The Spanish Prisoner
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Movie Reviews of The Spanish Prisoner
Movie Review: Good movie
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is really good. The actors and the plot of the story are good. The movie is really long. The idea behind this movie is smart.
Movie Review: "Beware of all enterprises which require new clothes."
Summary: 4 Stars
The art of the confidence game, or con, for short...very few manage to bring it to the screen as well or a clever as David Mamet, and The Spanish Prisoner (1997) is, while not in my opinion his best, but better than most, and certainly is a good display of Mamet's writing and style for direction. Written and directed by Mamet (House of Games, Glengarry Glen Ross, Wag the Dog), the film stars Campbell Scott, Steve Martin, Ben Gazzara, and Rebecca Pidgeon (who's married to Mamet).
Scott plays Joseph Ross, an inventor who creates a top secret mathematical formula of sorts intended to allow for the manipulation of the stock market somehow, and has the potential to make a lot, a whole lot, of money for the company he works for...problem is Ross is beginning to have doubts about receiving his fair share, what he believes he's entitled to, from the company that plans to utilize the formula. As he tries to negotiate an equitable agreement with the company, he meets a well to do businessman by the name of Julian `Jimmy' Dell (Martin) to which they become friendly, with Jimmy even offering to assist Joseph by putting him in contact with a lawyer that deals with contract law and proprietary information. But nothing is what it seems in this film, as Joseph soon learns as he's accused of theft of the formula, and even murder, as evidence begins appearing that certainly points the finger at him, becoming the perfect patsy. Will he be able to fully understand the intricacies of the con and learn who's involved before he captured by the police and/or FBI? I know, but you'll just have to watch to find out...
I really enjoyed this film, and all its' intricate twists and turns. It's difficult to talk about without giving anything away, but the story is truly a wonderful mystery that will keep you guessing until the end, even if you manage to uncover some of the elements for yourself. The crafting of the con within the story is really good, even though we see so very little of the machinations and planning behind it, instead seeing only the end results, as Scott's character is drawn into a world of fabrication, deceit, and lies. My favorite role here was the character played by Steve Martin. I thought he did an excellent job presenting a charming and sophisticated character, playing the rare serious role. I do enjoy many of his comedic roles, but it's always a treat to see an actor successfully break out of his/her element and show they are more than what we see on the surface. Scott was good, although I felt his character was just a bit too gullible at times, especially given the nature of his work. I've never really cared for him much as an actor as he reminds me too much of that lame white guy from the 3rd season of MTV's The Real World (I think his name was Judd). He was such a smarmy, wishy washy annoyance always following the majority, trying to present an image of the understanding, evolved, sophisticated, yet oh-so-sensitive male in touch with his feminine side, ever careful never to appear politically incorrect for fear of being offensive to the viewers on the other end of the camera, spouting meaningless phrases that make you want to punch him in the face like "I feel your pain", or "Why can't we all just get along?" but I digress...
A couple of things about Mamet's movies, sort of his signatures to me, is the direction by Mamet giving the film the feel of not so much watching a film but of watching a play on film unfold outside of a stage and also the often times odd dialogue spoken throughout by a number of lead characters. I think the latter element is what may put some viewers off, as it can sound very unrealistic and sometime contrived. I mean have you ever heard anyone say, "Worry is like interest paid in advance on a debt that never comes due"? It sounds nice, but I know of no one in real life that talks like this, spouting strange and introspective statements off the cuff (you could catch a beating in my neighborhood for doing so). I suppose the character played by Rebecca Pidgeon had the most noticeably odd lines, especially seeming out of her character. Maybe these looked good on paper, but I feel it takes a really good actor to pull them off on screen, and make them sound natural. I like Rebecca Pidgeon, as she's very sexy in a demure way and, I believe, a capable actress, but I felt she wasn't able to pull off some of the lines she was given here, within the context of her character.
The picture presented here looks very clear and crisp, and the disc is two sided, with a wide screen version on one side, and full screen format on the other. I did feel the audio was a bit soft, but English subtitles are available. I did find the subtitles didn't always match exactly what was spoken, and I thought that a little weird. Not much here with regards to special features other than a theatrical trailer and brief production notes on the insert inside the DVD.
Overall, I think The Spanish Prisoner is a very good, low-key mystery thriller that will keep you on your toes until the end and does have replay value if only to better understand the layered complexities within the story (I've seen it twice), but I still feel a better Mamet film to watch is the first he wrote and directed in House of Games, with Lindsay Crouse and Joe Mantegna.
Cookieman108
Movie Review: Good Steve Martin Role as consummate con man. Super Surprises
Summary: 4 Stars
`The Spanish Prisoner', written and directed by David Mamet and released in 1999 has been, since the time I first saw it, one of my most cherished `secret pleasures', along with Mamet's first film, `House of Cards'. The title is based on the name of a classic confidence game where the perp claims he left behind in `the home country (Spain, for example) his sister (or some other likely relative) and a large sum of money. The offer to the mark is that if the victem supplies enough money to rescue the prisoner, the mark will be rewarded with all the money in the treasure accompanying the `prisoner'.
