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Trailer—The Salzburg Connection

The Salzburg Connection

Barry Newman should have his name removed from the credits while still alive. Low budget full-frame TV-movie vibe with a script that made little go no sense. Even the ending leaves you asking "WTF!? " Utter complete waste of talent and your time viewing this mess. I wish I'd taken advice in previous reviews here, but I like Barry and he had such little movie work for some odd reason. This is no Vanishing Point or Petrocelli. It's a 2nd grader effort at a Botticelli. Terribly awful film. 3.5 stars for Barry, Klaus, a few stunts and 'some' scenery. A total stinker.

I read the book over the Christmas holiday 1971. I have to say that I did not like the movie when it came out. Characters and story items were changed and just made things confusing. I had to go back and read the book to see if it was the same. If you have a couple of hours read the book, if you can watch the movie. Just don't bother with both.

A film set in Austria about Nazi's starring Barry Newman (Petrocelli) as a lawyer and the beautiful Anna Karina whose husband has been murdered, this should have been a winner. Alas not quite, not awful by any means, it just lacks that vital spark. Salzburg looks lovely as well, Newman is excellent as Mathison, as is Karen Jensen as Elissa Lang who is keeping an eye on Mathisons comings and goings. Espionage at its most convuleted as a lot of the characters we don't know where there allegiances lie, even the Americans.. Hopefully at the end when we see Mathison and Anna drive into the distance they have a happy life.

A lot of people are after a box. I think that was the plot as the film is very confusing and by the end I didn't really know who was who, who they worked for or what were their motives. Perhaps the Helen MacInnes novel on which this is based makes things clearer. Barry Newman plays William Mathison, a lawyer caught up in the plot who becomes more James Bond (shooting, car chases, lovely women) as the film goes on, not a role suited to Mr Newman. The cast are generally OK, the most compelling character being Klaus Maria Brandauer in his American film debut as Johann. The film gets better when he is onscreen. Salzburg looks attractive so there is that visual treat to enjoy while the story winds itself around itself until all the suspense is spent. The chair lift scene was well filmed but even so it wasn't exciting because one didn't know who some of the characters were, particularly the man who was killed. Who did he work for? Was he important? Was his moustache false? Dunno.

Tedious, completely incomprehensible spy mishmash gives the strong impression that it was made up on the spot simply to utilize some Salzburg locations that cast & crew had access to. Anna Karina is totally wasted in a drab role; the blonde knockout Karen Jensen fares considerably better - in fact, she is the ONLY virtue of this movie. Oh wait, there is also a good (if brief) car chase. *1/2 out of 4.

After 'Vanishing Point' and 'Fear Is the Key,' Barry Newman is involved in another auto-chase, but this time with a distinct difference... The baddies, not strictly gangsters but hoodlums with Nazi connections, have kidnapped Anna Karina for some dirty purpose and are driving away with her through busy city streets... Newman, an American lawyer on holiday in Salzburg, finds himself suspected by spies of both sides... He chases the kidnap-car by continually managing to get in front of it (the high speed scenes), then slowing down to cause a traffic jam and attract the attention of the police... Klaus Maria Brandauer makes his film debut here, before his appearance in 'Mephisto,' Oscar Winner for Best Foreign Film in 1981...