This film is silly. At its core it is simple - a veteran assassin is chased after by the CIA who send the assassin's protege after him. Burt Lancaster is ideal as the veteran - sad eyed, old but still athletic.
But too many moments feel like "ooh let's have a twist" or "let's have a cool action bit" or "let's do a cute bit". Lancaster's wife is shot, and Delon's girlfriend is a double agent, and Delon likes cats.
There's no momentum - they keep having action sequences then Delon goes back to the office and reporting to John Colicos. Delon seems silly working for the CIA - he has trouble with English, he feels ill at ease.
There is plenty of action and bang bang but what should be a simple story is made pointlessly confusing... you don't care or feel anything. At least I didn't. The locations help and the quality of the cast is strong - it also includes people like Jame Sikking and Paul Scofield, whose scenes with Lancaster are the best thing about the movie which should have been about their relationship.
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