Main Cast: James Coburn, James Mason, James Fox, John Alderton, Susannah York
Release Year: 1968
Country: UK/US
Run Time: 101 minutes
Plot
In this caper comedy, Duffy (James Coburn) is a shaggy bohemian living in Tangiers who is approached for a less-than-legal business proposition by two half-brothers, carefree Stephane Calvert (James Fox) and stuffy businessman Antony Calvert (John Alderton). Though Stephane and Antony had different mothers, they share the same father, and they both hate him; Charles Calvert (James Mason) is a mean-spirited multi-millionaire who shows his sons little affection and isn't very interested in cutting them in for the family fortune. Charles plans to transport several million dollars in banknotes by ship from Tangiers to Marseilles, and the brothers want Duffy to help them liberate the money from the ship. While the Calvert Brothers are persuasive, Stephane's beautiful girlfriend Segolene (Suzannah York) is even more so, and Duffy finds that he not only wants to steal the cash from Charles, but the girl away from Stephane. Duffy was scripted by Donald Cammell, who gained a cult reputation for his first directorial effort, the Mick Jagger vehicle Performance. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Duffy is a disastrous little would-be-hip would-be comedy of the familiar caper mode. It certainly should be a much better film than it is, if for no other reason than because a good cast has been assembled to go through the paces. But the actors can't save a screenplay that is this annoying, and there's only so much they can do when under the direction (or, in this case at least, misdirection) of Robert Parrish. Duffy has a few things going for it. The locations, for example, are colorful and are well captured by Otto Heller's camera. There's also some entertainment value in observing how self-consciously Hollywood tried to be "hip" in this era, and how the results could be amusing, though not in an intentional manner. But Duffy is so dull at its best and so actively irritating at its worst that its small pleasures fade quickly. The screenplay is poor all the way through, but the biggest problem is Parrish's direction. It's self-conscious, pretentious and tedious and makes Duffy a real slog. The cast is good, but there's little that they can do. James Coburn has style, when Parrish gives him half a chance, but his innate flair is buried under the rubble of the film. James Mason and James Fox manage to find a few good moments, as does a luscious Susannah York, but none are able to make a real performance. Only John Alderton comes close -- which, under the circumstances, is quite an accomplishment. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Guy Deghy - Capt. Schoeller; Carl Duering - Bonivet; Marne Maitland - Abdul; Andre Maranne - Inspector Garain; Steve Plytas; Peter van Dissel; Tutte Lemkow - Spaniard; Julie Mendez - Belly Dancer; Barry Shawzin - Bakirgian
Credit
Philip Harrison - Art Director, Yvonne Blake - Costume Designer, Peter Price - First Assistant Director, Robert Parrish - Director, Willy Kemplen - Editor, Barry Mann - Composer (Music Score), Cynthia Weil - Composer (Music Score), Ernie Freeman - Composer (Music Score), Barry Mann - Songwriter, Cynthia Weil - Songwriter, Ernie Freeman - Songwriter, Otto Heller - Cinematographer, Martin Manulis - Producer, Patrick McLoughlin - Set Designer, David Kay - Special Effects, John Richardson - Special Effects, Donald Cammell - Screenwriter, Harry Joe Brown, Jr. - Screenwriter
