Tonight's Movie: A Man Could Get Killed (1966) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

The lighthearted spy thriller A MAN COULD GET KILLED (1966) is now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.

Although I've always been quite a fan of James Garner, this is one of his titles which hadn't really been on my radar, so I was glad to catch up with it.

The movie was written by Richard Breen and T.E.B. Clarke from the novel DIAMONDS FOR DANGER by David Esdaile Walker. The story and tone are in the style of the numerous lighthearted spy films of the '60s, such as BLINDFOLD (1966) and ARABESQUE (1966), to name just two such movies of the same year as A MAN COULD GET KILLED.

James Garner plays William Beddoes, an American bank employee who upon his arrival in Lisbon on business is mistaken for a spy by a British embassy official (Robert Coote). It's believed that the spy is on the case of a fortune in stolen diamonds.

Beddoes is shocked when the car he was intended to travel in blows up before he gets inside, and he's increasingly exasperated as no matter how hard he protests, no one he deals with believes he's simply a bank employee and not a spy. He picks up quite a large entourage following his every move, including a caravan of inept spies from various countries.

Beddoes is soon entangled with Aurora (Melina Mercouri), who aggressively pursues him for reasons of her own.

Beddoes also deals with an American named Steve (Tony Franciosa), posing as a Portuguese smuggler; Steve is also mixed up with a woman, Amy (Sandra Dee), who recognizes him as her childhood crush...but now she's no longer a child.

Honestly there are so many characters, including some with mistaken or phony identities, that it's a bit of a challenge to follow the story.

However, thanks to the Lisbon locations and bright color cinematography of Gabor Pogany, it's an attractive-looking film, and Garner and Dee in particular make it a mildly entertaining 97 minutes. It's not a great film, but it's pleasant enough company even with a murky plot.

Both Garner and Dee were masters of the art of reacting, and their funny responses to dead bodies and other shenanigans keep the movie amusing enough to stick with it despite the too-large cast and flimsy story.

Mercouri is rather over the top in her role, though she gradually grew on me a bit, just as she does on Beddoes. Franciosa, on the other hand, is a little too colorless in an underwritten part as the would-be smuggler who seems happy enough to be trailed everywhere by Dee.

Given the movie's featherweight story, there really isn't much more to say about the performances, other than Coote does a nice job in an extended supporting role. The cast also includes Roland Culver and Cecil Parker.

One side comment: There's a much bigger age gap between Franciosa and Dee than there is between Garner and Mercouri, but despite that the age difference seemed more pronounced to me between the latter actors, with Mercouri clearly several years Garner's senior.

The movie was directed by Ronald Neame and Cliff Owen, who shared credit after Neame took over the film from Owen during production.

Kino Lorber's Blu-ray looks and sounds great.  Optional English captions are provided, as is the case on all Kino Lorber Blu-rays.

Extras consist of the movie's trailer; a gallery of five additional trailers for other films available from Kino Lorber; and two commentary tracks, one by Troy Howarth and Steve Mitchell, and the other by Max Allan Collins and Heath Holland. I'm looking forward to learning more about this film thanks to the commentaries.

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

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