YouHeart I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Married Baby Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

lost-in-limbo Director J. Lee Thompson delivers a systematic, if quite unpleasant and foolish World War II action thriller with an outstanding cast lead by the hardy Anthony Quinn (who was in Thompson's "The Greek Tycoon" the year before), James Mason, Kay Lenz, Patricia Neal, Michael Lonsdale, Malcolm McDowell and Christopher Lee. Great cast indeed, although everyone looks rather uninterested with the obvious exception of McDowell itchy, overblown performance as a sadistic SS Captain. You can see he is having a ball in the role, from his delivery of the dialogues and his torturous actions. It's "Clockwork Orange" set during WW2, but even the dreary context can't hide his humorous shtick.Anthony Quinn stars as a Basque mountaineer that's hired by the resistance to guide American professor Bergson (James Mason) and his family from France over the dangerous Pyrenees ice-swept mountains into Spain. While at the same time being tracked by the dogged, cold-blooded SS officer Von Berkow.In all well-budgeted "The Passage" can be seen as an interesting failure. It wasn't the rough-and-tumble, old-school war adventure I was expecting. There's so much wrong with it, but for some reason it holds you there. Everything but the kitchen sink has been thrown into it, without any sort of care. The structure is odd, being adapted by Bruce Nicolaysen from his own novel "The Perilous Passage". Continuity seems off at times, as scenes just don't come together on this mission/on-the-run format. It should be epic, but set-pieces come across as individual moments in what are routine situations and the wonderful scenery never really comes into play. Thompson's efforts are workman-like, but indistinguishable. The pace is slow, action is half-hearted (even with its blood spurting, barbaric violence and grand explosions) and the suspense is ragged with McDowell's random craziness making it worth the buzz. From showing his excellent chopping skills when preparing a meal "Chop, Chop, Chop!" revealing his Swastiska jockstrap to Kay Lenz's character before raping her and imitating Hitler by putting a comb above his lip. The tone just feels misguided, but tame and cartoonish nowadays it was crude and uneasy at the time. You can see this being a cult- favourite and this especially could be favourable due to its very strange, tripped-out climatic ending. I was very surprised where it went because of how powerful and ghastly the execution was (face painting anyone?), but to find it actually was only a tease lessen the impact with its multiple versions. The editing was all-over-the-place, and the finale was the tip of that. Better things can be said about the camera-work, where it did flow around the action well enough demonstrating the dark, shadowy realism of the predicament. Visually it was glum."The Passage" might leave you with a bad taste in your mouth, but it's rather transfixing due to McDowell's creepy histrionics that you can't believe what you are seeing.

Mr_Vai Quite Frankly, this film was terrible! The acting, the story, the sound, the lighting, the everything. Coming up with ten lines here is going to be hard. I mean, I can only say it sucked so many times. OK, let's look more closely at why it sucked? Malcolm McDowell, the legendary actor from "A Clockwork Orange," is in this film, kind of. His performance is so over the top, that we can only imagine what was going on in his personal life at the time. Did you know that SS officers wear jock straps that have swastikas on them? Well they do! At least McDowell's character (that can't seem to be killed) did. You know what, the film was awful and I have spoken too much about it.

geolab-1 I saw this film years ago and am very disappointed to find that it is not available on VHS or DVD. Strange that any film my Malcolm should be unavailable as so much other dross is.This film is very violent with some humour attached. Not the most cerebral piece of work but neither is 'The Hills Have Eyes' or 'Nightmere on Elm Street' but they are cult movies.If this was released again, I am sure it would get an appreciable following for those with 'Bad Taste' and 'Brain Damage' - even Peter Jackson started with over the top violence & humour!Try and get a copy and see for yourself - don't be put off by these other 'critics'.Mark

William United Artist must have lost a bundle back then, when this film only lasted a week in all screens in Seattle when they released this film. The film is "R" rated, violent and brutal! McDowell plays a psychotic WW2 Nazi Captain who is in pursuit of a doctor (Mason) and his family (Neal, Lenz, Clement) who is on the run from the Nazi's, and is helped by a Basque guide (Quinn) and two agents (Lonsadale/Bouzuffi) to take them across the mountain to safetly. McDowell turns into a Nazi Caligula as he do sick things and plays it almost in a camp like fashion like wear a chef hat and chops off Lonsndale fingers while cooking and saying "chop chop, chop chop!", Burn a gypsy (Christopher Lee) alive saying "I'm send him exactly where he told me to go....HELL", and rapes Kay Lenz as he wears a Nazi symbol on his underwear! McDowall also places a black comb under his nose to look like Hitler in one scene! This film is beyond what McDowall did in CLOCKWORK ORANGE! This is a performance that Mike Myers should look into remaking! The ending is incredible, but I can't give it away, but the bad guy's death doesn't involve a gun. Not recommended if you hate this sort of entertainment, despite the fact this is one of those all star cast international co productions, but the TV print cut out of most of the nasty stuff, so check out the TV print instead if you are a fan of the 70's interantional all star cast epics! Others beware! Great score by Michael J Lewis though!