Movie Review – The Golden Rendezvous
A tramp steamer with extremely rich passengers is high-jacked by a group of terrorists who seem to be planning more than a simple hi-jack. Only Carter, one of the crew stands in the way of more bloodshed.
Based upon an Alistair MacLean novel, The Golden Rendezvous is an action packed movie that is very typical of it’s era, that being the 1970′s. A lot of action, the acting perhaps not the greatest but acceptable and a great cast of notable actors in it. In many ways, the movie was made the same way that TV shows in the 80′s were made. Bad guys shot, apparently aiming and yet cannot hit anything while the good guys, shot one handed, with the gun wobbling and still manage to hit what they are aiming for.
Richard Harris is the main character and as such is great. Harris was always fun to watch and in this movie he is no different. Such names as Gordon Jackson, John ‘guess who the villain is’ Vernon, David Janssen, Burgess Meredith and John Carradine fill out the cast with the drop dead beautiful Ann Turkel as the requisite female.
Funnily enough, the music was written by Jeff Wayne, who in that same year created the classic Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of War Of The Worlds. If at all familiar with that record, you will recognize the music in this movie as coming from the same man. Similar but not the same.
The movie stays close to the book until the final twenty five minutes where, perhaps to avoid the more disturbing ending featured in the book, the twist in the tail isn’t as twisty as on paper.
I am sure that at the time, this movie was a good movie, if not great. Any fan of the book should watch the movie, if only to never read the book again without imagining Richard Harris as Carter!
