The Holcroft Covenant (1985)

Picture this: Michael Caine in a spy movie involving a decades-old secret Nazi organization—and he doesn't even know how to shoot a gun! Usually, in his Harry Palmer films, or other similar spy movies, he's a former or current British agent and expertly handles the bad guys. In this one, he's caught unawares by everything and everyone; it's quite endearing.In The Holcroft Covenant, Michael has inherited $4.5 billion from his late father, a secret Nazi. Along the way to receiving his inheritance and trying to do good with the money, he's advised by Victoria Tennant, Anthony Andrews, Lilli Palmer, and Mario Adorft, but who can he really trust? The film is chalk full of exciting action sequences, and, as is sometimes unusual for action movies, there's some pretty good acting in it as well. Michael Caine doesn't just run around and shoot people; he puts himself in the moment of the character and lets the audience know he's scared, hurt, nervous, or plotting.My favorite scene is when he's held at gunpoint in a room full of villains. He manages to distract the gunman and turns the tables by pointing the gun at them, demanding that they do exactly what he says. Everyone's silent for a while, looking at him expectantly, until finally one woman asks, "What do you want us to do?" "The usual stuff," he replies, showing that even though he's holding a gun, he's really not a bad guy at heart.DLM Warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie might not your friend. Several times throughout the film, the camera is at a standstill and then tilts slightly with no warning, and it might make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!" Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to nudity, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.

It is not clear whether the three Nazis who started the fund intended it really to be used for the victims of the Nazis or for the recreation of the Third Reich. One of the three inheritors of the Covenant and her brother are evidently pro-Nazi; the mother of the Caine character seems to think the Covenant was designed for pro-Nazi purposes, yet all this is unclear, even at the very end. Michael Caine wants to use the funds for victims of the Nazis but it is not clear whether anyone else wants this. I dislike films and novels of intrigue which leave the reader/viewer completely confused. This may be a literary technique but for me it is a gross deficiency.

Another absurd thriller from Frankenheimer; almost a specialty of his, creating convoluted political thrillers that make little sense. The script's blatant disregard for logic must have made him fall in love with it immediately.The other three Nazi kids had known about the covenant since their childhood, and yet Caine somehow didn't have a clue. This is already the first glaring logic problem in THC. It is very difficult to believe that Palmer (Caine's mother) only found out about it when he did. That's almost impossible, given that practically everyone else knew. In fact, her behaviour suggests that she almost certainly knew. But that begs the next question: why the hell would she not tell Caine about it (much) earlier? If for no other reason than to warn him about it, giving him sufficient time to prepare for ensuing hoopla – and of course to increase his chances of survival.Are we to believe that Palmer was part of the conspiracy to kill her own son, a plan that had been abandoned by the anti-Nazi organization "Wolfsschanze" after the first attempt at Caine's life at the dock? It doesn't quite make sense. Palmer isn't portrayed as a zealous fanatic, ready to sacrifice her son's life at the drop of a hat, on some hunch (not even a certainty) that he might enable neo-Nazis to get that money. In fact, even if she WERE a zealot ready to allow his murder, then she would have had all the reasons in the world to tell him about the covenant years earlier, so that she could groom him in a proper way to make him avoid making errors that might lead to disaster, and to avoid having to assassinate him.This is not the only glaring idiocy in the relatively convoluted plot. It is hard for me to imagine that "Wolfsschanze", an apparently very serious and well-organized secret group, would be so utterly daft as to not suspect Tennant right after finding out that her brother had murdered their leader and Palmer. Did they really think that he could have been hiding his Nazi sympathies from his own sister for decades on end? Even Caine not ever suspecting her made little sense, except if we believed that he was a totally naïve imbecile.The writer tried to cover up for Caine's lack of suspicion by making him fall in love with Tennant, but that's a fairly dubious touch, too. After all, Caine and Tennant had only just met 3-4 days earlier, yet already he's "in lurve"? I could understand if an uneducated, low-IQ, wide-eyed, gullible 20 year-old fell head-over-heals so quickly and easily - but a successful, intelligent architect in his mid-40s, and surrounded with such sudden pressures and fears? Come on. Any half-way intelligent man would have grown suspicious after Tennant had professed her love for him – on the 2nd day since they'd met! Very sudden and highly suspicious; at this point I knew she was out to get him. Add to that all those billions waiting in the bank, and corpses piling up: what man would possibly not at least suspect her of some ulterior agenda. Perhaps not illogical, like the whole Lili Palmer business, but certainly quite far-fetched.The kidnapping was very obviously staged. I don't know whom the director was hoping to fool with that. In fact, Tennant's fake abduction simply made me more certain that she and her brother were the "baddies".The great irony is that Tennant is such a bad actress, a typical silver-spoon-in-mouth hand-her-a-movie-career-on-a-plate nepotist, hence for her to be playing a character that is so successfully deceptive (fooling everyone) is almost comical. She isn't as wooden as she normally is in her other movies, but definitely a semi-amateur. The less said about Mario Adorf being miscast as a CLASSIC ORCHESTRA CONDUCTOR, the better. The man looks like a butcher, rugby player, or Welsh miner. They might as well have cast Ernest Borgnine or Lino Ventura for the role.The leader of "Wolfsschanze" using that rather silly "Nazi-test" on Caine: that was pretty shaky too. Ditto the fact that Tennant's brother would be so stupid as to leave the scene of a double-homicide without erasing or taking away the tapes that show him as the killer. All these years of planning, scheming, and everything else – and yet he makes this strictly amateurish error: far-fetched, dumb even.The premise that 4 and a half billion dollars could be used to destabilize the world with terrorism isn't far-fetched. However, the idea that this money could be used to destabilize the world to such an extreme extent that "a new strong leader" would then emerge – a Nazi at that – and take over the reigns, that is certainly foolish thinking, nothing that should have anyone too worried. If only it were that easy. Vast amounts of money can perhaps make Oscar winners out of crap like "Milk", but certainly not produce magic. Besides, how the hell did the trio of covenant creators know for sure that any of their offspring would follow the same political path as they did? In spite of all the absurd goings-on and very loose logic, THC is a fun movie, interesting from start to finish. Casting Caine in the lead certainly helped.

All of the elements for a great thriller are there. An outstanding director, John Frankenheimer, An excellent source author, Robert Ludlum and a great leading man for thrillers, Michael Caine. What went wrong? The biggest problem I had with this film was the cinematography. The film was grainy and the sub-titles were very hard to read when the actors were speaking German. There were plenty of the usual Ludlum plot twists and misdirections, but somehow the feel of this film was not up to the usual standards of Frankenheimer or Caine. A lot of it is just too kinky for most people, but an accurate portrayal of Berlin during the cold war years. It would have faired better had it been released ten years earlier rather than later. It does deserve an E for effort.