The Mackintosh Man (1973)

(On Cable TV, November 2022) The topline names involved in the Cold War spy thriller The Mackintosh Man are fit to pique any cinephile’s interest: Directed by John Huston, co-written by Walter Hill, starring Paul Newman, with a supporting role for James Mason? Sounds pretty good to me! But that’s not quite counting what happens when everyone involved seems determined to deliver a lower-common denominator product. Both Newman and Mason turn in the kind of performance they could have slept-walked through. Mason as a refined slimy villain? Just another day of the week. But even Newman seems to be going through the motions of other thriller roles he had in the previous decade—namely The Prize and Torn Curtain. Much of the plot itself feels like bog-standard material as well, playing upon familiar tropes in the United Kingdom. Huston’s direction occasionally elevates the material—I’m specifically thinking of the car chase through the countryside—but otherwise feels remarkably mechanical, as it fiddles with genre elements with no real enthusiasm for the task. The fuzziness of the script doesn’t help, and neither does a very early-1970s muddy cinematography. The dour atmosphere hasn’t aged well and further contributes to the idea that everyone involved in The Mackintosh Man was going for a paycheque without paying attention if what they were making was any interesting to watch.