MITCHUM MOST WANTED Part Six

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Robert Mitchum famously turned down the role of Popeye Doyle in The French Connection, so it came as a surprise when he ended up in this low-rent ripoff of William Friedkin's classic cop thriller. The Amsterdam Kill is at the fag end of Mitchum's career as a leading man in cinema, with only two major starring roles yet to come: The Big Sleep (1978) and The Ambassador (1984). At 60 years old a now portly Bob is well cast as a washed-up DEA agent hired by an Asian drug lord who wants to retire by turning informant for the Feds. Directed by martial arts auteur Robert Clouse (Enter the Dragon), it was trashy films like this that undermined Mitchum's great legacy as a versatile performer. As with many of the roles during his autumnal period (Matilda, Agency, Breakthrough, Nightkill) Mitchum is obviously just picking up a paycheck, delivering a performance in what came to be derisively described as his sleepwalking style. Not to say that Mitchum isn't entertaining in pulp like this (he almost always is), but clearly Clouse is more confident staging action sequences than he is directing actors, a fact publicly declared by Bob himself when promoting the film. While acknowledging its narrative weaknesses, I have no difficulty defending my fondness for The Amsterdam Kill. After all, Robert Mitchum is front and centre for one of his last big-screen starring roles. I patiently await its much hoped for release on DVD or BLU-RAY, a precious late career opportunity to see the original King of Cool in action.

MITCHUM MOST WANTED Part Five

MISTER MOSES (1965: Dir. Ronald Neame)

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Without a doubt the most scarce film on my Mitchum list, Mister Moses is the joker in the deck and contains one of Bob's best light comic performances as a con man who helps re-locate an entire African village with the help of blonde bombshell Carroll Baker and an endearing elephant for transportation. British director Ronald Neame had originally envisioned a 24 year-old Julie Christie (Billy Liar) as Bob's leading lady but she was not yet deemed a big enough star, although that would soon be remedied with her next film Darling (1965). According to Neame, Mitchum was his usual professional self on set but did not refrain from some significant imbibing during his off hours while on the remote Kenyan locations. He also befriended the tribe of Masai warriors who were featured in the film, and enjoyed participating in many of their tribal rituals, although he didn't take to their diet of cattle blood and milk. The lively music is by John Barry who would come to be the film composer most associated with East Africa for his award-winning scores of Born Free (1966) and Out of Africa (1985). Unfortunately the availability of Mister Moses has been been sporadic at best over the years having never been released on any home video format. Due to its dated colonial attitudes it may never see the light of day and as such it remains my most sought after Mitchum movie.