The first movie in the triolgy is my favorite. It’s fun watching a character with amnesia stumble around Zurich and Paris fitting together this puzzle of his identity. Meanwhile the character is pursued by highly dangerous men with no explanation.
I rewatched tonight. Probably my 7th time since it came out in 2003. The language is pretty tame. People shot aren’t bloody or gory.
A much better film than it’s brother “Brian’s Song”, with the box office and Academy Nomination to prove it. The film version of BTDS came out after the successful TV release of BS (and unsuccessful cinema release), but BTDS was already a successful TV play (and book)
Since the TV release of BS came before the cinema release of BTDS, it’s not entirely fair to call Brian’s Song a genre telemovie – except that’s so clearly what it is. It’s transcendentally a genre movie. It’s the intersection of multiple genres. It’s a cancer movie. It’s a buddy movie. It’s a race-issue movie. It’s a sport movie. It’s the Naked Gun of serious theatre. All it needs is an earthquake, storm, and burning building so it could be a disaster movie as well. (Nice early-70s soundtrack on both movies. BTDS has the better song, but BS has the better original music)
My serious complaint about Brian’s Song is that it’s mostly mumbled. Coach has a good clear speaking voice, but I can’t follow the two leads without subtitles.
One of my favorite parts is where an agent ambushes him in a Paris apartment and a fight ensues. Unlike most cinema fights there was nothing flashy or fancy, just two well-trained professionals trying their best to kill the other,
Also known as “The Wages of Fear”. The earlier version (1953) is a great, and French, movie: Palme d’Or at Cannes, and the equivalent at Berlin. I say “and French” because it is darker and more tense than you expect from a 1950’s American movie. I would have seen it dubbed, but it doesn’t matter: it doesn’t depend on dialog.
I don’t think I want to see the American version. I think the story is strong enough to support an updated retake, but I don’t think I want to watch something that tense twice. It’s already seared into my memory.
I’d suggest seeing the 1977 version. We had to study the 1953 film in college film classes and I appreciate it immensely, but the 1977 version is pretty darn strong. The practical FX are something to behold. OTOH, there is a brief sequence towards the end that is a bit cringeworthy.