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 |
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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 . 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, [2] 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. [3]
Film rights were sold in December 1966. [4]
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. [5] [6]
Ralph Thomas later said "I was a hired hand" on the film; "It was ok". [7]
There were several key changes from the novel, including:
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. [9]
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).
Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer was a Canadian actor. His career spanned seven decades, gaining him recognition for his performances in film, stage, and television. He received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy Awards, making him the only Canadian recipient of the "Triple Crown of Acting". He also received a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award as well as a nomination for a Grammy Award.
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.
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 50 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 fiction works 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.
Adolph Sender Charles Deutsch was a British-American composer, conductor and arranger.
Ronald Grant Taylor was an English-Australian actor best known as the abrasive General Henderson in the Gerry Anderson science fiction series UFO and for his lead role in Forty Thousand Horsemen (1940).
The Virgin Queen is a 1955 American DeLuxe Color historical drama film directed by Henry Koster and starring Bette Davis, Richard Todd and Joan Collins. Filmed in CinemaScope, it focuses on the relationship between Elizabeth I of England and Sir Walter Raleigh.
The Desert Rats is a 1953 American black-and-white war film from 20th Century Fox, produced by Robert L. Jacks, directed by Robert Wise, that stars Richard Burton, James Mason, and Robert Newton. The film's storyline concerns the Siege of Tobruk in 1941 North Africa during World War II.
Dust in the Sun is a 1958 Australian mystery film adapted from the 1955 novel Justin Bayard by Jon Cleary and produced by the team of Lee Robinson and Chips Rafferty. The film stars British actress Jill Adams and an Indigenous Australian actor Robert Tudawali as Emu Foot.
Top Gun is a 1955 American Western film directed by Ray Nazarro. The plot concerns an ex-gunslinger who arrives in a small town warning of an impending attack by his old gang. The film features Rod Taylor in one of his first American roles.
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 Long Shadow is a 1949 novel from Australian author Jon Cleary. Cleary had just written his debut work, You Can't See 'Round Corners and was unsure what to do as a follow-up. His editor Graham Greene suggested he try his hand at a thriller "because it will teach you the art of narrative and it will teach you the uses of brevity."
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.
The Sergeant from Burralee is an Australian television play written by Phillip Grenville Mann. The play was also broadcast by the BBC and screened for West German television.