The Black Windmill

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

A 70's secret services thriller with Michael Caine which was on very very late last night, and Donald Pleasance as his rather aloof eccentric boss.

Very enjoyable and gripping as Caine's ultra-reserved character comes out of his shell and rekindles the relationship with his ex-wife. And it only took their child being kidnapped to get them back together. Awww.

Anyone seen this or got any thoughts?

[Jake Thingray]

I had it in mind when I wrote this, about the nutter who claims she'll marry Michael Barrymore, and he is heterosexual and nothing's gone wrong with his career:

THE GUNTRIP ASSIGNMENT (1975) Mediocre spy tale in dull colour directed with many a pointless close-up, in which blackmailed agent Michael Caine is tortured in his flat overlooking the Thames, by being made to listen to Guntrip singing. His mission is to find out who the hell 'Showbiz Nick' is. Given away free on DVD with the Daily Mail, shown on TV on Sunday afternoons. Also starring Oliver Reed as Michael Barrymore. (90 mins)

Also, going back a bit, I mentioned in this piece about an under-rated character man, how he was almost the only one out of loads of familiar faces in it who didn't get some kind of stardom, at however low a level. He had the same ginger 'tache in it as in the screen grab;

http://theavengers.tv/forever/pnote-revill.htm

[Funcrusher]

Always been curious about this but it never seems to turn up anywhere. The soundtrack is by Roy Budd, who scored 'Get Carter', which adds to the appeal.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I wouldn't say it's anywhere near Get Carter or The Ipcress File in terms of quality or the bleak/psychedelic qualities those films achieve respectively but it's good fun.

Some of the actions scenes suffer from that speeded-up effect though, and there's one appalling overdub where Caine says something along the lines of "Watch out, you'll bloody kill us" in a rather undramatic way while we see a speeded-up car swerve onto the pavement then back onto the road. That said, I do tend to like mid-70's/early 80's action scenes as they can be very matter of fact and brutal- not just in what's shown but the choice of shot and editing too. I'll have a think about that a bit further.

What keeps it going is the tension between his response and the secret services response to the kidnapping, and what all gets set in motion when that snaps.

I suppose it helps when they show the film not at 2am. I'm sure it's worth a couple of quid for a DVD copy.

[Blumf]

It's been on TV a fair few times recently, I think I last saw it on ITV4 half a year ago.

Can't really add much than what's already been said, not a classic but well worth a watch if you spot it in the listings. Think I prefer The Fourth Protocol though.

[SavageHedgehog]

Think I prefer The Fourth Protocol though.

These Michael Caine non-Harry-Palmer-spy-thrillers of the 70s and 80s do kind of blend together after a while don't they? But I agree that The Fourth Protocol is a gooden, with Pierce Brosnan making a surprisingly good villain and some great supporting performances from Ian Richardson and Julian Glover. I also think I prefered The Whistle Blower to The Black Windmill, even though it's a bit TV movie-ish, as I seem to recall it had some interesting things to say about the Intelligence services during the Cold War era (which is an interesting subject to me anyway)

[Blumf]

It's been on TV a fair few times recently, I think I last saw it on ITV4 half a year ago.

Thought so, it's on ITV4 tonight at 11.