Rating: 
Summary: Urgh
Review: Gosh, this is bad. An utterly straight-faced, very silly spy thriller that isn't very thrilling, or even professionally put together. 'Jabootu's Bad Movie Dimension' (at www.jabootu.com) has a lengthy review of this film which highlights the badness. It all seems to belong to another time and place, a period when locations on the French riviera seemed glamorous. The writing and acting are both quite bad, and Michael Caine is very obviously paying for a loft extension with this film. There's a semi-happy ending, though - the once-great Frankenheim went on to do 'Ronin', and Caine seems to be back on track, too.
Rating:
Summary: Urgh
Review: Gosh, this is bad. An utterly straight-faced, very silly spy thriller that isn't very thrilling, or even professionally put together. 'Jabootu's Bad Movie Dimension' (at www.jabootu.com) has a lengthy review of this film which highlights the badness. It all seems to belong to another time and place, a period when locations on the French riviera seemed glamorous. The writing and acting are both quite bad, and Michael Caine is very obviously paying for a loft extension with this film. There's a semi-happy ending, though - the once-great Frankenheim went on to do 'Ronin', and Caine seems to be back on track, too.
Rating: 
Summary: Huh?
Review: I can't figure out which was worse - the acting, the dialogue, the direction or the plot. I rented the movie thinking...."OK, a post WW2 spy thriller with Nazi intrigue starring Michael Caine and directed by John F. How could it be anything but spine-tingling?".
Jeesh, what a mistake.
Believe or not, Caine is capable of giving a bad performance. And this was it. He just seems lost in this train wreck. However, he was Olivier compared the rest of the cast. Veronica Tennant shows why her career lasted months! All the others were caricatures of stereotypes (that Orchestra Conductor better be slinging hash somewhere now, because acting was not his forte).
And the dialogue! Caine is supposed to be a "foreign born American citizen". He, of course, has as thick an English accent as in every other movie, indicating he was brought up on the Isle. When Veronica Tennant tells him "the umbrella is in the boot", she has to explain that boot means trunk in England! Gawd, are we all idiots?!?
The plot?!? Don't even get me started... It's absolutely asinine. Our bumbling everyman is caught up in some meandering travelogue which is supposed to pass for international high-stakes intrigue. What a snorefest.
What were they thinking?
Nah, they weren't. Pass on this one folks.
Rating: 
Summary: Watch this movie!
Review: I have watched this movie more than just a few time. There is just something about this movie that I like. First of all, I am fascinated with movies about Nazis and conspiracies. But the best part of this movie is Michael Caine. This guy is magic to watch. In it Michael Caine inherets $4 billion from his Nazi father to be used to make ammends to the people who were hurt during WW2. But the movie takes a spy/mystery twist when killers are after Michael Caine and he keeps meeting new people he doesn't know if he should trust or not. This is the type of movie that will keep you on the edge of your seat till the very end.
Rating:
Summary: O
Review: I rented John Frankenheimer's "The Holcroft Covenant" back in the late-1980s when I was a big fan of Michael Caine spy movies. This movie is a disappointment."The Holcroft Covenant" is one of the very worst films of both actor Michael Caine and director John Frankenheimer. I couldn't make much sense out of the story. The screenplay is absolutely ludicrous. At times, the movie can't seem decide whether it wants to be a bizarre satire or a spy thriller. The superior Caine is absolutely wasted in this picture. John Frankenheimer simply forgot how to make great movies. As a Frankenheimer film, "The Holcroft Covenant" is even worse than "Dead Bang" and "99 and 44/100% Dead." I am disappointed that the director of the unforgettable "The Manchurian Candidate" made this piece of nonsense. I don't understand why efforts were made to transfer such an inferior Frankenheimer movie from videotape to DVD when the director's vastly superior "The Iceman Cometh" hasn't yet been released to home video in ANY form. "The Holcroft Covenant" is a failure. For a great Michael Caine spy movie, see "The Ipcress File."
Rating:
Summary: O
Review: I rented John Frankenheimer's "The Holcroft Covenant" back in the late-1980s when I was a big fan of Michael Caine spy movies. This movie is a disappointment. "The Holcroft Covenant" is one of the very worst films of both actor Michael Caine and director John Frankenheimer. I couldn't make much sense out of the story. The screenplay is absolutely ludicrous. At times, the movie can't seem decide whether it wants to be a bizarre satire or a spy thriller. The superior Caine is absolutely wasted in this picture. John Frankenheimer simply forgot how to make great movies. As a Frankenheimer film, "The Holcroft Covenant" is even worse than "Dead Bang" and "99 and 44/100% Dead." I am disappointed that the director of the unforgettable "The Manchurian Candidate" made this piece of nonsense. I don't understand why efforts were made to transfer such an inferior Frankenheimer movie from videotape to DVD when the director's vastly superior "The Iceman Cometh" hasn't yet been released to home video in ANY form. "The Holcroft Covenant" is a failure. For a great Michael Caine spy movie, see "The Ipcress File."
