Review of Deadlock

"Deadlock" is a German English-language film from 1970, so it had its 45th anniversary last year. The writer and director is Roland Klick and after having seen his most known works basically, he really does not feel German at all in his approach to filmmaking. This is neither a positive nor a negative statement, but it is a negative statement that most of his works did so little to me, so I guess his success with awards bodies is mostly due to him really being somewhat different compared to other filmmakers from his country. Here he unites Mario Adorf, Marquard Bohm (brother of Hark) and Scottish actor Anthony Dawson ("Dr. No") for a German western movie. Quite a challenge. All in all, I must say not a successful challenge unfortunately. I would not really blame any of the acting trio, but the writing mostly. Adorf was probably the standout here and his strong physical approach to acting as well as his whole looks thing fit perfectly into the world of western movies. Had he been American and not Swiss, he may have ended up as one of the huge stars of the genre. Bohm was almost entirely wasted in my opinion, especially from that moment on when it became a three-man show and not a two-man show. He really did not manage to hold his own against the other two and he also did not have the material, so it is really difficult to understand and appreciate the ending with him being the great winner. Dawson did fine with what he was given, but it was all too generic and stereotypical in my opinion. His sadistic approach got old really quickly and the longer it went on, the more it just became a film lacking any action except Adorf's character being pushed around and humiliated by Dawson's. Quite a shame. I felt that Klick had a lot more at his hands to make this a good film, the potential is there, but the execution is just so underwhelming that I would only really recommend it to the most die-hard western fans. Then again, these may be the most disappointed here. Still, to end the review on a more positive note, another thumbs-up for Mario Adorf channeling his own Eli Wallach while looking a lot like Bud Spencer. But a thumbs-down for everything else. I don't recommend the watch.