail of "The
Jigsaw Man" is up to par, either. Assuming that I am right about
how much of the script was filmed, the editor has my sympathy,
but not my admiration. If I'm wrong, and most of the script was
shot, then that should be the fate of the editor, too.
"The Jigsaw Man" has one or two moments, but overall the im-
pression I got was of a mediocre script only 4/5's of which was
shot. The dedicated Caine and Olivier fans will feel compelled
to see it, but others need not bother. For a much better time,
rent a tape of "Sleuth" for your videocassette recorder, and
watch what two brilliant actors can do with a near-perfect script
and a talented, sophisticated director.
--
Peter Reiher
reiher@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU
{...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher