Revisited this gem today...
It really is a wonderful movie and a terrific capper to the Don Siegel/Clint Eastwood run of classics. Watching it again after many years, I was really sucked into it in ways I didn't expect. The way suspense is so carefully mounted, very minimally. And with almost no music at all... The movie is pure atmosphere and you begin to feel like you're right there in one of those cells. Rich characterizations help and every major character is given a moment to shine and stand out.
And the film is able to wring genuine emotion without getting too cloying or sentimental. The subplot involving Roberts Blossom is heartbreaking and its climactic moment is one of the great and unsung scenes of 70s cinema. It's shocking, tragic and expertly constructed. More than the gory shock, that quiet moment when Eastwood walks over to the table, picks up the fingers and puts them in a box to give to the guard... It floors me.
A nice moment between Clint and Paul Benjamin towards the end is also very effective and doesn't need swelling music or an overflow of tears to convey its meaning.
Don Siegel really was one of the masters and you can tell how he, more than Leone, was a major influence in Eastwood's directorial style. Particularly with regards to pacing.
I feel this picture has kind of been forgotten. It's one of Clint's best.
It really is a wonderful movie and a terrific capper to the Don Siegel/Clint Eastwood run of classics. Watching it again after many years, I was really sucked into it in ways I didn't expect. The way suspense is so carefully mounted, very minimally. And with almost no music at all... The movie is pure atmosphere and you begin to feel like you're right there in one of those cells. Rich characterizations help and every major character is given a moment to shine and stand out.
And the film is able to wring genuine emotion without getting too cloying or sentimental. The subplot involving Roberts Blossom is heartbreaking and its climactic moment is one of the great and unsung scenes of 70s cinema. It's shocking, tragic and expertly constructed. More than the gory shock, that quiet moment when Eastwood walks over to the table, picks up the fingers and puts them in a box to give to the guard... It floors me.
A nice moment between Clint and Paul Benjamin towards the end is also very effective and doesn't need swelling music or an overflow of tears to convey its meaning.
Don Siegel really was one of the masters and you can tell how he, more than Leone, was a major influence in Eastwood's directorial style. Particularly with regards to pacing.
I feel this picture has kind of been forgotten. It's one of Clint's best.