Oddly, the plot of the movie doesn't really fit this pattern too well, although it is clearly about a confidence game done on a large scale. It is easy to see that there is some great scam being played out here. The audience probably sees each step coming just before the mark, played by Ricky Jay, catches on. In most cases, the audience is given just enough clues to stay one step ahead of the relatively gullible mark. But, while the mark is has just a bit too little healty suspicion about the actions of the people around him, the con is, indeed, carried out with highly believable precision. If one has seen the movie `The Sting', it is even easier to see how an experienced team of con men could lay out so elaborate a plot.
Having Steve Martin play the role of the primary con man is a brilliant piece of casting, not only for Martin's skill with this dramatic role, but in how easy it is for us to see him as nothing more than a very casual encounter on the resort island and in Manhattan.
Like `The Sting', there are at least three layers of deceit at work. The top layer is fronted by Martin's character who is revealed as a con artist about half way through the film, when the mark finally goes to the NYPD, after being fooled by an FBI team which was actually part of the con.
The second level is carried off by a character who does everything you would expect to maintain the mark's trust, and it is revealed to the audience that this character is part of the con several scenes before the mark discovers it, almost too late for his continued health.
The third level is a total surprise, backed up by a surprise from `the good guys', who save the mark, in the end from being killed by the perps.
While the story is involved and reality is bent just a bit by how easily the mark lets himself be lead into the trap, the cleverness of the plot easily holds up under multiple viewings. I am just a bit surprised at the extent to which the police are fooled into believing the web of lies built up around the perp's loosing the `treasure'.
Movie Review: Like a Chippendale chair; more great Mamet craftsmanship
Summary: 4 Stars
Mamet seems to be attracted to a particular style of acting that doesn't compete with his screenplays, as if too much emotionalism or sometimes too much realism would get in its way. Despite the fact that this seeming trend toward his casting and requirements for character development of his actors is totally discarded with GLENGARRY, GLEN ROSS (a virtuoso masterpiece that plays like the Miles Davis Quintet the late-sixties), it is evident here. The beginning of this movie can come off almost cold, distant and wooden because of it; as if it is screaming the words INTRODUCTION; PROLOGUE; ON TO ACT I while you are watching the characters be introduced. Nonetheless, what Mamet really seems to demand is an economy of reality and emotion as opposed to the absence of it, as is made manifest in all the moments of the film thereafter. Steve Martin is brilliant in this; he is one of those comedians who, moreso than even the fine/eerie work Robin Williams has been doing the past year and a half, can completely channel his spirit into a serious part in a way that makes you believe he was never a comic actor. Ben Gazzara makes you ignore him, distrust him, dislike him...and then shockingly feel for him in this role of a corporate boss. Campbell Scott, the main character, seems to work within the economy of emotion and reality that I mentioned Mamet seems to require, and where it comes off as wooden in the beginning, there are some profound and provocative scenes that suck you in and make him powerful with every scene thereafter.
Mamet's directing is fine in this movie; little he does distracts you from either the characters or the story. But as you would expect from him, the screenplay is the real star of this film. If you have been hungering for a smart, edgy, thinking man/woman's film to rent before enjoying the quality junk food of X-MEN 2 and the dessert of MATRIX RELOADED (my weekend plans), this is the full, Thanksgiving Day-type meal to fit between the two for you. Describing what this film is truly about--not to mention what the title actually refers to--would actually be giving so much of it away that I advise anyone who hasn't seen it to avoid reviews that do so. Mamet, beginning with HOUSE OF GAMES, has mastered a genre of films to such a degree that THE SPANISH PRISONER will make you wonder if he in fact invented the genre itself.
This will keep you guessing until the end, even when you think you've figured it all out. Good movie.
Movie Review: Homage to Hitchcock
Summary: 4 Stars
Update to this review (March 2009) Sony has re-released this title on DVD so it is now available for purchase again.
Plenty of other reviews have summarized the plot and voiced concerns about the acting so I won't add to that. The acting isn't perfect, there are some "loose ends" and the dialogue takes some getting used to. But it's a brilliant film in many ways and very entertaining.
This is a fascinating film, despite its flaws. It's a must-see for Hitchcock fans (just like Dead Again with Kenneth Branaugh) for all the wonderful Hitchcockian touches Mamet inserts. The music, the camera work, all resemble Hitchcock's style. Hitchcock liked to include what he called "refrigerator scenes"-- that is, scenes that can't be easily explained. He said that people would go home and stand around the fridge talking about them and trying to figure them out. (The most famous is in Vertigo (Collector's Edition) when the Kim Novak character is seen in a window but when the apartment is searched, it's empty and no explanation is offered.) Several scenes in this film qualify for that- how does the certificate transform? How did they pull off the restaurant/club thing? Also, Hitchcock was famous for his "MacGuffins"-- items which moved the plot along but really were nothing. (Again, a famous one would be the money that's stolen in "Psycho"- by the end of the movie no one cares about the money.) The "formula" appears to be a MacGuffin-- just something to get the story going- it really doesn't matter whether the formula exists, is a fake, or whatever. The discussion about the plane in the islands is another MacGuffin.