{"id":9461,"date":"2024-11-30T12:26:31","date_gmt":"2024-11-30T17:26:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=9461"},"modified":"2024-11-30T12:26:31","modified_gmt":"2024-11-30T17:26:31","slug":"sleuth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/11\/30\/sleuth\/","title":{"rendered":"Sleuth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Sleuth<\/strong> (1972)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 20th<\/sup> Century Fox\/Suspense-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 138 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (language, some violence, alcohol use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Anthony Shaffer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: John Addison\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Oswald Morris\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 10, 1972 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Laurence Olivier, Michael Caine, Alec Cawthorne, Eve Channing.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $4M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ****<\/p>\n

\u00a0Writing a review of Sleuth <\/strong>will be challenging. I have to do it such a way as to NOT reveal any of the nifty twists and turns the story takes over the course of 138 compelling minutes. This means I can\u2019t and won\u2019t say too much about the plot. I\u2019ll lay out the premise for you, but that\u2019s it. A team of wild horses couldn\u2019t drag a single detail out of me. The fun of Sleuth<\/strong> is in not knowing exactly what lies ahead. I can give you an idea however.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Perhaps the most telling sign of what you\u2019re getting yourself into with Sleuth <\/strong>is the movie\u2019s opening scene. Celebrated mystery writer Andrew Wyke (Olivier, Hamlet) is sitting in the middle of an elaborate shrubbery maze putting the finishing touches on his latest detective novel. Hairdresser Milo Tindle (Caine, Get Carter) shows up and must find his way to his host through the labyrinth. There\u2019s no way in or out of it unless you know its secret.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Wyke has invited Milo to his country manor to discuss a personal matter. The younger man is having an affair with his wife. Not only is Wyke okay with it, he wants to help them out financially. He proposes an insurance scam that will be profitable for both of them. Naturally, it gets more complicated than that.<\/p>\n

\u00a0OKAY, I\u2019M DONE! Those are all the details I\u2019m willing to disclose. I\u2019ll only add that the two men spend the whole movie trying to outwit each other with intense mind games and intellectual challenges. You see, it\u2019s Wyke\u2019s hobby. His Tudor-style house is filled with toys, games and automata. He considers himself unbeatable at games involving intellect. Could it be he\u2019s finally met his match? Okay, now I\u2019m really done.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Adapted from the Tony-winning play, Sleuth<\/strong> plays out entirely within the confines of Wyke\u2019s manor. It sounds stagey and perhaps it is a bit, but it\u2019s the superb theatricality of the presentation that makes it come to life. That and the brilliant performances by the two leads. The action is centered, for the most part, on the two characters save for the appearance of an investigator (Cawthorne) with a lot of questions and theories. It\u2019s a very talky movie with little actual action. Given this description, you might think Sleuth<\/strong> is a bore, but it\u2019s not. It\u2019s anything but.<\/p>\n

\u00a0What Olivier and Caine do in Sleuth<\/strong> is tantamount to boxers exchanging blows in the ring, verbally speaking. You have to listen closely to their dialogue to fully appreciate the labyrinthine nature of what\u2019s going on here. It\u2019s not one of those movies you can watch in a distracted state of mind. Sir Olivier is perfectly cast as the wealthy, eccentric, possibly dangerous writer who sees his literary creation, brilliant detective St. John Lord Merridewe, as an extension of himself. The respected British thespian is clearly having fun in the role. Caine is equally great as the embodiment of everything Wyke detests. Milo is poor, half-Italian and only dresses the part of \u201cEnglish gentleman\u201d. He\u2019s the ideal target for Wyke\u2019s games. The chemistry between the two actors is positively electric. The way they joust verbally is more thrilling than any big fight scene in any given superhero movie.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Playwright Anthony Shaffer, adapting his own work for its big screen transition, has a flair for clever plotting and dialogue. The words take on a life of their own as the plot thickens. Plus, it\u2019s nice to see a movie where everything isn\u2019t dumbed down for mass consumption. It takes a measure of patience to watch Sleuth<\/strong>, but it\u2019s easy enough to follow if you pay attention. Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz (All About Eve), in his final film, doesn\u2019t try to jazz things up for the sake of making it more cinematic. He respects Shaffer\u2019s dialogue, timing and space, the last with the help of cinematographer Oswald Morris who makes the most out of the restrictive setting. Although the characters never leave the grounds of the mansion, it never feels entirely claustrophobic. It\u2019s more like a feeling of isolation from the world outside the manor. We hear about things that allegedly took place, but we only have the word of two deceitful people to go on. It heightens the suspense as it pertains to their ongoing battle of wits.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019ve said all I want to say about Sleuth<\/strong>. Like I told you before, it wouldn\u2019t be right to ruin the clever surprises in store. It\u2019s one of those rare instances where I have nothing negative to say. Sure, it\u2019s not a movie for everybody. I\u2019m not sure it would go over with today\u2019s audiences used to being inundated with noise and CGI. It\u2019s cerebral entertainment for those with a slightly twisted sensibility. I think it\u2019s outstanding entertainment myself.\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sleuth (1972)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 20th Century Fox\/Suspense-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 138 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (language, some violence, alcohol use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Anthony Shaffer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: John Addison\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Oswald Morris\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 10, 1972 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Laurence Olivier, Michael Caine, Alec Cawthorne, Eve Channing.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $4M (US) Rating: **** \u00a0Writing a review of Sleuth will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9691,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-suspense-thrillers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Sleuth-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9461"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9693,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9461\/revisions\/9693"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}