Anthony Quinn and Michael Caine had previously worked together on the critically panned The Magus, but undeterred they reunite in this typical '70s Euro-thriller. If rumours are to be believed, Caine accepted the role of assassin John Deray in this movie without reading a single word of the script. He wanted to get himself and his family away from chilly England, so the lure of shooting this picture in the relative warmth of southern France was enough to secure his services! Alas, The Marseille Contract is a disappointing and exceedingly familiar thriller, utterly reminiscent of a hundred other movies made around that time. Those who have not seen many movies of this ilk might enjoy it more than others, but for the connoisseur of the '60s/'70s continental thriller there is absolutely nothing fresh about this one.
American intelligence agent Steve Ventura (Anthony Quinn) is out to nail a seemingly respectable French citizen named Jacques Brizard (James Mason). In reality Brizard is a major drug lord who uses his privileged reputation to evade the suspicion of the French police. Ventura's hard approach upsets the French authorities, who think he is unfairly victimising one of their innocent citizens. Unable to get close to his quarry, Ventura decides to take the unorthodox method of hiring a contract killer to erase Brizard. The assassin who comes forth to carry out the job, much to Ventura's surprise, is John Deray (Michael Caine). The pair of them are old buddies, though since they last met their lives have taken decidedly different routes. Deray sets about completing his contract, but various twists and double-crosses await along the way.
When a star trio of Caine, Quinn and Mason can't save a film, you know it must be a pretty hopeless case. Judd Bernard's clichéd script simply regurgitates characters and situations from other movies in the genre it's basically like rolling Caravan To Vaccares, The Mackintosh Man, The French Connection II, The Mechanic and Cold Sweat into one. If you've seen any of those films, you've more-or-less seen this one. Director Robert Parrish goes through the motions in by-the-numbers fashion, tossing in competent car chases, cold-blooded killings and attractive locations without ever creating any real interest in the story. Roy Budd contributes a cool score (very much of its era) and ace director-of-photography Douglas Slocombe captures the appealing locations very nicely. But these are just minor compensations in a film of mind-numbing unoriginality. If you are on some sort of personal quest to watch every Michael Caine film, or every Anthony Quinn film, or even every James Mason film ever made, then you may have a reason to seek out this title. But everyone else will find it is not a film that offers its audience any particular pleasure or reward.
American intelligence agent Steve Ventura (Anthony Quinn) is out to nail a seemingly respectable French citizen named Jacques Brizard (James Mason). In reality Brizard is a major drug lord who uses his privileged reputation to evade the suspicion of the French police. Ventura's hard approach upsets the French authorities, who think he is unfairly victimising one of their innocent citizens. Unable to get close to his quarry, Ventura decides to take the unorthodox method of hiring a contract killer to erase Brizard. The assassin who comes forth to carry out the job, much to Ventura's surprise, is John Deray (Michael Caine). The pair of them are old buddies, though since they last met their lives have taken decidedly different routes. Deray sets about completing his contract, but various twists and double-crosses await along the way.
When a star trio of Caine, Quinn and Mason can't save a film, you know it must be a pretty hopeless case. Judd Bernard's clichéd script simply regurgitates characters and situations from other movies in the genre it's basically like rolling Caravan To Vaccares, The Mackintosh Man, The French Connection II, The Mechanic and Cold Sweat into one. If you've seen any of those films, you've more-or-less seen this one. Director Robert Parrish goes through the motions in by-the-numbers fashion, tossing in competent car chases, cold-blooded killings and attractive locations without ever creating any real interest in the story. Roy Budd contributes a cool score (very much of its era) and ace director-of-photography Douglas Slocombe captures the appealing locations very nicely. But these are just minor compensations in a film of mind-numbing unoriginality. If you are on some sort of personal quest to watch every Michael Caine film, or every Anthony Quinn film, or even every James Mason film ever made, then you may have a reason to seek out this title. But everyone else will find it is not a film that offers its audience any particular pleasure or reward.