Rating:
Summary: Only Michael Caine Had Any Class (But Not Much)
Review: It is hard to imagine how any film that stars Michael Caine and is directed by John Frankenheimer could go so wrong in so many ways. There is nothing wrong with any plot that suggests the fall of the Third Reich could lay the seeds for a future resurgent Fourth Reich, but the problem with THE HOLCROFT COVENANT is that things went fuzzy from the start. A Nazi general in Berlin in April of 1945 arranges for billions of US dollars to be used ostensibly to compensate for the atrocities of Hitler's wars of conquest and genocide. He realizes that decades must pass before his son (Caine) would grow to maturity to carry out his grand design. The film suggests, however, that the real purpose of all these billions is not philanthropic at all. There is more than a hint that this general merely used verbal chicanery in his death note to propagate a new Reich. Now if this money were truly intended to spark a new Reich, then the result would have been logical, and hence believable. It is not until the very last two minutes of the film that director Frankenheimer, with no warning, pulls a switch about the true purpose of the legacy. Caine, of course, tries hard to pull things together, but he gives what is probably the worst performance of an otherwise glittering career. Compare his fumbling Holcroft with the sureness of his recent THE QUIET AMERICAN. It is strange to see and hear Caine look like a bumbling fool who can neither drive a car nor shoot a gun. By the end, however, he somehow matures enough to figure out a convoluted plot and clearly wants his character to be seen as suave, confident, and in control. When he tells the audience how he manages to figure this all out, his explanation makes no more sense than the rest of the plot. On a technical note, the sound track was hard to hear, and the scenes of nudity were thrown in to make sure your attention does not wander, which it did. Rent this only if you are a die-hard Caine fan.
Rating:
Summary: Only Michael Caine Had Any Class (But Not Much)
Review: It is hard to imagine how any film that stars Michael Caine and is directed by John Frankenheimer could go so wrong in so many ways. There is nothing wrong with any plot that suggests the fall of the Third Reich could lay the seeds for a future resurgent Fourth Reich, but the problem with THE HOLCROFT COVENANT is that things went fuzzy from the start. A Nazi general in Berlin in April of 1945 arranges for billions of US dollars to be used ostensibly to compensate for the atrocities of Hitler's wars of conquest and genocide. He realizes that decades must pass before his son (Caine) would grow to maturity to carry out his grand design. The film suggests, however, that the real purpose of all these billions is not philanthropic at all. There is more than a hint that this general merely used verbal chicanery in his death note to propagate a new Reich. Now if this money were truly intended to spark a new Reich, then the result would have been logical, and hence believable. It is not until the very last two minutes of the film that director Frankenheimer, with no warning, pulls a switch about the true purpose of the legacy. Caine, of course, tries hard to pull things together, but he gives what is probably the worst performance of an otherwise glittering career. Compare his fumbling Holcroft with the sureness of his recent THE QUIET AMERICAN. It is strange to see and hear Caine look like a bumbling fool who can neither drive a car nor shoot a gun. By the end, however, he somehow matures enough to figure out a convoluted plot and clearly wants his character to be seen as suave, confident, and in control. When he tells the audience how he manages to figure this all out, his explanation makes no more sense than the rest of the plot. On a technical note, the sound track was hard to hear, and the scenes of nudity were thrown in to make sure your attention does not wander, which it did. Rent this only if you are a die-hard Caine fan.
Rating: 
Summary: The Director's Edition
Review: Ok, rent the DVD and watch the movie straight through. Then watch it again with John Frankenheimer's audio commentary. It's the only way you can figure this thing out. He explains the plot, which is not Ludlum's complete story. And Ludlum was a very entertaining author, although I think he got paid by the word. In fact, since great chunks of the novel are missing (the ending is completely invented by the screen writers), you need the director giving you notes as you watch. I was surprised that there were 3 writerss credited with the screenplay. That's usually a bad sign to begin with. The movie is a heck of a lot more interesting to watch with the director's notes, but it doesn't help the plot or pacing, which are deathly dull. Far too much chit-chat, and exposition, exposition, exposition. Some of the scenes were played in a certain location simply because Frankenheimer found real locations that appealed to him and he just changed the script to accomodate his choice, even if it didn't make a darn bit of sense to the story-line. For example, the scene of the sexual carnival was added simply because Frankenheimer wanted to make a statement about the decadence of Berlin in the '20s and '30s, and for no other reason. The carnival, I learned, was Frankenheimer's total invention; it doesn't actually exist. The scene of Caine riding a horse is there simply because Frankheimer found a restaurant in Germany with a riding area attached. The scene, however, was set in London, so London buses had to be brought in to convince you that it was London. The scene where Michael caine says he doesn't drive wasn't in the original script. It was added to cover the fact that Michael Caine doesn't drive and never has. Does knowing this little tid-bit help you enjoy the story? Not for a second. This is sub-rate Frankenheimer.
Rating:
Summary: The Director's Edition
Review: Ok, rent the DVD and watch the movie straight through. Then watch it again with John Frankenheimer's audio commentary. It's the only way you can figure this thing out. He explains the plot, which is not Ludlum's complete story. And Ludlum was a very entertaining author, although I think he got paid by the word. In fact, since great chunks of the novel are missing (the ending is completely invented by the screen writers), you need the director giving you notes as you watch. I was surprised that there were 3 writerss credited with the screenplay. That's usually a bad sign to begin with. The movie is a heck of a lot more interesting to watch with the director's notes, but it doesn't help the plot or pacing, which are deathly dull. Far too much chit-chat, and exposition, exposition, exposition. Some of the scenes were played in a certain location simply because Frankenheimer found real locations that appealed to him and he just changed the script to accomodate his choice, even if it didn't make a darn bit of sense to the story-line. For example, the scene of the sexual carnival was added simply because Frankenheimer wanted to make a statement about the decadence of Berlin in the '20s and '30s, and for no other reason. The carnival, I learned, was Frankenheimer's total invention; it doesn't actually exist. The scene of Caine riding a horse is there simply because Frankheimer found a restaurant in Germany with a riding area attached. The scene, however, was set in London, so London buses had to be brought in to convince you that it was London. The scene where Michael caine says he doesn't drive wasn't in the original script. It was added to cover the fact that Michael Caine doesn't drive and never has. Does knowing this little tid-bit help you enjoy the story? Not for a second. This is sub-rate Frankenheimer.
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