Murder on the Orient Express | Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall

Murder on the Orient Express | Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall | Murder on the Orient Express

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Murder on the Orie...

	Murder on the Orient Express Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall Paramount, 1998 average customer review:based on 105 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Best film interpretation of Christie EVER

This is a great film with a great cast, everything is perfect. All the bad reviews of this film are bewildering. Every part of this film is hand picked by Christie, she waited decades to let this film be made because she wanted it to be made right, and she did the right thing in waiting, its perfect.

Murder on the Orient Express

Albert Finney does well as Hercule Poirot, although I prefer David Suchet. Finney is more intense, Suchet is more quiet. The producers of the movie did a sterling job in gathering a large cast of well known movie actors. It is a pleasure to watch them. Even the lesser roles are well filled. The one scene toward the end of the movie is chilling but not enough to make one reject the movie. I have watched the movie a number of times when I had the videotape version. I liked it even better when I received the DVD version.

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Great Cast.

Murder on the Orient Express is a detective story that I think is based on a book by Agatha Christie. Well, it's clear from watching it that it's source material came from a book; Because it's got that classic detective story set up. Instead of a detective trying to solve a mystery and then a (what the writers think is a) big twist at the end. In this story, the detective does spend the whole movie trying to figure out what is going on...But instead of the twist, we have him with all the accused going over his interrogations and reveaaling who he believes is the culprit(s). This film is directed by Sidney Lumet, the director of such films as 'Dog Day Afternoon,' 'Serpico,' 'Network,'and 'Find Me Guilty.' I think out of those films, this is his weakest...But it doesn't go without being enjoyed. Albert Finney (with a wonderfully weird moustache) plays a Belgian detective named Hercule Poirot, who is boarding the Orient Express...Much to the dismay of the suspicious looking passengers. During the beginning of his trip, he is stopped by a man named Ratchett (Richard Widmark) who asks him to serve as a bodyguard for him. He's obviously desperate for one, for he offers 15,000 dollars. Poirot turns him down and then heads off to sleep. When he wakes up, Ratchett has been murdered...Poisoned and stabbed and it's Poirot's job to interrogate the passengers of the Orient Express. The very colorful suspects include Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman (in an Oscar winning performance), Jacqueline Bisset, Sean Conney, Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates, no less), Jean-Pierre Cassell, Vanessa Redgrave, and many others.
The film is like a stage play, in the story takes place aboard the train and is mostly straight-forward story-telling. There's only a few flashback sequences. It's entertaining though, although the outcome isn't incredibly surprising. The film is funny; Connery's "pipe" was worth watching. The film is no masterpiece, neither in general film or for it's genre...But it's a cool detective story and you really can't beat the cast. Finney gives one of his most over-the-top and best performances. Remember, pay close attention to the opening credits (which show newspaper adds about a kidnapped girl). Needless to say, it evolves into a pretty big plot point. Enjoy.

GRADE: B

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Murder on the Orient Express

I read a little collection of Hercule Poirot short stories that I may have forgotten to review, but I've never read any of Agatha Christie's novels, and until now I'd never seen any of the movies. Yep, that's right. I'm old enough, too. How'd that happen?

This one starts slow, but it has to. We have to meet a dozen or so people, then we have a murder, then all kinds of red herrings and such. Stay tuned. It gets wild. Regarding the many suspects, it helps that I knew over half of the actors/actresses on sight. This movie needed an all-star cast both for the talent and for audience recognition.

(If you're weak on the recognition, we also have different accents and trademark hair/clothes/mannerisms/etc, but being able to tell the difference between Sean Connery and Michael York and Anthony Perkins doesn't hurt.)

Albert Finney in his sole outing as Hercule Poirot. At first, I thought it was a terrible bit of miscasting. Later, I thought, "What a funny little man." And finally it sunk in. We're SUPPOSED to think he's a funny little man until he solves the damn crime. Bravo!

There are other nagging little coincidences that I was willing to put aside in the interests of this neat little plot-driven mystery. Wrong! They're clues I missed because I was treating it as "only a mystery story." I don't know if all her books are that way, but this one damn sure is. She didn't make mistakes or create arbitrary coincidences.

Basically, we meet some people. One gets killed, in a locked room on a train, with one of those chains that can only be attached from the inside, and it is attached. It's probably not a suicide, unless he was able to get drunk and take some sleepy stuff and then stab himself in the chest and guts a whole bunch of times.

It seems unsolvable, and we have too damn many clues, and they somehow just make it seem even more unsolvable. Then Poirot explains the puzzle and we all say, "Holy freaking doodie caca!" because he's right. The clues were there but we missed them. Dang!

The best mysteries do that, don't they? Plus, in this case, some insight into Poirot which explains why Agatha Christie chose this guy instead of an equally memorable character she'd created such as perhaps Miss Marple to solve this particular mystery. And the solution is a wild one. If you've never seen it, see it. She didn't write with movies in mind, but the marriage was quite natural.

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A classic murder mystery from Agatha Christie

This film is a great classic murder mystery which we need to see more of. teh film follows a detective who is on board the orient express when a man is murder there he interviews alla bord to find the killer. The acting is great and the plot is great making the film great.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, page 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

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