Golden Rendezvous

Action-packed suspense thriller finds innocuous-looking purser Carter (Harris) the unlikely hero when the floating casino on which he works is hijacked by a heavily armed group of mercenaries, led by John Vernon, the pirates en route to a rendezvous with another ocean liner, loaded with gold bullion. A cast full of supernovas, dazzling set & stunt work, and a catchy theme tune by Jeff Wayne create a pleasing audio-visual experience light on logic but fast paced and entertaining nonetheless.

While Harris clearly has centre stage, Jackson, Vernon and Meredith benefit from key supporting roles in this somewhat bloody thriller. Vernon in particular, is sadistically ruthless and calculated as a business-like assassin, cool, methodical and neither fooled nor intimidated by Harris' faux bravado. Turkel (Mrs Harris at the time) affects inane dialogue without displaying much acting talent, while capable cast including Janssen, former leading lady Malone, Beatty and horror maestro Carradine are wasted in frivolous supporting roles that look as though they were edited down to virtual bit parts in post production; in point of fact, some key plot development is conspicuously absent, and the narrative can at times, lack cohesion.

But in spite of the obvious flaws, this remains an easy viewing nonsense, with an attractive international cast, pulsating sound and plenty of graphic action - the scene in which the mercenaries first rappel through the casino windows is sure to catch a few off guard, and sets the tone for the remainder of the movie. Not the best translation of an Alistair MacLeanthriller, gratuitously violent (lots of claret), and yet somehow, irresistibly entertaining.

Terrorists kidnap a nuclear scientist. Later a strange passenger and strange cargo are loaded aboard a tramp steamer which will pass within a few miles of a ship loaded with gold bullion. Coincidence?

THE GOLDEN RENDEZVOUS is one of those films which evokes "what ifs..." What if the producers had attached the prelude filmed when the show was broadcast on network TV? What if they had hired someone other than the thoroughly soused Richard Harris? What if Ann Turkel had been costumed in sexier outfits? And what if the producers hadn't hired a very overweight (and, at that time, very well known) Dorothy Malone for a throwaway role?

The prelude, added for TV does wonders for the films exposition. The film sans the prelude is much truer to the Alistair MacLean novel, but what is clever in novels is sometimes simply baffling on the screen. The ending is actually better than the novel; and, it would have been great if Harris hadn't resorted to some silly derring-do with dual submachine guns; and even better if he hadn't forgotten his lines in the denouement?

The best thing about this movie is the terrific (and I mean TERRIFIC) score by Jeff Wayne. The music adds a sense of urgency one never feels from what is up on the screen.

Poor old Alistair MacLean. With a few exceptions, movie makers the world over have managed to turn his very well written stories into not-so well written movies. In this attempt, a tired looking Richard Harris plays Ships Officer Carter, trying to deal with odd passengers, strange coffins and even stranger outfits as worn by the lovely Ann Turkel. Toss in a couple of not so great cameos from David Janssen and Dorothy Malone, a not so scary John Vernon, assorted plot "twists" (I use the term in it's broadest possible sense), and you get a movie that has all the pieces but never actually works out where they go.

What does it have going for it? A good basic storyline, some magnificent music (a great score from Jeff Wayne), a couple of quite good stunts and Ann Turkel. However, against this you have several examples of very ordinary acting, a plot that doesn't so much unfold as explode, the slowest "5 minute countdown" ever to take place in Hollwywood and the travesty of having MacLean's wonderful last "plot twist" (as read in the book) ignored so that Harris can go running around armed with a submachine and a determined look.

*sigh* The Guns of Navarone, Force 10 from Navarone, Where Eagles Dare and Ice Station Zebra (despite it's flaws) were examples of how to make a MacLean come alive on the screen. Golden Rendezvous does not make the grade.

Rafe Nottage Sydney 16 May 2005

On a cargo ship converted into a cruise-liner, First Officer John Carter foils the plan of international hijackers to use his vessel as bait for a passing U. S. Treasury ship carrying gold bullion.

The Golden Rendezvous, an adaptation of Maclean's superb novel, stars Richard Harris as the heroic captain, performing some derring-do when "injured" and trying to stop the smugglers from setting off a nuclear bomb and running off with a gold bullion. Harris is ably supported by a star cast - David Jensen, Dorothy Malone, Gordon Jackson, Burgess Meredith, John Caradine, Ann Turkel and John Vernon, who adds a touch of menace to the proceeding as the gun-toting villain.

Of course, it doesn't match the book, which was supremely suspenseful with derring-do and a tinge of Agatha Christie, but it's still an enjoyable film, which, unlike Caravan to Vacarres, atleast follows the book's general plot outline. Emphasis here is on action, bloody squibs and the action is rousing - especially the scene where our hero goes over the side with a rope. What was needed was a more buildup of suspense in the first 30 minutes, and sharper dialogue.

I had fond memories watching this on LWT ( UK TV) in 1982 and definitely lapped it up.

"Golden Rensezvous" looks and sounds a lot like a TV movie, but the one thing that is quite un-TV-like about it, at least for its era, is the amount of violence it contains: lots of bloody squibs, stabbings, even a massacre of innocent people. The film is also notable for its similarities to "Die Hard", which came out a decade later: terrorists and hostages in a confined space (this time, a ship), and one resourceful hero who has to fight them from the inside. Of course you have to ignore the various implausibilities, like the astonishingly easy way in which the bad guys smuggle themselves AND a bomb inside the ship. Unfortunately, Richard Harris, who is usually an excellent actor (check out the same year's "Orca" for an example), seems to be operating on autopilot here, except when he's in action. Ann Turkel is decorative most of the way, until she picks up a machine gun near the very end. There are some other big names in the cast, but most of them are almost completely wasted. The movie gets a passing grade, but you can see why it is largely forgotten today. ** out of 4.