Nobody Runs Forever | |
---|---|
Directed by | Ralph Thomas |
Written by | Wilfred Greatorex Rod Taylor (uncredited) |
Based on | The High Commissioner by Jon Cleary |
Produced by | Betty E. Box |
Starring | Rod Taylor Christopher Plummer Lilli Palmer Daliah Lavi Camilla Sparv Burt Kwouk |
Cinematography | Ernest Steward |
Edited by | Ernest Hosler |
Music by | Georges Delerue |
Production companies | The Rank Organisation Katzka-Berne Productions |
Distributed by | Rank Film Distributors |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 101 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | $1,055,000 [1] |
Box office | $605,000 [1] |
Nobody Runs Forever, also called The High Commissioner, is a 1968 British political neo noir spy thriller action film directed by Ralph Thomas and based on Jon Cleary's 1966 novel The High Commissioner . [2] It stars Rod Taylor as Australian policeman Scobie Malone and Christopher Plummer as the Australian High Commissioner in Britain caught up in corrupt dealings, during delicate negotiations.[ citation needed ] Taylor's production company was involved in making the film, [3] as was the American company Selmur Productions.
Sergeant Scobie Malone of the New South Wales Police (NSW Police) is summoned to Sydney by the gruff Premier of New South Wales, Mr Flannery, who asks Malone to travel to London and arrest the senior Australian diplomat in Britain, Sir James Quentin, High Commissioner to the UK. Sir James, a political rival of the Premier, has become the only suspect in a 17-year-old murder case.
Upon his arrival at the Australian High Commission in London, Malone meets Lady Quentin and her husband, as well as Sir James's secretary. Sir James does not object to being arrested, but he asks for a few days to conclude delicate peace negotiations. As Malone waits as a guest of the High Commission, he uncovers a plot to assassinate Sir James, masterminded by the head of a dangerous spy ring, Maria Cholon.
In August 1966 Cleary said Frank Sinatra was interested in buying the film rights. [4]
Film rights were sold in December 1966. [5]
Filmed in Australia and London, this was the last big-screen appearance of Franchot Tone, who plays the American ambassador.
Rod Taylor has a rare opportunity to play an Australian, even though it was his native land. Taylor's unsophisticated integrity is contrasted with the London diplomatic scene throughout the film.
Taylor accepted the role on the proviso he could rewrite some of the script. In particular, the opening scene where Scobie Malone arrests Jacko (Charles Tingwell) is Rod's work. [6] [7]
Ralph Thomas later said "I was a hired hand" on the film; "It was ok". [8]
There were several key changes from the novel, including: introducing Scobie Malone as an outback policeman, reducing the emphasis on the peace conference being for the Vietnam War and making it something more vague, [9] Scobie having sex with Maria Cholon. [6]
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Despite a basically promising situation, a distinguished cast and plenty of gloss, this thriller is a catastrophic failure on any level. The actors are scarcely able to conceal their embarrassment with the impossible dialogue they are given, Daliah Lavi and Camilla Sparv are wasted, and even Clive Revill is hard put to raise a couple of laughs from his snobbish reactions to an Australian from the outback. The script rambles along without rhyme or reason, and the most obvious opportunities for suspense (like the attempted assassination on the Centre Court at Wimbledon) are badly mishandled. The film has something of the flavour of a middle-period Hitchcock , but not a trace of the Master's talent." [10]
The film earned rentals of $455,000 in North America and $150,000 elsewhere. It recorded a loss of $1,185,000. [1]
It recorded admissions in France of 44,083. [11]
Reginald "Leo" McKern, AO was an Australian actor who appeared in numerous British, Australian and American television programmes and films, and in more than 200 stage roles. His notable roles include Clang in Help! (1965), Thomas Cromwell in A Man for All Seasons (1966), Tom Ryan in Ryan's Daughter (1970), Harry Bundage in Candleshoe (1977), Paddy Button in The Blue Lagoon (1980), Dr. Grogan in The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), Father Imperius in Ladyhawke (1985), and the role that made him a household name as an actor, Horace Rumpole, whom he played in the British television series Rumpole of the Bailey. He also portrayed Carl Bugenhagen in the first and second instalments of The Omen series and Number Two in the TV series The Prisoner.
Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith was an English stage, film, and television actor. After varied work in the theatre, he achieved star status with his role in the film Brief Encounter (1945), followed by The Third Man (1949).
Rodney Sturt Taylor was an Australian actor. He appeared in more than 50 feature films, including Young Cassidy (1965), Nobody Runs Forever (1968), The Train Robbers (1973) and A Matter of Wife... and Death (1975).
Charles William Tingwell AM, known professionally as Bud Tingwell or Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, was an Australian film, television, theatre and radio actor. One of the veterans of Australian film, he acted in his first motion picture in 1946 and went on to appear in more than 100 films and numerous TV programs in both the United Kingdom and Australia.
Daliah Lavi was an Israeli actress, singer, and model.
Lawrence James Tierney was an American film and television actor who is best known for his many screen portrayals of mobsters and "tough-guys" in a career that spanned over fifty years. His roles mirrored his own frequent brushes with the law. In 2005, film critic David Kehr of The New York Times described "the hulking Tierney" as "not so much an actor as a frightening force of nature".
Jon Stephen Cleary was an Australian writer and novelist. He wrote numerous books, including The Sundowners (1951), a portrait of a rural family in the 1920s as they move from one job to the next, and The High Commissioner (1966), the first of a long series of popular detective stories featuring Sydney Police Inspector Scobie Malone. A number of Cleary's works have been the subject of film and television adaptations.
Geoffrey Keen was an English actor who appeared in supporting roles in many films. He is well known for playing British Defence Minister Sir Frederick Gray in the James Bond films.
Robert Buckner was an American film screenwriter, producer and short story writer.
Cast a Giant Shadow is a 1966 American action film based on the life of Colonel Mickey Marcus, and stars Kirk Douglas, Senta Berger, Yul Brynner, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra and Angie Dickinson. Melville Shavelson adapted, produced and directed. The film is a fictionalized account of the experiences of a real-life Jewish-American military officer, Colonel David "Mickey" Marcus, who commanded units of the fledgling Israel Defense Forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
Carry On Cowboy is a 1965 British comedy Western film, the eleventh in the series of 31 Carry On films (1958–1992). It was the first film to feature series regulars Peter Butterworth and Bernard Bresslaw. Series regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale, Charles Hawtrey and Joan Sims all feature, and Angela Douglas makes the first of her four appearances in the series. Kenneth Williams, usually highly critical of all the Carry on films he appeared in, called the film "a success on every level" in his diary, taking pride in its humour and pathos. The film was followed by Carry On Screaming! (1966).
Ralph Philip Thomas MC was an English film director. He is perhaps best remembered for directing the Doctor series of films.
Camilla Margareta Sparv is a Swedish actress, noted for her role opposite James Coburn in Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966).
Francis Lumsden Hare was an Irish-born American film and theatre actor. He was also a theatre director and theatrical producer.
Scobie Malone is a fictional Sydney homicide detective created by Australian novelist Jon Cleary.
Ken Wayne (1925–1993) was an Australian actor of radio, theatre, film and television. He made his film debut in Sons of Matthew (1949) and appeared in a number of movies including Dust in the Sun (1958). He was also well known for his work in radio, particularly for playing private eye Larry Kent in the series I Hate Crime. According to colleague and friend Charles Tingwell, being so identified with Larry Kent hurt Wayne from being cast in other roles.
The High Commissioner is a 1966 detective novel by Australian author Jon Cleary which introduced the detective hero Scobie Malone.
Scobie Malone is a 1975 Australian erotic mystery film based on the 1970 novel Helga's Web by Jon Cleary and starring Jack Thompson and Judy Morris.
Ransom was a 1973 novel by Australian author Jon Cleary, the third to feature his detective hero Scobie Malone. Cleary also wrote The Sundowners and The High Commissioner. The novel was published by Fontana Press on November 3, 1975.
Eureka Stockade is a 1984 Australian miniseries based on the battle of Eureka Stockade. It reunited the producer, writer and star of A Town Like Alice.