The MacKintosh Man (1973)

• Year: 1973
• Released: 08 Nov 1973
• Country: United Kingdom, United States
• Adwords: N/A
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070351/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_mackintosh_man
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: PG
• Genre: Thriller
• Runtime: 98 min
• Writer: Walter Hill, Desmond Bagley, William Fairchild
• Director: John Huston
• Cast: Paul Newman, Dominique Sanda, James Mason
• Keywords: spy,

	6.3/10
	58% – Critics
	44% – Audience

The MacKintosh Man Storyline

Joseph Rearden (Paul Newman) is going undercover for the British Secret Service. The only people who know about the undercover work are Rearden’s Director, Angus Mackintosh (Harry Andrews), who he trusts implicitly, and Mackintosh’s assistant, Mrs. Smith (Dominique Sanda). The set-up: Rearden, posing as an Australian tourist in Britain, will be caught and convicted of a one hundred forty thousand pound sterling diamond theft, the jewels, which are never recovered (since Rearden will pass them on to Mrs. Smith and Mackintosh). The “on the surface” plan is for Rearden to infiltrate a group known as the Scarperers, who assist long term inmates escape, the unrecovered diamonds as the financial bait. Things do not go quite according to plan, with a leak somewhere in the informational chain as Mackintosh and Mrs. Smith are supposedly the only people who know officially what’s going on. However, in reaching the true end goal, Rearden is unaware of a second plan concerning Mackintosh and longtime Conservative Member of the British Parliament, Sir George Wheeler (James Mason), who is best known for his frequent political diatribes on the British government not doing enough to protect itself from foreign threats.—Huggo

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The MacKintosh Man Movie Reviews

Little-Seen Thriller.

John Huston directed this little-seen thriller that stars Paul Newman as Joseph Reardon, a member of British Intelligence sent on an undercover mission by his boss Mr. Mackintosh(played by Harry Andrews) in a prison where he is given a fictitious criminal background in order to infiltrate a criminal gang where the leaders are imprisoned. He assists in their eventual escape which leads from Ireland to Malta. His contact(played by Dominique Sanda) is a beautiful but aloof woman who has her own personal reasons for the assignment, which includes a Parliament member(played by James Mason) who isn’t what he pretends to be… OK espionage thriller with good cast and direction, though the plot does seem overly complicated at times.

Paul on the downplay

Not your usual late ’60’s, early 70’s Paul Newman flick, where he was cast in more overt starring roles, a la “The Sting” or “Butch Cassidy”. The Paul Newman here is more understated and anti-heroic which provides a welcome change to film goers like me who enjoy seeing the Hollywood biggies downplaying their box-office charm by taking on less glamorous, more substantive roles. This political melodrama takes place primarily in a European/British Isles setting, with an all European cast except for Mr. Newman. He portrays an agent who infiltrates a diamond smuggling ring to try to smash that ring’s core. During the course of the film, he is pretty well beat up and bandied about by his antagonists, not leaving his pretty boy image much to thrive on. His contact agent, Mrs. Smith (Dominique Sanda), becomes his love interest, not as a torrid screen love affair but more of an quasi-platonic one, where the job at hand takes precedence over the romantic involvement.

The plot and story line is developed nicely by Mr. Huston, who takes us on a European tour that starts in London, then works its way to Ireland and finally to Malta. James Mason does his usual yeoman’s job in his rendition of the pompous Sir George Wheeler, the right wing politico big wig who may have his own share of illegal dalliances. Although Mr. Newman is, in fact, the main character, the entire cast comes across very well as more of an ensemble effort, with no one role really outdoing another. It seems that Mr. Huston lent his directorial hand very deftly when it came to letting the film itself be the focal point rather than just one or two actors hogging the spotlight. Not a well known film, perhaps, but one that deserves viewing nonetheless, due in no small part to a most interesting conclusion.

Top tier cast and crew deliver a lazy spy film

John Huston (“The African Queen” “The Maltese Falcon” “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre”) directs this spy thriller scripted by Walter Hill (“The Driver” “48 Hrs.” “Undisputed”) which stars a top tier cast that includes Paul Newman, Dominique Sanda, James Mason, and a host of British actors who you’re sure to recognize. There’s also photography by Oscar winning cinematographer Oswald Morris and music by multiple Oscar winning composer Maurice Jarre. Sadly, what ends up on screen is dullsville. Newman plays a British secret agent who pretends to be an Australian criminal who later pretends to be Canadian, in order to infiltrate a secret spy organization run by villainous James Mason. The dullness of the film may be explained by some behind-the-scenes politics. Walter Hill was in the process of suing Warner Bros. but came to an agreement to adapt this book, which he halfheartedly did in order to complete his obligation. Hill later stated he only wrote the first half of the film and the rest was re-written by Huston and others, with the script not even completed two weeks into shooting. Cinematographer Oswald Morris also reported that Huston was rather disinterested in the film, showing up late to set and that Morris and crew were the ones who had to set up the shots for the day and catch up the unprepared Huston when he did finally show up. Newman was also reportedly disappointed at Huston’s lack of enthusiasm for the project. Given all that, it’s understandable that this spy thriller is rather lifeless. Still, Mason and Newman are compulsively watchable and even a disinterested Huston is still a better than most, so although lackluster, “The MacKintosh Man” is still watchable. Also, I think this is probably the first and only time you’ll ever see Paul Newman coldcock a dog and drown it.