Customer Reviews

Mirage [VHS]

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Mirage" is an absorbing and complex thriller about an amnesiac who is trying to piece together the past before he ends up dead. This is an overly familiar plot device now, but in 1965 it was all the rage (James Garner starred in a less sinister film called "Mr. Buddwing" the same year based on a very similar idea). Gregory Peck does a good job of looking suitably concerned and befuddled, and Walter Matthau provides needed comic relief. Black and white might've been a mistake; films built around crazy mysteries like this one just seem to cry out for color ("Charade," "Arabesque"). A more interesting leading lady might've helped, as well, because Diane Baker isn't gonna make anyone forget Audrey Hepburn. Nonetheless, this is a fun and somewhat forgotten film that will definitely hold your interest while it's on, and the DVD print is excellent.

The 1965 film Mirage is a very good suspense mystery. It was filmed in location in New York City. In an era when movies were more commonly being filmed in color, this film was in black and white. It evokes the gritty cynical film noir of the fifties (bringing that refinement that is Gregory Peck). Peck plays an amnesiac who finds himself in New York City. He is trying to find out who he is while at the same time he is becoming increasingly aware that his life is in danger. Among the many aspects that make this film interesting and entertaining is the cast, which includes Diane Baker, Walter Matthau, Lief Erickson, and George Kennedy. Filming on location in New York City gives it a realism which adds to the suspense. This film should be more accesible for rent and sale. It may have been more in tune with the suspense thrillers of the fifties but looking back from our time it is a timeless example of the "innocent man" being pursued because he knows more than he realizes. All the actors do a great job with thier parts.

This suspenseful, black and white film, redolent of Hitchcock, centers around David Stillwell (Gregory Peck), a man who seems to be suffering from amnesia and remembers very little about himself. He consults with a psychiatrist but finds little help there, as the psychiatrist accuses David of being in trouble with the law and trying to set up some sort of fake psychiatric defense, something which the psychiatrist wants no part of.

David then hires Private Detective Ted Casselle, engagingly played by Walter Matthau, to discover just who he really is. When David learns that he is being followed by two hard bitten thugs, with the unlikely names of Lester and Willard, menacingly played by Jack Weston and George Kennedy, events in the film start to really heat up.

As David begins to get flashbacks of a disturbing past that is trying to reinstate itself in his present, David finds himself getting more and more enmeshed into a life and death struggle of some sort. A woman named Sheila, played by the fresh faced Diane Baker, interjects herself into his life with warnings of danger that even the least paranoid person would be wise to heed. It is almost as if a cat and mouse game were being played.

As David begins to remember more about his past and the places, people, and events that were to bring him to his present state, David discovers that danger and deception is closer to home than he thought. This is an intriguing and taut film of psychological suspense that those who enjoy the films of Alfred Hitchcock will like.

Really? A single DVD of Mirage? I'm skeptical. I thought this had only been released on DVD quite recently -- and then ONLY as one of a half-dozen Peck movies in a $60 boxed set. I wonder if the people offering "slim-case DVDs" are breaking up the box?

I love this movie so much I made myself a DVD of it a few years ago. I had to rent the VHS from Scarecrow Video, and because it was their only copy -- and long out of print -- they made me put down a $100 deposit on the tape.

That's how much I love this movie.

The movie has a palpable sense of vertigo about it (pun intended) where accountant David Stillwell suddenly realizes that two years of his life are missing. He sets out to fill in what his amnesia has removed, and all sorts of dangerous situations result. The Hitchcockian direction by Edward Dmytryk, the performances by Peck, Baker, Matthau, Weston, Kennedy & Erickson, the Herrmannesque score by Quincy Jones, the eerie black & white photography, the imaginative staging, the use of sound effects, the unforgettable images of watermelons... All of it is top notch. I've loved this movie since shortly after it first came out. An unjustly-neglected masterpiece!

Imagine if you could remember nothing of your life, and what little you DID remember was found to be lies.

That's what you get in "Mirage," a solid if not brilliant thriller in the vaguely Hitchcockian, post-Charade model. The plot is repetitive at times, but director Edward Dmytryk soaks the entire film in a feeling of claustrophobic creepiness, and Gregory Peck and Walter Matthou give excellent performances.

After a blackout at the building where he works, David Stillwell (Peck) is greeted by a woman he doesn't recognize, goes down to a sub-basement that doesn't exist, his job doesn't exist, and finds that his apartment apparently hasn't been lived in. Oh, the head of his company also plunges to his death that very night. And a mysterious gunman is suddenly trying to kill and/or capture him.

But when David goes to talk to the police and a shrink, he realizes something shocking -- he can't remember anything of his life until two years ago. And after hiring a private eye (Matthau), he discovers that apparently a conspiracy is erasing all signs of his prior existence.... and yes, more hit men have been sent after him, at the command of the mysterious "Major."

