DER RICHTER UND SEIN HENKER, a book written by Swiss author Friedrich Durrenmatt and first published in 1950, carried the literally translated title, THE JUDGE AND HIS HANGMAN, when it came out in English translation.
Maximilian Schell, winner of a Best Actor Oscar in 1961, directed this film with the title of END OF THE GAME. Not only does he drift from the original title, he also imbues the plot with a pseudo intellectualism that becomes increasingly annoying until the final suicide - which left me completely baffled. I really could not understand the wherefore of that finale.
It would appear that Inspector Barlach (Martin Ritt, who achieved cinematic fame as a film director) is engaging in a chess game with master criminal Gastmann (Robert Shaw), with humans disposed of as readily and coldly as so many pawns on a chess board. But that is only my perception, and I fear I may have got it completely wrong because the film is so meaninglessly convoluted.
Interesting to see two great-looking leads - Bisset and Voight, the latter with his dick bobbing up and down as he runs - have sex the moment they meet after her boyfriend's funeral. I found it puzzling that Donald Sutherland, by 1975 a great actor in his own right, should agree to play the part of a dead body but that is only another one of many rather absurd developments. For instance, I could not grasp whether Martin Ritt played only the part of Inspector Barlach, as he seemed to be two people, one of whom displayed a gluttonous appetite at the end, behaving in a manner rather unlike the hitherto rather restrained inspector.
Why Schell should engage in rather amateurish and unsteady directing instead of doing what he was best at, acting, only he would know - but the spectator is far from well served by Schell's choice. 6/10.
Maximilian Schell, winner of a Best Actor Oscar in 1961, directed this film with the title of END OF THE GAME. Not only does he drift from the original title, he also imbues the plot with a pseudo intellectualism that becomes increasingly annoying until the final suicide - which left me completely baffled. I really could not understand the wherefore of that finale.
It would appear that Inspector Barlach (Martin Ritt, who achieved cinematic fame as a film director) is engaging in a chess game with master criminal Gastmann (Robert Shaw), with humans disposed of as readily and coldly as so many pawns on a chess board. But that is only my perception, and I fear I may have got it completely wrong because the film is so meaninglessly convoluted.
Interesting to see two great-looking leads - Bisset and Voight, the latter with his dick bobbing up and down as he runs - have sex the moment they meet after her boyfriend's funeral. I found it puzzling that Donald Sutherland, by 1975 a great actor in his own right, should agree to play the part of a dead body but that is only another one of many rather absurd developments. For instance, I could not grasp whether Martin Ritt played only the part of Inspector Barlach, as he seemed to be two people, one of whom displayed a gluttonous appetite at the end, behaving in a manner rather unlike the hitherto rather restrained inspector.
Why Schell should engage in rather amateurish and unsteady directing instead of doing what he was best at, acting, only he would know - but the spectator is far from well served by Schell's choice. 6/10.