Bullseye! (1990)

User Rating:

4.0/10   

Director:

Michael Winner

Writers (WGA):

Leslie Bricusse (story) and
Michael Winner (story) ...

Release Date:

2 November 1990 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

They were the world's greatest conmen... almost.

Plot:

Moore and Caine play dual rolls in this off-beat and highly silly caper - a pair of small time con-men and a partnership of nuclear physicists...

Plot Keywords:

Independent Film

Cast

Michael Caine	...	Sidney Lipton / Doctor Hicklar
Roger Moore	...	Garald Bradley-Smith / Sir John Bevistock
Sally Kirkland	...	Willie
Deborah Moore	...	Flo Fleming
Lee Patterson	...	Darrell Hyde
Mark Burns	...	Nigel Holden
Derren Nesbitt	...	Inspector Grosse
Deborah Leng	...	Francesca
Christopher Adamson	...	Death's Head
Steffanie Pitt	...	Donna Dutch
Eddie Yeoh	...	Korean Bidder
Raymond Johnson	...	Nigerian Bidder
Nadio Fortune	...	Italian Bidder
Amir M. Korangy	...	Iranian Bidder
Angus MacKay	...	Reverend Simkin

Runtime:

Netherlands:93 min | USA:95 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color | Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Germany:16 | USA:PG-13 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Inveraray Castle, Inveraray, Argyll and Bute, Scotland, UK

Company:

21st Century Film Corporation

Trivia:

The last film that producer Menahem Golan worked with director Michael Winner.

Quotes:

[Lipton knocks his door and the entire front of the house collapses around him; the hole where the door was saves him from certain death. He wanders away dazed. Willie pulls up in her car]
Willie: What's wrong?
Lipton: I come from a broken home.

Missed the bullseye!

Pairing Roger Moore and Michael Caine must have thought to be a great Idea. Probably inspired by The Man Who Would be King, where Caine was paired with another ex-Bond, Sean Connery. Bullseye didn't have benefit of larger scale epic-like canvass of TMWWBK, as it didn't want itself to be taken seriously. Did Bullseye work?

Yes and No (God, we all hate this kind of answer). No, because most of the time, the jokes fall flat on the face. Yes, because Caine and Moore (as usual) are always great to watch. They play a pair of conmen and a pair of treacherous scientists. Keep an eye on Moore, always known as a great ad-libber. Unfortunately only this two guys are the only reasons to watch the movie.

Bullseye takes the premise of impersonating (this time two of them) and adds twist and turn, moving from a caper flick to espionage. While it tries hard to be a comedy, most of the time you see some humourless farce in an inconsistent progress. I quickly lost interest in the story during the first half an hour and just sat through the rest watching the dynamic duo of England. Being a Bond fan, I was especially delighted to see Moore playing off his Bond persona, even throwing lines like, `For England'. Ring a bell, Bond-fans?

There is Sally Kirkland, who provides some personal agenda to the ageing conmen, while also providing a bit of flesh here and there. She looks positively old and attractive at the same time. But her character does nothing much but to be in between Moore and Caine, and helping them with their con. That's all.

I checked out Michael Winner's (the director) past record, and was surprised to note that he directed the more seroius films like the Death Wish films and The Big Sleep (a supposedly sequel of Farewell, My Lovely). While the former was successful in its own way, the latter killed nostalgic-noir delight began by Farewell, My lovely. He later went on to direct many bombs, and regarded generally as a horrible director. Wonder how he managed to find job for so long. It is so evident in this film. Whether it's him, the script or his crew, the movie failed to amuse many at that time; it will still fail to amuse many now. Bullseye is something the film couldn't achieve.