MovieChat Forums > The Chase (1966) Discussion > Worth watching for its cast

Worth watching for its cast


A bevy of present and future supestars line this film from beginning to end. That, and the John Barry score, make it worthwhile.

But the script by Lillian Hellman was changed (she apparently wanted to make oblique allusions to the JFK assassination and Big Texas Oil) and director Arthur Penn wanted an hysterical tone which producer Sam Speigel did not.

So the final cut wasn't what it should have been, either in tone or substance.

The end result is a silly, small-town soap opera about changing sexual mores set to a mid-60s Halloween-y color scheme and shot on the back lot, with Redford miscast (perhaps he should have been in the James Fox role instead) and his imprisonment and post-escape pursuit making little sense.

Only Brando, Dickinson, Fonda, Duvall and Miriam Hopkins come off well (although Brando's best takes were supposedly removed). Janice Rule is good, too.

But it's a curio.

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I am glad someone agrees with me on this movie. I saw the cast and felt it was as deep talent wise as 'It's a mad, mad, mad....world", but this movie was so disjointed and shallow that I could not care for any character or plot development if there was one.

The only positive was seeing actors in roles I was unfamiliar.

How could any director allow such a failure with such talent and filmed in the year I was born no less.

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Just caught this film and I'll agree to a certain extent. It's such a stellar cast full of enough genuine talent in their prime that the resulting movie is almost an afterthought. Overall I think it's pretty good though (gave it a 7).

With so many acting chops in a single 2 hour period you are bound to get some good scenes and The Chase certainly delivers. The fight scene with Brando in his office was about as intense as it gets without being over the top. That in itself was worth the admission. John Barry's score (and even the main titles that seemed very James Bond-ish) were also a huge plus. I also enjoyed the plot for it's various themes. It was straightforward enough that this could easily be adapted for a western - already features a sheriff going up against a small town, rich land barons, running from the law - but at the same time managed to work in some pretty heavy stuff like the race angle and sexual revolution without being preachy.

But it's far from perfect. For me, some of the dialogue early in the film is pretty groan-worthy until you become accustomed to the offbeat style. Also, with so many characters several of them just aren't given enough to do and wind up being poorly drawn. Angie Dickinson got the worst of this. Despite being the wife of the main character she had virtually nothing to do with moving the story forward. Almost seems like her role was written in at the last minute. The development was simply spread too thin over the whole cast. I see totallysaved referred to it as "disjointed" and I think that hits the nail on the head. The script could have definitely used some further refinement and that's the biggest problem with the movie.

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Yes, the end result wasn't what anybody wanted.

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http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m127/tubesteak69/Divas_Who_Drink-1.jpg

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today is the longest day of my life season 1 of 24


was wondering if this movie is worth buying off of Amazon

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