Tonight's Movie: Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

James Coburn stars in DEAD HEAT ON A MERRY-GO-ROUND (1966), just released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber.

DEAD HEAT ON A MERRY-GO-ROUND is a heist film in which Coburn plays Eli Kotch, who sets an intricate scheme in motion upon his release from prison.

Kotch breaks parole and travels around the country scrounging up money to buy a set of plans for his target, a bank located at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

Along the way he weds beautiful Inger (Camilla Sparv), who loves him and who unknowingly helps out with the robbery by taking photographs of key locations at LAX. She thinks it's for an art project!

The heist is planned to coincide with the arrival of a Soviet premier at LAX, which will distract countless police officers while the robbery is underway.

I was curious to see this film as I like a good heist movie every so often, and I was intrigued by the LAX setting. (I really enjoyed the great '60s shots of the airport by cinematographer Lionel Lindon.) Unfortunately it comes off rather like an Agatha Christie mystery, in which the characters are little more than chess pieces being manipulated as part of a puzzle; they exist in service of the mystery but don't have any depth.

Coburn's con man rather reminded me of Tony Curtis in THE GREAT IMPOSTOR (1960) as he assumes a variety of identities over the course of the movie. Unfortunately we never come to understand what makes him tick and he's also completely unsympathetic, particularly as the movie goes on and he repeatedly pulls the wool over the eyes of his trusting wife. Kotch discards anyone who is no longer of use, which leads to an ironic twist.

I'm not sure who thought having Coburn as an unlikeable character carry a movie was a good idea, but that's about the size of what happened in this film.

The wandering, elliptical storyline requires close attention to keep up with Kotch as he travels and assumes a variety of personas, while the film often leaves viewers to fill in story blanks for themselves. Unfortunately, the effort on the viewer's part to follow along does not have a worthwhile payoff.

Characters played by the likes of Aldo Ray and James Westerfield are lightly sketched, and in the case of Robert Webber's security man, he's little more than a caricature. Sparv is the only really sympathetic character in the film. I was glad to have tried the movie but it was a disappointment.

Of note: Harrison Ford famously made his film debut in this movie as a bellhop delivering a telegram. That was another of the reasons I wanted to see the movie, and Ford fans may find it worthwhile in that regard, though it's a very small one-scene role.

Some interesting background on Marian Moses, also known as Marian McCargo Bell, who plays Kotch's therapist in the early scenes: Moses was a champion tennis player and the mother of actors Rick Moses (GENERAL HOSPITAL) and William R. Moses (FALCON CREST); her granddaughter Remington was the daughter of William Moses and Tracy Nelson, daughter of Rick and Kristin Harmon Nelson. Remington's great-grandmother, Kristin's mother, was actress Elyse Knox, and Kristin's brother and sister-in-law were Mark Harmon (NCIS) and Pam Dawber (MORK AND MINDY), so some very interesting family connections there.  

Moses married U.S. Representative Alfonzo Bell Jr. after meeting him on the set of THE UNDEFEATED (1969) in which she appeared opposite John Wayne. The Bells died just 18 days apart in 2004.

DEAD HEAT ON A MERRY-GO-ROUND runs 104 minutes. It was written and directed by Bernard Girard.

Kino Lorber's widescreen Blu-ray print looks great and has excellent sound. Disc extras consist of the trailer and a gallery of ten additional trailers for other films available from Kino Lorber. The plastic case comes inside an attractive cardboard slipcase.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

Tweet