THE DOUBLE MAN

I remember when THE DOUBLE MAN (1967) was released during the 1960s spy film craze. I didn't see it in the theaters when I was a kid and I'm glad I didn't. I would have been bored silly and watching this glacially paced "thriller" as an adult this afternoon didn't exactly give me a buzz either.

Yul Brynner stars as CIA Agent Dan Slater. He's the target of a diabolical plan by the Soviets, led by the always reliable Anton Diffring as Berthold, to replace him with an exact double. Slater's son is murdered in the Austrian alps (it's made to look like an accident), a tragedy which sends Slater, over the protests of his boss, Edwards (Lloyd Nolan), to Austria. Once there, Slater teams up with a former British agent, Wheatley (Clive Revill) and starts investigating. Slater meets the smoking hot Gina (Britt Ekland, who went on to become a Bond girl in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (1974)). Finally, after a seemingly interminable amount of running time (this turkey's only 105 minutes long) in which we're treated to nice Alpine scenery, horrible rear screen process shots and interiors filmed in England, Slater is captured and replaced by his double. But before the double can be sent to the U.S., Slater escapes from the Russians and upsets the apple cart.

Brynner plays both roles as if suffering from severe constipation while it appears as if Lloyd Nolan shot all of his scenes in one day in a studio (he has no screen time with Brynner). Based on the Henry S. Maxfield novel LEGACY OF A SPY (1958), the screenplay by Alfred Hayes and Frank Tarloff spins the original material into a second rate Bond film wannabe. Both the title credits and score (by Ernie Freeman), look and sound like they belong in a Bond adventure. But they're not enough to enliven this tepid, turgid, frankly boring, spy movie.

The concept of a spy being replaced with an exact double was better utilized in THE SPY WITH MY FACE, the 1965 feature film comprised of two episodes of THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. spliced together. And the use of ski cable cars and mountain top transfer stations as locations for action set pieces anticipates WHERE EAGLES DARE (1968) and ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE (1969), both of which are far superior films.

THE DOUBLE MAN was director Franklin J. Schaffner's fourth feature film. After working in television, Schaffner began his directing career with THE STRIPPER (1963), followed by THE BEST MAN (1964) and THE WAR LORD (1965). Those three and DOUBLE MAN were merely warm-ups for what came next, a string of critically acclaimed box office blockbusters beginning with PLANET OF THE APES (1968), PATTON (1970), NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA (1971), PAPILLON (1973), ISLANDS IN THE STREAM (1976) and THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL (1978).

As you can see, Schaffner made some great films in his career. Unfortunately, THE DOUBLE MAN wasn't one of them. Thumbs down.