- Actors: Mario Adorf, Anthony Andrews, Michael Balfour, Hugo Bower, Andrew Bradford
- Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Import
- Language: English
- Region: (US and Canada This DVD will probably NOT be viewable in other countries. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
- Number of discs: 1
- MPAA Rating:
- Studio: Westlake Budget
- Release Date: Oct 28 2003
- Run Time: 118 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B0009NZ314
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon.com
The 1980s weren't too kind to John Frankenheimer, but this film stands out as a top-notch spy thriller. A Nazi pact to steal a fortune from the Third Reich to aid Holocaust survivors results in a bizarre inheritance 40 years later, with architect Michael Caine having to come to terms with his father's past and the terrifying prospects of a Fourth Reich. The whole thing becomes a metaphor for a witches' covenant. It's exciting and well-paced and full of precious little moments (though Caine and Victoria Tennant fall short of being interesting characters). Supporting actors Mario Adorf, Michael Lonsdale, and Bernard Hepton really shine. The film was based on Robert Ludlum's bestseller and coscripted by George Axelrod (The Manchurian Candidate). Terrific audio commentary by the director provides valuable insight--for instance, allowing Lonsdale to carry a long exposition scene through his commanding presence. --Bill Desowitz
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
O,
By Steven Kuroiwa (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Holcroft Covenant (VHS Tape)
I rented John Frankenheimer's "The Holcroft Covenant" back in the late-1980s when I was a big fan of Michael Caine spy movies. This movie is a disappointment."The Holcroft Covenant" is one of the very worst films of both actor Michael Caine and director John Frankenheimer. I couldn't make much sense out of the story. The screenplay is absolutely ludicrous. At times, the movie can't seem decide whether it wants to be a bizarre satire or a spy thriller. The superior Caine is absolutely wasted in this picture. John Frankenheimer simply forgot how to make great movies. As a Frankenheimer film, "The Holcroft Covenant" is even worse than "Dead Bang" and "99 and 44/100% Dead." I am disappointed that the director of the unforgettable "The Manchurian Candidate" made this piece of nonsense. I don't understand why efforts were made to transfer such an inferior Frankenheimer movie from videotape to DVD when the director's vastly superior "The Iceman Cometh" hasn't yet been released to home video in ANY form. "The Holcroft Covenant" is a failure. For a great Michael Caine spy movie, see "The Ipcress File."
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Only Michael Caine Had Any Class (But Not Much),
By
This review is from: The Holcroft Covenant (Widescreen) (DVD)
It is hard to imagine how any film that stars Michael Caine and is directed by John Frankenheimer could go so wrong in so many ways. There is nothing wrong with any plot that suggests the fall of the Third Reich could lay the seeds for a future resurgent Fourth Reich, but the problem with THE HOLCROFT COVENANT is that things went fuzzy from the start. A Nazi general in Berlin in April of 1945 arranges for billions of US dollars to be used ostensibly to compensate for the atrocities of Hitler's wars of conquest and genocide. He realizes that decades must pass before his son (Caine) would grow to maturity to carry out his grand design. The film suggests, however, that the real purpose of all these billions is not philanthropic at all. There is more than a hint that this general merely used verbal chicanery in his death note to propagate a new Reich. Now if this money were truly intended to spark a new Reich, then the result would have been logical, and hence believable. It is not until the very last two minutes of the film that director Frankenheimer, with no warning, pulls a switch about the true purpose of the legacy. Caine, of course, tries hard to pull things together, but he gives what is probably the worst performance of an otherwise glittering career. Compare his fumbling Holcroft with the sureness of his recent THE QUIET AMERICAN. It is strange to see and hear Caine look like a bumbling fool who can neither drive a car nor shoot a gun. By the end, however, he somehow matures enough to figure out a convoluted plot and clearly wants his character to be seen as suave, confident, and in control. When he tells the audience how he manages to figure this all out, his explanation makes no more sense than the rest of the plot. On a technical note, the sound track was hard to hear, and the scenes of nudity were thrown in to make sure your attention does not wander, which it did. Rent this only if you are a die-hard Caine fan.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not nearly as bad as stated here.,
By Bt "Cat." (Parts unknown) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Holcroft Covenant (Widescreen) (DVD)
With the producer, the actors and the story, I thought it was strange that this movie could be as terrible as people made it out to be according to the reviews here. No, it doesn't follow the book, many movies don't. It isn't an epic espionage tale of gigantic proportions. It's just a really cool little spy tale that holds your interest the whole time through. There's some wooden acting, some really lame dialogue, and for a moment there I sensed that this might even fit into my "schlocker" cabinet as a dramedy. I'm not sure if the intent was to be dead serious, and am guessing it was, nevertheless it was a movie that kept me in it right until the end. Just enjoy it for what it is. It's not a five star (more like three and a half) but I will sometimes do that, try to give a little extra positive to something that I think has been unfairly hammered.
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