The MacKintosh Man (1973)

Good plot.excellent performances by the actors ( except for the female lead. Shot on location in Ireland , England and Malta. The scenery is lovely. The music is perfectly fitting and adds to the enjoyment of the film. It's exciting. It's based on a novel by a writer of whom I've never heard.

The Mackintosh Man is directed by John Huston and adapted to screenplay by Walter Hill and William Fairchild from The Freedom Trap written by Desmond Bagley. It stars Paul Newman, Dominique Sanda, Ian Bannen, James Mason, Michael Horden and Harry Andrews. Music is by Maurice Jarre and cinematography by Oswald Morris.Spy shenanigans unbound as Newman plays Joseph Rearden, a hired agent for the British Intelligence who pulls a job on the orders of The Mackintosh Man (Andrews), and finds himself sent to prison for 20 years. But this is all part of a greater plan…A well performed and serviceable drama, if a bit of a let down come the final third. The most fun and intrigue comes about once Rearden enters prison and the initial part of plotting once he is broken out, then it sort of loses its way, trying to make a simple story more intricate than it is. There's good mystery viewing to be found in working out the means and motives of the major players, and there's no shortage of action and sizzle either as Rearden is thrust into a world of espionage and counter espionage. There's a ream of suspicious accents to ignore and Jarre's musical score tries to reach the heights of Anton Karas' work on The Third Man, but fails and just comes off as a cheap repetitive attempt at a homage.More caper movie than intellectual thriller, it's never less than watchable and the cast are good value for your time. 7/10

John Huston directed this little-seen thriller that stars Paul Newman as Joseph Reardon, a member of British Intelligence sent on an undercover mission by his boss Mr. Mackintosh(played by Harry Andrews) in a prison where he is given a fictitious criminal background in order to infiltrate a criminal gang where the leaders are imprisoned. He assists in their eventual escape which leads from Ireland to Malta. His contact(played by Dominique Sanda) is a beautiful but aloof woman who has her own personal reasons for the assignment, which includes a Parliament member(played by James Mason) who isn't what he pretends to be... OK espionage thriller with good cast and direction, though the plot does seem overly complicated at times.

Despite having authored a string of bestselling thriller novels in the '60's and '70's, Desmond Bagley never enjoyed anything like the fame of his nearest rival, Alistair Maclean. In my view he was the superior writer; check out 'Landslide', 'Juggernaut' and 'Running Blind' if you do not believe me. Whereas Maclean got superlative movies fashioned from 'The Guns Of Navarone', 'Ice Station Zebra', and 'Where Eagles Dare', Bagley's stories were, by and large, ignored by Hollywood. A rare exception was John Huston's 1973 film of 'The Freedom Trap', retitled 'The Mackintosh Man'. Paul Newman plays 'Joseph Rearden', recruited by British Intelligence boss 'Mackintosh' ( Harry Andrews ) for a top secret operation to unmask a traitor at the heart of the establishment. Posing as an Australian jewel thief, he allows himself to be sent to jail for twenty years ( how times change. Nobody would get a sentence like that now even for murder ). A fellow inmate ( Nigel Patrick ) informs him of the existence of 'The Scarperers' - a group who help rich prisoners escape for a large fee. Rearden goes over the wall with Communist spy 'Ronald Slade' ( Ian Bannen ). Some time later, he wakes up in a mysterious country house with sinister German nurse 'Gerda' ( Jenny Runacre ) and creepy 'Mr.Brown' ( Michael Hordern ) for company. But his cover is blown, and he is forced to make a break for it. A phone call to London informs him that Mackintosh - the one man who knows of his innocence - has died...Loosely based on the real-life case of George Blake - a Communist spy who was freed from jail in 1966 by men sympathetic to his cause - this pleasant, old-school spy thriller benefits from a twisty story, location shooting in London, Ireland and Malta, and a first-rate cast. Newman is as solid as ever, and alongside him are some great British stars such as James Mason, Roland Culver, Percy Herbert, and Peter Vaughan, with lovely Dominique Sanda as Mackintosh's daughter 'Mrs.Smith'. Stealing the show, however, is the stunning Jenny Runacre as 'Gerda', who gets to inflict some painful-looking wounds on the star. Wonderful Irish actors like Noel Purcell and Eddie Byrne appear fleetingly. Maurice Jarre's title theme is very much in the same vein as Anton Karras' music for 'The Third Man'.Walter Hill, who wrote the script, later became a major action director with '48 Hours' and 'The Driver' to his credit. He sticks to the book but the ending has been unfortunately changed. Instead of 'Sir George Wheeler's' ( Mason ) yacht being blown up by a limpet mine, we get a more low-key climax similar to that of 'The Ipcress File'. It ends far too quickly for my liking. Rearden deserved better than to be dumped by Smith. I'd also like to know how an old lorry could possibly outstrip a powerful Mercedes on a quiet Irish road. Flaws aside, 'The Mackintosh Man' is an above average time-passer.