Rosebud * (1975, Peter O’Toole, Richard Attenborough, Cliff Gorman) – Classic Movie Review 6269

Director Otto Preminger’s 1975 terrorist thriller film tells the spectacularly dud tale of wealthy girls abducted by Arabs from the titular yacht Rosebud. A Palestinian terrorist group is responsible.

Though more or less a total failure, the movie can be regarded at best in the kindest light as an outrageous attempt at smart thriller entertainment, with an interesting take on its still-relevant terrorism theme.

Peter O’Toole, Richard Attenborough and Cliff Gorman head a cast of bemused and weary seeming notables. But Erik Lee Preminger’s indigestible screenplay, based on the novel by Joan Hemingway and Paul Bonnecarrere, defeats everybody. O’Toole plays Larry Martin, the undercover agent hired to hunt down the terrorists. Attenborough’s character Edward Sloat says: ‘My next step will have to be even more violent. That’s the law of terrorism.’

Though the screenplay was being rewritten regularly throughout the shoot, they never solved the myriad script problems, with its stodgy dialogue and slow moving story. And so the leaky vessel Rosebud sinks with all hands, and, after 126 long-seeming minutes, it is not a moment too soon.

Also in the interesting cast are Claude Dauphin, John V Lindsay, Peter Lawford, Raf Vallone, Adrienne Corri, Isabelle Huppert, Kim Cattrall, Lalla Ward, Debra Berger, Julian Pettifer (as Himself), Mark Burns, Klaus Löwitsch, Maria Machado, Ori Levy, Paul Bonifas, Jean Martin, Françoise Brion, and David Cassidy (uncredited as technician in Hamburg).

It is shot by Denys Coop, produced by Otto Preminger and scored by Laurent Petitgerard.

The yacht and title reference Citizen Kane (1941), a rather better movie.

Kim Cattrall performs ‘I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City’, written by Harry Nilsson.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6269

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com

David Cassidy uncredited as Technician in Hamburg.

RIP David Cassidy, who died of organ failure on 21 November 2017, aged 67. He is best known as Keith Partridge in The Partridge Family (1970-74). He was the son of actor Jack Cassidy and his real-life stepmother Shirley Jones played his mother Shirley on The Partridge Family.