The Double Man (1967) We recall reading a wonderful, exhaustively researched Cinema Retro article about the making of Yul Brynner's 1962 costume epic "Taras Bulba"....(and by the way, every dedicated movie buff should subscribe to Cinema Retro, it's that good....)
Brynner put his heart and soul into "Taras Bulba", envisioning it as a 4 hour 'Lawrence Of Arabia' style blockbuster.......but United Artists cut it down to 2 hours and unceremoniously shoved it into theatres as just another action movie with actors wearing funny outfits.
The tanking of the film broke Brynner's ability to ever fully commit himself to his film projects.....so he spent the rest of his career slumming and/or sleepwalking though his movies, depending on his exotic appearance to do his acting for him.
All he needed was that famously bald head, commanding deep voice and perpetual steady stare that betrayed no real emotion whatsoever. A stoic, inexpressive statue, Brynner made Charles Bronson look like Sir Anthony Hopkins.......
"The Double Man", a semi-interesting spy-suspense thriller displayed a perfect example of Brynner's barely-there work. He plays a CIA agent who's lured by Russian operatives to a Swiss ski resort so they can replace him with an exact double.
The dastardly Russkies get him rushing to the resort by killing his teenage son who'd been vacationing there, and then making the murder look like a skiing accident.
Brynner, being a methodical, veteran spy, suspects foul play, as well as everybody else who crosses his path. This including the ultra-hot resident ski bunny (Britt Ekland) and Brynner's one time co-spy (Clive Revill) now retired and running the town's local schoolmaster.
Lurking around every corner, natch, is the evil plotter behind the double-replacement scheme (Anton Diffring) along with his team of thuggish minions.
Ooops, we almost forgot......there's also the carbon copy waiting to replace Brynner....played by.....are you kidding? Who else could possibly play Brynner but Brynner
Not a bad set-up for a clever espionage thriller. And director Franklin J. Schaffner ("Planet Of The Apes", "Patton", "The Boys From Brazil") keeps it trimly moving along, bolstered with the top notch supporting cast of character actors (such as Lloyd Nolan as Brynner's barking mad CIA chief)
And halfway through, the film even pulls off something of a sharp twist, which sets up what might have been a genuine suspense-laden, thrilling windup.....
If only Brynner had played his character as if he still possessed a pulse.
Sadly, though, as always, the actor trudges through this movie keeping his face blank through its entirety........the only thing missing from this all too typical Brynner performance are shots of the actor checking his watch to see how much time he's got left till he goes home.
His emotionless, lazy work here sucks all the energy out of the movie.........and by the time it ended, we only felt relieved it was finally over.
A damn shame, since with an actual actor in the lead, "The Double Man" might've taken its place with some other worthy spy capers, like Michael Caine's Harry Palmer series.
But with a completely disengaged Brynner as its lead player, the film devolves into a 1 star (*) waste of time. Unless you're a Brynner completist (are there any???).....skip it altogether......
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