Dir: James B Harris | Cast: Richard Widmark, Sydney Poitier, Martin Balsam, James MacArthur | US Action drama 106’
Producer James B. Harris made his own singular contribution to the war film after he and Stanley Kubrick went their separate ways and with the help of Kubrick’s cameraman Gilbert Taylor came up with this astringent naval drama which manages to feature both Eric Portman and Donald Sutherland in the same film (but not at the same scene alas).
A product of the period when black & white was the cinemas’ default setting and filmmakers treated their audiences like grownups, the characters were sufficiently nuanced to encompass Cold War Ahab Richard Widmark’s indulgence towards Wally Cox (who himself seems completely oblivious) and the dog that didn’t bark, since after fifteen years this was the first ever film in which Sydney Poitier’s colour was never relevant or remarked upon.@RichardChatten
ON MUBI