Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Don't Make This Connection

Last year, I wrote a post about actor Barry Newman, which you can find here. In it, I mentioned that I had not yet seen this then-promising leading man's 1972 thriller, THE SALZBURG CONNECTION. Now, I have, but it's just as well that I hadn't.

That THE SALZBURG CONNECTION is a flop is no fault of Newman’s. It’s a tedious, talky and ridiculously complicated thriller about an American lawyer (Newman) on vacation in Salzburg who is asked by his employer, a publishing company, to clear up what appears to be a clerical error concerning an Austrian photographer compiling a coffee table book of lake photos. He stumbles into a mélange of domestic drama and international intrigue when he discovers the man has been murdered and that secret agents from all over the globe are after something the victim hid before his death: a trunk containing a list of Nazi sympathizers during World War II, many of whom have put their secret lives behind them to become prominent citizens. Newman becomes involved with two beautiful women—the photographer’s widow (Anna Karina) and a gorgeous blond CIA agent (Karen Jensen)—yet director Lee H. Katzin (LE MANS) allows barely a hint of romance outside of the striking Austrian locations. Despite intriguing early acting roles by Klaus Maria Brandauer (MEPHISTO) and Udo Kier (FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN), THE SALZBURG CONNECTION is a complete dud.

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