Harry here... A couple of years ago at the 4th Quentin Tarantino Film Festival he showed a film of perfect genius called GAMBIT. It instantly became one of my favorite films. Just a perfect film that tingles in all the right ways. A film that was just brilliantly conceived and executed. A gem long forgotten by man. So today at Variety they announced that the Coen Brothers are going to be remaking GAMBIT and that for now they are planning on shooting with possibly Hugh Grant fixed to star in the role originated by Michael Caine. I suppose there's a couple of reasons this is good. First off, a remake will mean that somebody somewhere will get off their ass and put the original on DVD, plus the publicity of the remake will bring the original film into people's lives... which is a very very very good thing! As for the Brothers' involvement.... The original film was brilliantly written, they ain't too shabby themselves. Though as much as I love those guys, they'll never rival the beauty of the 4 strip technicolor of the original. I've excerpted my review of the original and here's a link to Moriarty's review!!!
The first film up tonight was GAMBIT... GAMBIT is now among my top 250 films or so. I soooo completely love this movie. Now here’s the thing... you should not investigate too much about this film. YOU NEED TO SEE IT.
The movie was written by folks that had worked on THE HUSTLER, PAPER MOON, STRAIGHT TIME, etc. But it feels like a classic movie from the thirties or forties, but with that cool sixties ROMAN HOLIDAY vibe to it.
The director is Ronald Neame... who is probably best known for directing THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE... which was the first film I ever saw in my third week of existence at the Paramount theater here in Austin... well, Ronald I do believe might not of ever made a better film than GAMBIT, though as cinematographer... his work on BLITHE SPIRIT and ONE OF OUR AIRCRAFT IS MISSING is exemplary. However, just the sheer magical charm of this film completely swept me up.
However, though the writing on this film be very very genius... in fact, there are a couple of moments where the writing is so good that you can feel the swelling upon your forehead from the frying pan they smacked you with. And while that writing completely wins you... You are left with the idea that... My god... Herbert Lom, Shirley Maclaine and Michael Caine are the three most wonderful perfect people ever assembled for a perfect little piece of magic.
Now... Before entering the theater, Quentin and I were chatting and he asked me if I had ever seen GAMBIT, and I looked over at the poster very briefly and said, “No... but I’m a huge Herbert Lom fan.” To which Tarantino responded, “Ooooh man, you are going to Love him in this!” and the entire time he said it, he had that... I know something you don’t know... look in his eye that was just insidious.
Now, I can hear some of you wise asses saying... Harry... how can you be a big fan of Herbert Lom... who the hell is that? Well you uneducated heathen... Herbert Lom is a badass... Yeah, I know... most of you think of Herbert Lom as Chief Inspector Dreyfus from all those PINK PANTHER movies and as being Peter Seller’s foil in all those Blake Edwards comedies... But ya know.... if that’s all you know about Herbert Lom... that’s just sad... because the man was a god. As a child, I was terrified of Herbert Lom... what he represented to me was ultimate mysterious meglamaniacal power. Herbert Lom was my Captain Nemo and my pre Darth Vader, Darth Vader. You ever see... EL CID? This is one of my top 20... love with every fibre of my being films. Herbert Lom played that black turban wearing insane eyes that paralyze... Ben Yussuf... the Moorish warlord that will destroy EL CID and all of Spain. He is death, black cold and evil. And for quite some time, he was my Boogie Man... Herbert Lom is a fantastic actor of great range and the PINK PANTHER films typecast him as an eye rolling buffoon... now albeit he was great at that, but damn folks... Lom is so much more.
Case in point, GAMBIT. Herbert Lom plays his Omar Shariff romantic love struck suave pimp daddy billionaire of the Middle East. He’s the foil... the character whom... well, you’ll see... BUT what I love, is they never play to parody... His Shahbandar is the man. Possibly the best played super rich guy in film history.
Now the flipside of the coin is Shirley Maclaine who... DAMMMMMN, what a sweetheart. Shirley... ya know folks, before age crept up on the wondrous Ms Maclaine, she was simply one of the cutest most adorable... love and squeeze and take care of her forever gals you ever did see. She’s playing her Eliza Doolittle role here, and ya know what... As the character stands here... I would take her over Audrey Hepburn any day of the week... I mean dear lord and pass the ammunition I’m in love... Shirley, I will pierce you with my ACK ACK of Loooove....
And then... there is poor ol Michael Caine. Caine is great here, but he falls pray to two characters that are so well written and played that he can only be their David Niven. He plays it with a certain drop of Peachy... and a half teaspoon of ALFIE... and as a result there is a certain adorable roguish demeanor to him that I like. But Lom and Maclaine are the jewels... Caine is the setting.
The heist? Well, find the movie... according to IMDB it is currently available on VIDEO only.. by all means... GET THE MOVIE... If you like films like ROMAN HOLIDAY, CHARADE and the like... You should adore this film.
