Post by Eddie Love on Dec 5, 2010 13:43:21 GMT -5
The release and success in 1963 of Stanley Donan’s CHARADE starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn saw in its wake a score of classy, star-driven thrillers with one-word titles ala GAMBIT and ARABESQUE. One of the perhaps lesser-known entries in this sub-genre is MIRAGE from 1965 and it’s one of the best of its sort and a near great film in it’s own right.
The premise of the film derives from that old post-war standby – the man with amnesia caught in a web of deceit and intrigue. (“Web as in “David Webb” the real name of Jason Bourne, the epitome of this thriller devise.) The amnesiac this time around is Gregory Peck, the picture of the urban professional who we first encounter in the midst of a blackout in a Manhattan skyscraper. He seems like the embodiment of the era’s “Man in the Grey- Flannel Suit” (I wonder why, hmmmmmmm...) until people he doesn’t recognize, recognize him -- and vice versa. Things quickly spiral out of his control and soon he’s running for his life.
CHARADE’s Oscar-winning writer Peter Stone is at work here, and even at the plot’s most complicated, the dialougue is amusing and very smart. The opening blackout scene that kicks off the action is a daring and clever start to the story – we’re thrown right into things without our proper bearings. The many antagonists who crop up in Peck’s path are quirky and memorable and distinctly drawn.
As usual Peck gives a performance of extreme charm with a commanding presence and not really that much acting talent. Given the pop psychology stakes at play here he doesn’t deliver on the torment that we’re meant to believe his character is going through. (I think that’s why they have him go off in some scenes and throw shit around, as he’s not able to convey some of what we’re meant to feel he’s going through.) At the same time, his likability keeps the picture’s atmosphere at the sophisticated end of the thriller spectrum, so he’s effective in that regard. “The girl” is Diane Baker, and while her scenes with Peck may lack the chemistry needed to bounce the oomph factor into CHARADE territory, she’s pretty and compelling.
Peck consults a private detective to help him sort things out and in doing so ushers Walter Matthau into the picture. This is one of the many supporting roles he had before becoming a star and he’s effortlessly sensational. I suppose he’s the “comic relief” in some respects, but you’d never really know it, as he doesn’t play it for any obvious laughs. Nevertheless he infuses the picture with his deadpan, hangdog New York delivery without every scarifying the realistic mood. (That may have been the key to his comic genius – you never saw him trying to be funny.) Elsewhere in the cast (and like Matthau a holdover from CHARADE) is another one of my favorites – George Kennedy. Here, he’s the menacing heavy and he’s perfect. Also really good is Leif Erikson (not the Viking) as another sinister sort.
The film is neatly directed by Edward Dymytrk, and while he doesn’t add the cinematic dimension of “the Master of Suspense”, things move along at a solid clip, particularly in the last half. Also, he does a great job of injecting quick flashbacks from Peck’s perspective that aren’t indicated with any gauzy gimmicks or musical cues, which I suspect may have been pretty innovative for the time. There’s also lots of great black and white Manhattan location work.
Not surprising for a film based on a novel by Howard Fast and helmed by a member of the “Hollywood Ten”, MIRAGE is a message film. But, like the secrets in Peck’s subconscious, this too emerges only in the very end, and as such is more effective than you’d find in preachier films.
One of the things I love about 60s cinema is the scoring, as it was truly a golden age with grandmasters at work like Elmer Bernstein, Jerry Goldsmith, Henry Mancini, Lalo Schifrin, John Barry. You know who never gets mentioned in that list? Quincy Jones. I’m amazed how many times I’ll watch something that was scored by him from those days. MIRAGE is a choice example, as his work is tough and jazzy, but also marvelously lush. People tend to overlook this area of his extraordinary career, but he's really one of the greats in this sphere as well.
Maybe MIRAGE doesn't quite makes it to the level of a classic; the stars may be a little bland, the script a bit convoluted, and the pacing is off in the first half. But it’s a grown-up entertainment, and if you’re looking for a solid thriller or just need your cool, 60s fix during MAD MEN’S hiatus, you must check it out.