Mirage
Directed by Edward Dmytryk
Written by Peter Stone from a novel by Howard Fast
1965/USA
Universal Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Ted Caselle: I tell you one thing, I’m beginning to wish I had a gun.
David Stillwell: You’re kidding?
Ted Caselle: Aw, filthy things, I can’t stand them. You have one and sure as shootin’ you end up using it.[/box]
Meh McGuffin does not spoil excitement of this tense thriller.
The film begins with the total electrical black out of a single skyscraper in New York. In the darkness, the beloved head of the World Peace Organization meets his death by exiting a window on an upper floor down to the street below. We promptly meet David Stilwell (Gregory Peck) a cost accountant. In the darkness of the staircases, he first becomes acquainted with Shela (Diane Baker), who makes cryptic remarks. She will gradually become his love interest.
Slowly David realizes he can’t answer the most basic questions about his address, etc. and that he has no friends. Thereafter, he meets a menacing thug (Jack Weston) and a “friend” (Kevin McCarthy, who urge him to take a vacation in the Bahamas.
David sets out to solve the mystery of his own existence. A psychiatrist assures him that the symptoms are not of classic amnesia. A private detective (Walter Matthau) is of even less help. David’s adversaries become more menacing still as a thug (George Kennedy) begins following him with a gun. I will not reveal more.
My husband remarked that this was one of the most powerful movies about nothing he had ever seen. I thought that was pretty apt. We are treated to a search for a McGuffin that is not even revealed until the last five minutes of the movie. By that time, this is a huge anti-climax. But the journey to that point is exciting, helped on by an outstanding cast. Recommended to those in the mood for a thriller.
Tiny clip
