END OF THE GAME, THE (RICHTER UND SEIN HENKER, DER) (director: Maximilian Schell; screenwriter: from Friedrich Dürrenmatt's novel "The Judge and His Hangman"/Bo Goldman; cinematographer: Roberto Gerardi/Ennio Guarnieri/Klaus Köni; cast: Jon Voight (Walter Thschanz), Jacqueline Bisset (Anna Crawley), Martin Ritt (Hans Barlach), Robert Shaw (Richard Gastmann), Gabriele Ferzetti (Dr. Lutz), Helmut Qualtinger (Von Schwendi), West Ger.-1976)
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
An existential mystery story about someone getting away with murder some 30 years ago, when the now police commissioner Hans Barlach (Ritt) and the now wealthy and well-connected businessman, Richard Gastmann (Shaw), were young men and Gastmann made a bet with Barlach that he could kill someone and get away with it. He seemingly punched a girl named Nadine they were both romantically interested in and she fell in the water to drown.
At present, in Berne, Switzerland, where Walter Thschanz (Voight) is called back from his vacation to help the dying police commissioner solve the murder of a policeman (played by Donald Sutherland) who was working undercover, on a special assignment for the commissioner, to spy on Gastmann at his country estate. Barlach, in the meantime, is most concerned with his stomach trouble and will have to undergo an operation in a few days just so he can live for another year. So he tells the aggressive and ambituous Walter to take charge of the case.
Barlach's grumpy demeanor, the strange circumstances of the case, and the unsettling Swiss countryside, add a noir feel to this B & W film. Barlach's guilt over the ridiculous wager he made as a young man lingers on with him; it was a time, he reflects, when he does something immature he would never do at a different stage in his life.
The murdered policeman is found with a bullet through his head while he is slumped down on the seat of his car. He had just left the home of Gastmann as an invited guest to one of his parties, where he assumed the role of a history professor, in which he fooled no one at Gastmann's. There he was able to gain access to Gastmann and meet romantically Gastmann's attractive mistress, Anna (Bisset).
When snooping around Gastmann's premises, his South African dog attacks Barlach and Walter has to fire a shot killing the dog. The wily Barlach has things all sorted out from here on in-- as the story becomes a chess game, with a surprise ending and much questioning about matters of guilt and innocence.
Martin Ritt, who is usually a film director, plays his part with all the right quirks and nuances to make his role quite interesting. He reminded me a lot of Peter Falk's Columbo. Voight is a good counterbalance to Ritt and to Robert Shaw's one-dimensional Nazi-like villain role. He is able to bring an energy into the investigation, something that makes the implausible situation seem a little bit more plausible. But the ending, when all the game plans come together, left me slightly irked-- this easy to watch film, just didn't add up. It seemed as if the story tried too hard to make sure that man's sense of justice won't be mocked anymore, and I just couldn't buy into its easy solution, especially when for most of the film, confusion was the telling story.
REVIEWED ON 7/25/99 GRADE: B-
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
ozus@sover.net
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