Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

JohnHowardReid U.K. release title: False Witness.SYNOPSIS: When he discovers he is dying from an incurable brain tumor, an insurance investigator decides to frame himself for an unsolved murder.COMMENT: Probably the most successful example of a TV style transferred to the cinema, Richard A. Colla's "Zigzag" is unrelentingly shot throughout in extreme close-ups, yet, because of its strong story- line and forceful performances (particularly by George Kennedy and Eli Wallach), it manages to come across with an impact that the use of wider long shots often dissipates. Admittedly, the plot is full of holes, but the method adopted by the screenwriter to expose the mystery is clever and ingenious enough to keep interest at a high pitch.Despite her billing, Anne Jackson has a small, unrewarding, unmemorable role — catalytic but peripheral. It's a wonder (and a cause for joy) that the writer wasn't asked to expand her part by adding a few tedious domestic scenes for her! As it is, the script rightly focuses on the Kennedy character.As might be expected, the budget is tight, but production values benefit from some on-location lensing.

judah-17 It seems that none of the reviewers to date have realized that the "twist" ending was the cleverest and best denouement possible. By occurring as it did, his wife got all he originally wanted her to get, and much more!! If it had not happened, although he would have been entitled to the reward money for discovering who the real murderer was, the latter paying for his crime, he would still have ended up in jail for serious public mischief by causing a false accusation to be laid and an expensive police investigation and jury trial to occur. It makes no difference that it was self-directed or directed against anyone else as far as the difficulties he caused may be concerned. In addition, the court might have fined him in an amount equal to or even more than the needless cost to the state. This would have eaten up most, if not all, of the reward money.However, because of the unexpected ending, his wife would be entitled to collect both on the double indemnity provision in his insurance policy and, as his heir, the full reward money as belonging to his estate. That's more than he had schemed for her.Beautiful!

martin lane Would Hitchcock have made something of this strained premise?..One hopes he would have avoided some of the silly staging (Kennedy escaping from his hospital room in a black suit but no shirt (( would the suit have been left in the room of a recovering prisoner under guard????))Via a freight elevator that is FULL of hospital staff...including a morgue attendant...who ignore this huge half dressed blond band-aided (after brain surgery)giant AS IF HE IS NOT THERE?!?! I was prepared by this scene for a later "twist" which had the central murder victim (in a flashback)willingly getting into "a car he knew"...with the film then contradicting this by having the person who the victim was supposedly expecting to be in the car scream that the car was not even hers at the time of the killing...I wont reveal who was in the car ...(just suffice to say that it was someone who the victim would not have been expecting a lift from...and that their presence makes the whole crime as illogical and unlikely as much of the rest of this film.

Jonathon Dabell George Kennedy is an unusual actor for me. He is largely forgotten, yet has an Oscar to his name. He's in many of the films everyone remembers well, such as The Dirty Dozen, Airport and The Naked Gun, and yet he rarely catches the limelight as the leading man. He's also supremely talented, without ever appearing to be trying hard.In this superior thriller, he plays a man who discovers that he has a brain tumour. He arranges his own death, so that his wife can claim the insurance money. However, just as his plan is about to kick into action, he learns that he has been mis-diagnosed and that, in fact, he is not dying at all.This film stays one step ahead of the audience at all points. It is ingenious and interesting throughout, and has the added benefit of being a touch different to the majority of hard-boiled thrillers from this period. Perhaps it gets over-complex, and the downbeat ending is typical of the time. Nevertheless, this is a good film, and like some of the other user's who have reviewed it I am very baffled as to why it is unavailable on video.