Golden Rendezvous (1977) Directed by Ashley Lazarus, Freddie Francis
Action / Crime / Thriller
aka: Alistair MacLean's Golden Rendezvous
Film Review
One of the less successful adaptations of an Alistair MacLean novel, Golden Rendezvous is high on gory
spectacle but fails to deliver anything more substantial than a bland
comicbook-style heist thriller. A prestigious cast is largely
squandered in a far too mechanical reworking of MacLean's novel, which
leaves no place for character development and is content merely to
rehash every cliché of the action-thriller genre under the
sun. Whilst the film is competently directed, making effective
use of its confined setting, the script is abysmal and you have to pity
the poor actors as they struggle hopelessly to make their homespun
dialogue ring true. Richard Harris is unconvincing (or just
uninterested) as the unlikely action hero with an unfetching Jimmy
Savile hairstyle, Ann Turkel looks constantly surprised (no doubt on
account of the dialogue she is forced to utter) and John Vernon looks
suspiciously as if he is auditioning for the part of the lead villain
in a Christmas pantomime. If you are not bothered by little
things such as character depth or plot credibility, Golden Rendezvous just about passes
muster as entertainment, otherwise give it a very wide berth.
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Film Synopsis
Chief Officer Johnny Carter senses something is wrong as soon as his
luxury cruise ship sets sail for the Caribbean, with a passenger list
made up exclusively of millionaires. Certainly, the sight of
coffins being loaded aboard the ship is a bad omen and Carter's fears
are confirmed when members of his crew start to go missing.
Violence suddenly flares up when machine-gun wielding mercenaries
appear from nowhere and take control of the ship, killing anyone who
gets in their way. Carter is horrified to find that one of the
coffins contains a bomb powerful enough to destroy an entire
ship. The mercenaries' leader, Carreras, assures the surviving
passengers that no harm will come to them. They will be moved
onto another ship as part of his well-laid plan to steal a fortune in
gold bullion. Carter knows that Carreras intends murdering
everyone on board but the odds of defeating him are ludicrously low -
just the odds he enjoys most...
Script: Chris Bryant, Stanley Price, Allan Scott, John Gay (story),
Alistair MacLean (novel)
Cinematographer: Kenneth Higgins
Music: Jeff Wayne
Cast: Richard Harris (John Carter),
Ann Turkel (Susan Beresford),
Gordon Jackson (Dr. Marston),
John Vernon (Luis Carreras),
David Janssen (Charles Conway),
Burgess Meredith (Van Heurden),
Leigh Lawson (Tony Cerdan),
Robert Flemyng (Capt. Bullen),
Keith Baxter (Preston),
Robert Beatty (Dr. Taubman),
Dorothy Malone (Mrs. Skinner),
John Carradine (Fairweather),
Chris Chittell (Rogers),
Richard Cox (Browning),
Michael Howard (Benson),
Hugh Rouse (Captain - Unicorn 1),
Ian Hamilton (1st Officer - Unicorn 1),
Ian Yule (McCloskey),
Paul Malherbe (Gomez),
Michael Fisher (Dexter)
Country: South Africa
Language: English
Support: Color
Runtime: 109 min
Aka:Alistair MacLean's Golden Rendezvous ;
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