Maidgethma Wonderfully offbeat film!

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Jonathon Dabell Caprice marks 20th Century Fox's attempt to enter into the spy caper stakes already occupied by the likes of Charade (1963), The Prize (1963) and Arabesque (1966). At the time, Doris Day was the world's number one box office star; little did she know that her 'kooky blonde'-routine was about to fall foul of a rapidly changing cinematic landscape. This was the age of Bonnie & Clyde, The Graduate, The Wild Bunch, and Midnight Cowboy. The world wanted depressing, downbeat character dramas; not cutesy caper films about nutty industrial spies. The only room left at all for comedic spy capers was already taken by the increasingly humorous 007 films and the Flint movies with James Coburn. Caprice is a desperate effort which suffers from too many jarring mood swings and a tortuously confusing plot. Day only made the film to fulfil a contractual obligation and would later label it her worst film. Co-star Richard Harris was so sure that the film was destined to bomb that he allegedly refused to watch it, ever! Even at the time of his death, he had never seen Caprice.Patricia Foster (Doris Day) is an industrial spy working for Femina Cosmetics. Her father also used to be in the espionage game; he was an Interpol agent until his unsolved assassination in the Alps. Patrcia is ordered by her boss Sir Jason Fox (Edward Mulhare) to steal a secret formula for rival company May Fortune. The formula can apparently create a water-resistant hairspray which will be the next big thing in the world of fashion and beauty. Things take a darker turn when counter-agent Christopher White (Richard Harris) enters the scene. Is he ally, enemy, or something else altogether? To add further to the mystery, Patricia also discovers that vast quantities of drugs are being smuggled between the cosmetic companies in the guise of a 'harmless' face powder. Soon, the long-ago murder of her father rears its ugly head once more as Patricia uncovers one secret too many and finds herself targeted for elimination.Directed by former Warner Loony Tunes maker Frank Tashlin, Caprice has a good deal of cartoon-like energy but lacks the required finesse to be a good film. The scattershot narrative is a nightmare to follow; the back projection work, intended to suggest an exotic feel, looks horribly fake; and the performances seem generally tired and disinterested. Often Caprice seems to be mimicking earlier and better movies, right down to Doris's chic wardrobe (her sunglasses in particular are clearly modelled on Audrey Hepburn's in Charade). All this achieves is to draw unwanted attention to the fact that she's a fortysomething woman trying to come across like she's in her 20s. There are a handful of individually effective action sequences and the film is at least mercifully brief. However, as a whole it is a muddled mess, pitched at a level of hysteria from the very start which only gets more and more out-of-control as the film progresses. Is it as bad as that absolute nadir of zany '60s caper movies, John Goldfarb, Please Come Home? No, not quite... but it sure is a pretty rotten movie just the same.

bkoganbing It's amazing sometimes how certain films get made and reading in both books about Doris Day and Richard Harris, how Caprice was made just might be a subject for a film itself. Ironically the motive for both these stars was economical.According to a recent biography of Richard Harris by Michael Feeney Callan, Caprice came between two big budget epics for Harris, Hawaii and Camelot both of which are better films. He and his then wife Elizabeth were living in the high end gated community of Bel Air and Harris was feeling squeezed. What to do, but take a film offer strictly for the money. As for Day this was one of many film offers negotiated by her Svengali of a husband Martin Melcher which she hated but as she later learned Melcher had depleted their savings with horrible investments.Also according to Harris since this film was about espionage, Day thought she was getting Sean Connery as her leading man. She plays an industrial spy who is double dealing a pair of cosmetics tycoons played by Edward Mulhare and Jack Kruschen. But she has another mission agenda. Her father was killed because he had found a narcotics smuggling ring working inside one of the firms. She's out to find the guy behind the ring who may have personally killed her father who was an Interpol Agent.Enter Richard Harris who plays a mysterious agent himself and keeps pulling Doris out of harm's way. Doris upon signing for the film had the parts switched so that she was the industrial spy, that was to be a male role originally. The film is the only one that calls for her to be an action hero.Caprice's biggest problem is that it can't seem to make it's mind up whether it is a spoof or somewhat serious. I can see why Doris would have wanted Sean Connery in the role, who better than the screen's James Bond for a spy film. Connery might have had the good sense to pass on this, but Harris needed the money.They did not like each other these two, but then again Harris got along with very few of his colleagues during his early hell raising days. He was quoted in the book as saying kissing Day was like kissing his old maiden aunt. Frank Tashlin who certainly did a lot better stuff in his career directed Caprice. The whole project reeks of indifference from its director and its stars.

froberts73 Doris's manager-husband was not anywhere as nice as most of her leading men, treating her so bad, their son just about disowned him, wisely siding with mom.Harris enjoyed working with her, but ditzed the pic; She was less than thrilled with it. Maybe all concerned grumbled their way through it, but the end result was quite satisfactory.The tense moments were wonderful cliff-hangers, and the comedy moments, particularly the crazy apartment chase were real laugh getters.One critic described the plot as convoluted. Fie on him. It was complex, but did not require a ton of gray matter to keep up with it.Overall, it was a couple of hours very well spent, a little known film with a lot going for it.One more thing. Michael J. Pollard was on the screen for only a few moments, but he dominated his time marvelously.Let me add one more, one more thing. I would watch Day any day.

jotix100 "Caprice" is a film that supposedly, even its star, Doris Day, wasn't too pleased with the finished product. This is clearly evident in what Frank Tashlin, its director, and also one of its writers, created as a vehicle for Ms. Day. In fact, it was one of the last movies in which this luminous star appeared. Who can blame her?The plot is the worst thing going for the movie. We don't believe for a moment all that is happening. Mr. Tashlin doesn't even get the charismatic Ms. Day to turn her charm as she always did in her films before. Then there is the problem of the way the star is made to look. Doris Day, who was forty five at the time, still had her lovely figure, but some of the costumes she is made to wear are just plain hideous! And what about those ugly hats? At that time most women all over the world, even those in business, had tossed their hats aside and wouldn't get caught dead with one of those worn by Ms. Day in the movie.One can't blame Doris Day for the finished product. Richard Harris looks clear out of his element, after all, he wasn't notorious for playing comedy. Ray Walston, Jack Krushen, Edward Mulhare and Lilia Skala play supporting roles.This film is only for hard core Doris Day fans only.