Starring
Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna, Jack Weston, Julie
Herrod, Samantha Jones, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. Directed by Terrence
Young. (1967/108 min).
AVAILABLE
ON BLU-RAY FROM
Review
by Mr. Pawsđș
Something
occurred to me while recently revisiting Wait Until Dark.
Though I would never claim to be the world's foremost film authority,
I'm pretty damn knowledgeable, if I do say so myself. I haven't seen
everything, of course, and there's even a dwindling list of
undisputed classics I loathe to confess I haven't yet seen. So I could be wrong, but this might be the only dramatic film featuring
Alan Arkin as a villain.
Not
just a villain, but a cold, calculating psychopath...sadistic, apathetic
and bereft of anything resembling compassion. It had been years -
we're talkin' decades - since I'd seen the film and, quite frankly,
completely forgot he was even in it. And having-since associated Arkin primarily
with comedies, his performance as drug smuggler Harry Roat was as
revelatory as seeing Henry Fonda gunning down a child in Once Upon
a Time in the West.
Is
it one of his best performances? Of course not, though retroactively
watching him playing against type was especially fascinating.
 |
| "This'll get the gum off that chair." |
Elsewhere,
Wait Until Dark remains one of the greatest
single-setting movies of all time, that setting being the small
apartment occupied by Suzi Hendrix (Audrey Hepburn) and her husband,
Sam. Little do they know that a doll in their possession was used to smuggle drugs into
the country. Two low-life crooks (Richard Crenna, Jack Weston) are
blackmailed by Harry Roat to get it back. Taking advantage of Suzi's
blindness, they set-up an elaborate ruse to gain access to the
apartment while she's alone and search for the doll. But Suzi turns out to be smarter
and more resourceful than they expected - her disability becoming an
asset - particularly during the final act.
For
a movie driven almost entirely by characters and dialogue, Wait
Until Dark is
a
textbook example of suspenseful, efficient storytelling. Tremendous
performances help, of course. With all due respect to Breakfast at
Tiffany's, Hepburn was never better than she is here. As
Suzi, she may be hapless, but not helpless, and at-no-time are we
less-than-convinced that her blindness and terror are genuine (her
Oscar nomination was well-earned).
Wait
Until Dark plays as well today as it did 50 years ago,
not-to-mention a pleasant reminder that Alan Arkin could do scary as
well as funny. And speaking of funny...dig that crazy mop-top! It's about the only thing that dates this classic cat-&-mouse thriller.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
"LOOK
IN THE DARK" - In this retrospective featurette, Arkin and
producer Mel Ferrer talking about the making of the film.
TRAILERS
KITTY CONSENSUS:
MEE-OW! LIKE TAUNTING A MOUSE TO DEATH
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