"Mirage" is a good film, though not quite good enough to stand among the titans of the suspense movie like "Charade" or "The Man Who Knew Too Much." Edward Dmytryk's talent is in making the entire film feel like a long nightmare, in which everything is dangerous and/or uncertain. And he peels away the layers of conspiracy and delusion with a slow, deft hand, tricking us with misconceptions and half-truths at every turn.

However, it also can be rather repetitive (how many times can Shela appear, say vague sinister stuff, and then vanish?) and has some moments that are just too convenient (a small child randomly appears so Peck and his girlfriend can hide in her apartment).

But if the movie is flawed, Gregory Peck's performance is not. He starts the performance as a nice, slightly confused man, but his performance gradually mutates into a wild-eyed, harrowed man who can't run or hide. You really feel sorry for him, especially when it starts making him look a little insane -- and even frames him for homicide.

Diane Baker's role is basically that of a designated love interest, but Walter Matthau is delightful as a quirky, oddball detective who defies all tropes. I was actually rather sad when Matthau exited the film, because he was so much fun. He deserved his own movie.

"Mirage" has some deep flaws that keep it from being as great as it could be, but it's buoyed by a sense of chaotic fear and a solid performance by Peck.

Gregory Peck stars as David Stillwell, a man with a secret. The problem is: He doesn't know he has a secret, because he is suffering from amnesia. Thus begins this psychological thriller in the Hitchcock tradition, set in New York City in the mid 1960s.

Peck, feeling that he's lost his grip on reality, and needing to actualize his existence, starts down the path of reconstructing his life. Because he has amnesia, he can't remember having any friends. He visits a psychiatrist (played with passion and intelligence by Robert Harris) and hires an easy-going private eye (Walter Matthau) to investigate who he really is, and find out his identity. Early on, he runs into old flame, Sheila, played by the beautiful and underrated Diane Baker (fresh off of Hitchcock's dark "Marnie"). She turns out to be even more of a cipher than Peck, refusing clues to his queries about his identity. "I want to remember who I am!" Peck rages at Baker. Her tortured reply singularly sums up his bizarre and paradoxical world: "Not remembering is the only thing keeping you alive!"

So, as you can see, this is a neat twist on the amnesia flick, and I'm going to stop here, because I don't want to give any more of the plot of "Mirage" away. The intelligent script by Peter Stone (Charade) moves alternately fast-and-furious/ slow-and-langorous. "Mirage" is chock full of great performances: George Kennedy and Jack Weston give two of the best portrayals of sociopathic, ruthless hired killers ever; Leif Erickson stars as "The Major," an equally ruthless industrialist bent on prying the secret loose from Peck's clouded mind; Kevin McCarthy is glib and smarmy as the sycophantic Josephson and Walter Abel is suave and conflicted as Peck's mentor, Charles Calvin.

Director Edward Dmytryk -- best known for his masterwork "The Caine Mutiny," and blacklisted during the McCarthy years -- directed "Mirage" really tight: There are no dissolves; every cut is literally a cut, and the breakneck pace of the chase scenes further establishes Peck as a man alone, being kept on a long leash. Dmytryk broke with tradition by editing even the flashback scenes with straight cuts, and it works beautifully.

Notching the tension up even further is Quincy Jones' jazzy and urbane soundtrack, which draws on the "crime jazz" genre created by Elmer Bernstein and Henry Mancini and looks forward to Jones' own soundtrack for "In the Heat of the Night."

That "Mirage" isn't even currently in any release is perplexing. This is a totally solid and taut thriller,...it's worth every penny, especially if you're a Gregory Peck fan -- one of his best and most convincing performances.

Great great movie, very complex plot, but well worth the surprise ending.

Anyone who gives it a poor rating should go watch "Jackass" for the 18th time.

Re-release this great Gregory Peck film"Mirage" on dvd/vhs so that humble people like me can afford it and it would stop the price gouging and rip offs!!!!

I remember recording this off of AMC about a year ago, and it was because I wanted to record the 1966 version of "Madame X". I didn't know how to program the VCR, so I left the tape rolling. The film to follow "Madame X" was "Mirage". I remember the first time watching this, and when the chase through Central Park came up I'm jumping up and down, and saying "I WANT THIS MOVIE". My late wife looked at me like I was nuts. It's my number 2 favorite movie next to "The Shining". Unfortunately, this was ignored as blockbusters such as "The Sound Of Music", and "Dr. Zhivago" were monopolizing the oscars. I would love to see this out on DVD soon.

The hard to find DVD was delivered promptly in excellent condition. We watched it and were thoroughly pleased.