Post by Steven Jay Rubin

SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES – Martin Ritt was a prolific director from the late 1950s to the beginning of the 90s, with such classic credits as “Norma Rae,” “The Front,” “Sounder,” “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold” and “Hud.” But did you know that he was also a damn good actor. The other day I was surfing the Movies! Channel (KCOP in LA), and came across what I would consider to be an obscure thriller from 1975, “End of the Game.” Directed by actor Maximillian Schell, and written by Friedrich Durrenmatt who adapted his own novel, “The Judge and his Hangman,” it stars Jon Voight, Robet Shaw, Jacqueline Bisset…and Martin Ritt as Barlach, a gritty Swiss homicide investigator. He is just terrific. The film begins in Istanbul in 1946, with the sudden murder of a young woman who is slugged in the mouth and tossed off a bridge. We meet Barlach and Shaw’s Richard Gastmann character in this opening vignette, when Barlach accepts a bet that Gastmann can kill the girl, which, sadly, he follows through on. The story then moves ahead thirty years. Gastmann has never been convicted of any crime as he continues to be an important official in the Swiss government. The story then picks up with the murder of a Swiss cop (the corpse is played by Donald Sutherland), and the investigation begins when Barlach teams up with rookie cop Walter Tschanz (Voight). Complicating Barlach’s life is the fact that he’s dying from stomach cancer, but it doesn’t affect his doggedness to solve the crime. What I find interesting about film discoveries like this is seeing well-known performers in unfamiliar roles. Aside from Ritt, who is a revelation, it was fun seeing a balding Shaw in a film that was released shortly after his Quint character debuted in “Jaws”. And Jacqueline Bisset was in fine form, she would shortly join Shaw again in “The Deep,” wearing that memorable t-shirt. Voight and Schell had appeared together the previous year in “The Odessa File,” which bears some similarities to “End of the Game.” Apparently, this was a troubled production with massive issues in post. Some critics called it confusing, but I followed it, and I recommend it for the cast, especially Ritt. Happy Saturday! #movies #moviereview #films #filmreview #MartinRitt #JonVoight #RobertShaw #JacquelineBisset #EndoftheGame #MaximillianSchell