This is an excellent choice if you're in the mood for a movie that doesn't rely on vulgar language, explosions, car chases, decapitations, and gratuitous sex (yeah, I know, these are the elements that we all THRIVE on).
This movie TRULY has an all-star cast:
* Albert Finney
* Sean Connery
* Richard Widmark
* Anthony Perkins
* Ingrid Bergman
* Lauren Bacall
* Michael York
* John Gielgud
* Jacqueline Bisset
* Martin Balsam
(and a few others)
It's based on an Agatha Christie novel and uses some plot elements from the true-life Lindbergh kidnapping. It was directed by the great Sidney Lumet (SERPICO, DOG DAY AFTERNOON, etc.)
The acting is all top-notch, especially Albert Finney's closing monologue where he describes how the crime was committed.
This is one of those excellent "forgotten" movies (it was nominated for 6 Oscars). The widescreen, 5.1 audio DVD is available for under $10. Bonus features include a 4-part "making of" featurette that is pretty interesting.
Recommended.
It's weird what movies that were big and popular in their day become overlooked since they belong to the era before summer blockbusters like "Jaws" and "Star Wars". They're not quite the level of across the board classics - loved by people besides critics, film historians, and film buffs - but are still too "big" to have been played on TV so often that younger fans get attached them, and are now considered "too old" or "slow paced" for current audiences.
Plus try getting the same level of stars for this time (if there are such things) to appear in one film together now. Especially for a popular murder mystery that been around for decades.
What The Burgomaster says. Though, I do prefer the two followups to this one--"Death on the Nile" and "Evil Under the Sun," where Peter Ustinov plays Hercule Poirot. Both have great casts, as well.
The television remake of this, with Alfred Molina as Huercule Poirot, was not bad neither. Of course, it wasn't up to the theatrical version, but it was not unwatchable. I think part of the problem with the remake was that they updated it to the present time, and something like this, ususally works better as a period piece.
Love this movie. Showed it to my wife when it was on TV last year, and she loved it too. I hadn't seen it since probably the early 80s, and it was even better than I remembered.
Since then, whenever we see Connery in something, we always do our best rendition of the "cleaning my peep" line.
Agree. It's amazing what a good plot, decent acting and such will do for a movie.