☆ ☆ ½
Billion
Dollar Brain (1967) – K Russell
Michael Caine’s third go-round as
British spy Harry Palmer, directed by Ken Russell no less, is pretty much a dud
and ended the series. Caine has turned
Palmer into almost a non-entity – the cogs turn inside his head but there is no
outward sign of this. He gets the job
done. This time he is in Finland trying
to figure out what Karl Malden is up to (assisted by or thwarted by Francoise
Dorleac). It turns out that Malden is
working for crazy Ed Begley, a fervent Texan anti-communist, painted in broad
strokes, who wants to destroy the USSR by provoking a Latvian uprising. Possibly Ken Russell’s hand is seen in some
of the over-the-top montages but otherwise he is relatively restrained. I struggled to pay attention.
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