Ask anyone familiar with Malcolm McDowell's movies to name his most outrageous performance and most would tell you to watch Caligula. A few might suggest that his work in A Clockwork Orange fits the bill. Not many would come up with The Passage, primarily because it's a largely forgotten film which didn't succeed critically nor commercially even when it was originally released. However, McDowell's performance in this movie is outrageously hammy and must deserve some kind of place in cinema history as one of the most bonkers pieces of acting ever seen.
The story sounds like a winner. A Basque shepherd (Anthony Quinn) is approached by resistance fighters during WWII and asked to escort a scientist (James Mason) and his family over the Pyrennes Mountains into Spain. A deranged SS captain (McDowell) is the officer sent to chase them and capture them.
Alas, this film is an absolute failure. For some reason, a story which had lots of potential for tension and excitement becomes utterly uninvolving. Part of the fault is J. Lee Thompson's leaden direction. Part of the fault is Bruce Nicolaysen's bubble-gum script (based, amazingly, on his own novel) which lacks any depth of character and motivation to arouse audience empathy. Part of the fault is the actors' apparent lack of interest in the material. One of the finest British actors that ever lived - James Mason - is left to contend with the very worst role of his career. He barely has a sentence to utter during the entire film, and by the end the audience knows precious little more about him than they did at the start. But the biggest cause of failure in this film is the decision by its makers to emphasise the gruesome, gory detail. The film is repellent and over-the-top beyond all reason. It actually seems to enjoy wallowing in scenes of rape, torture and killing but has none of the gravity or seriousness to justify such themes (at least the horrific Saving Private Ryan was horrific for a perfectly good reason). Who wants to watch Michel Lonsdale having his fingers hacked off? Who wants to see gypsy leader Christopher Lee being cremated alive? Who wants to see teenager Kay Lenz being brutally raped?
I wanted to see The Passage for years and years. With such a great cast, such a well-known director, and such a serviceable plot I felt certain it couldn't possibly be a bad film. How much further from the truth could I have been?
The story sounds like a winner. A Basque shepherd (Anthony Quinn) is approached by resistance fighters during WWII and asked to escort a scientist (James Mason) and his family over the Pyrennes Mountains into Spain. A deranged SS captain (McDowell) is the officer sent to chase them and capture them.
Alas, this film is an absolute failure. For some reason, a story which had lots of potential for tension and excitement becomes utterly uninvolving. Part of the fault is J. Lee Thompson's leaden direction. Part of the fault is Bruce Nicolaysen's bubble-gum script (based, amazingly, on his own novel) which lacks any depth of character and motivation to arouse audience empathy. Part of the fault is the actors' apparent lack of interest in the material. One of the finest British actors that ever lived - James Mason - is left to contend with the very worst role of his career. He barely has a sentence to utter during the entire film, and by the end the audience knows precious little more about him than they did at the start. But the biggest cause of failure in this film is the decision by its makers to emphasise the gruesome, gory detail. The film is repellent and over-the-top beyond all reason. It actually seems to enjoy wallowing in scenes of rape, torture and killing but has none of the gravity or seriousness to justify such themes (at least the horrific Saving Private Ryan was horrific for a perfectly good reason). Who wants to watch Michel Lonsdale having his fingers hacked off? Who wants to see gypsy leader Christopher Lee being cremated alive? Who wants to see teenager Kay Lenz being brutally raped?
I wanted to see The Passage for years and years. With such a great cast, such a well-known director, and such a serviceable plot I felt certain it couldn't possibly be a bad film. How much further from the truth could I have been?