THE NAKED RUNNER (1967)

This British cold war espionage film, directed by Sidney Furie, would have benefited by shaving about fifteen minutes from its one-hundred-minute length to help eliminate scripted micro detailing. The weak character development adds to the confusion with a myriad of characters popping up throughout the film. Scene changes may be frustratingly abrupt as well. I was initially not sure what to make of Harry Sukman’s opening piano concerto. It seemed out of place or a bit too romantic. It is explained, however, with opening visual support, as only a suggested record album selection of one main character, Peter Vaughn. I was most impressed with the stylish cinematography and its tight, asymmetrical closeups of actors or camera angles. A late Sixties trend. Also trendy were the simple, graphic posters, some with a high degree of white space around the creative illustrations. The high camera shots of a modern London office interior fit the title character, an industrial designer played by Frank Sinatra. Just to clarify, he runs a bit but at no time is he naked and this film should not be confused with his superior, Some Came Running, nine years earlier. Though at times ponderous, this is a decent update of a typical B-movie and would fit nicely into a Sinatra movie vault. His friend, actor Brad Dexter, garnered support for the project and ended up producing it. Unfortunately, the film was a box office disappointment and severed the ties between Sinatra and Warner Bros. Little help from the cool poster, above.

Working in London, Sinatra and his young son are planning a holiday behind the Iron Curtain—another “Wheel of Fortune” getaway—and attend an international trade show. Meanwhile, a British Intelligence officer, Vaughn, who served with Sinatra in the Second World War, decides to use the opportunity to coerce him into carrying out a simple exchange. Sinatra is skeptical of its simplicity. Only Vaughn knows that a recent prison escapee plans to share highly sensitive scientific information with Moscow and his assassination is imperative. With an integrated plan that involves half of Western Europe, Vaughn plays on Sinatra’s sympathies and his wartime experience as an expert marksman. However unethical, he will do anything to rattle Sinatra to the breaking point—perhaps make him so angry he will willingly carry out the deed.

The script seems to suggest, that after twenty years a civilian, Sinatra is a bit rusty and naively assumes everyone is telling the truth. His anger increases, however, as the truth gets harder to find. He is at the mercy of Vaughn and his operatives. One operative is Derren Nesbitt, posing as an East German intelligence officer, who sweats him out in an abandoned warehouse in the middle of a forest. The agonizingly slow interrogation ends with Nesbitt’s apparent plan to execute Sinatra. After a short stroll in the woods, he takes the pistol’s safety off but “changes his mind” at the last second. This pushes ‘Ol Blues Eyes over the edge expelling whatever meal he had eaten previously. Another operative is Edward Fox, intending to be from the British Embassy, who graciously comes to Sinatra’s aid yet with no information of value to relieve his anxiety.

An abrupt, deflated ending may recall one of those old “backstory jokes” from your uncle with a set-up that seemingly goes on forever and a punchline not worth the wait. The single most glaring element of the film. Kudos for saving disappointment until the end. As Vaughn’s pawn, Sinatra gets no apologies for his underhanded manipulation. Sinatra had become so confused with Vaughn’s cryptic behavior, he assumed he was the actual target. Something Sinatra may well consider. Vaughn does provide an extremely brief explanation and a compliment for completing the nerve-racking assignment as planned. No hard feelings, ‘ol chap?

Oddity: Shortly after the seven-minute point on my copy, there is a fuzzy red square covering the center of the screen, cropping into the hands of Vaughn and the Cabinet minister—facing each other at opposite ends of the screen—during their conversation. I suspect something had been edited out of the background for legal purposes. It is immediately followed by straight-on close-ups of each man in conversation. A better approach for the entire scene.