End of the Game (1976)

I read Der Richter under Sein Henker in college German class and fell in love with it. Then we saw the German movie version, which was a dubbed version of End of the Game, and I was disappointed. Drastic changes from the source material. Anna's role has been plumped up to the point I scarcely recognized her. She appears only fleetingly in the book, is just the girlfriend of Schmied, and is more innocent. Different person pushed from the bridge. Novella is a great psychological drama; the movie is a bit a a mish-mash. After about 25 years I saw the English version of the film on TV. Book review: Wow! Movie review : Meh. It retains a shadow of the original. Maybe one day they'll do a proper adaptation.

It's based on Friedrich Durrenmatt's own crime novella, "The Judge and His Hangman" (1950). So if you've read Durrenmatt, you'll know he's sort of an absurdist like Samuel Beckett or Eugene Ionesco.I liked the film at the start, it's oddly weird, especially the funeral of Donald Sutherland with musical mourners and precipitation. It's hilarious. Another funny scene is when Donald Sutherland is being driven in a car by a Swiss cop and he keeps falling over in the seat.I think the problem ultimately is that the whole film seemed like some idiotic farce that was entirely pointless, and it threw it an "unexpected ending" type of denouement that was weak.Donald Sutherland is some cop who's found whacked in a car, and a Swiss Kommisar, played capably by Martin Ritt (American director, Hud (1963), The Molly Maguires (1970), Hombre (1967)) snoops around trying to find out who did it. He uses the aid of Jon Voight, who's another cop. Robert Shaw as "Gastmann" is an ominous character who may or may have not done the killing. There's plenty of fine acting and odd moments, good direction, but again, it gets bogged down too much in idiosyncratic reactions or convoluted conversations.Martin Ritt and Robert Shaw made some type of bet involving the death/murder of some woman both of them loved.Look for Friedrich Durrenmatt himself as some old "self-playing chess" crank who helps out Jon Voight.It's worth a look for all its faults.

Fans of foreign films in general may get more satisfaction out of this movie than those who are accustomed to more standard mystery movies. Even though the cast all speak English and it was released in English, it has a very European sensibility with the type of subtle humor and quirky idiosyncrasy rarely found in mainstream American films. Ritt plays a Swiss police detective who is bound and determined to bring down Shaw, a man who has led a life of crime, and, in particular, committed a murder before Ritt's eyes 30 years prior for which he was never prosecuted. Ritt's partner is slain in the process and he is assigned a new partner (Voight) whose job it is to solve the murder of the previous partner and finally pin down Shaw for his various crimes. Bisset plays the slain man's girlfriend who also draws the interest of Voight. While the often twisty pieces of the mystery are put together, Ritt provides a strong character study of a man who is, himself, close to death, yet longs to fulfill his mission before he peters out. The film has many memorable attributes, none more so than the appearance of Sutherland as the dead detective. He never plays the character while alive! Aside from a few photos, he is only shown rocking back and forth (in a darkly humorous way) as his body is being brought into town from the murder scene. Many of the scenes in the film have a surreal feeling and are loaded with strange little touches that are more likely to be found in French or German films. Ritt, in a rare acting appearance, gives a committed and textured performance. Voight is also strong, though his sometimes manic, wide-eyed portrayal may not be everyone's cup of tea. Bisset is always lovely to watch and she has a few decent scenes, but mostly she's window dressing in a characterization that ends up appearing pretty sleazy. Shaw has the customary amount of authority and slickness that aided him in parts of this kind throughout his career. All of these folks do a solid job of acting, but oddly, none of them have accents that even remotely match the nationality of their characters. Voight attempts the faintest accent, but he and Ritt are clearly American in their delivery. Shaw is obviously British and Bisset makes no effort in the slightest to suggest the Irishness of her character, speaking in her usual clipped UK accent. Ferzetti, an Italian, only adds to this as a Swiss police chief. The resolution of the mystery isn't all that difficult to piece together, though the reaching of it does have some moments of interest. The whole film tends to be uneven, but it's rarely uninteresting. Voight has a somewhat lengthy nude scene that would be typical for many French actors, but unusual for Americans, in which he wears only some grey socks and one sleeve from his shirt. Frontal nudity is partially shown for a couple of frames. It adds up to a movie with English-speaking actors, but with strong European sensibilities and the combination may not work for all viewers.

Two bullets. Twoooo bullets. Interesting? Two bullets. That just about describes the wonderful dialogue in the movie. This movie has something in common with "The Sicilian Clan" in the sense that both try to be tense thrillers, but inadvertently end up being awkward comedies. The movie's potential was severely hampered by Martin Ritt, who possesses the worst table manners in the world. He never hesitates to show the world what his food looks like after it's chewed up. Other than that, all the clumsy direction never fails to pull a chuckle or two out of you when it tries to be intelligent (e.g. when the car comes crashing off the highway. It twirls over in slow motion, then lands on the cab and makes a hilarious, synthetic crash sound.) All in all, for me the movie ranks lower than "The Sicilian Clan".