The Spanish Prisoner

The Spanish Prisoner

The Spanish Prisoner
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DVD details

Actor: Ben Gazzara, Campbell Scott, Rebecca Pidgeon, Ricky Jay, Steve Martin
Brand: SONY PICTURES HOME ENT
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 110 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1998-04-03
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

DVD Reviews of The Spanish Prisoner

DVD Review: Once Again, the Con is On
Summary: 5 Stars

When you meet a stranger, your first impression is often very telling, and good instincts can be very valuable. Because people are not always whom or what they appear to be, which is the case in "The Spanish Prisoner," written and directed by David Mamet. As can be expected in a Mamet story, the con is on once again, and this time it involves a certain valuable formula developed by a man named Joe Ross (Campbell Scott) for a company run by a Mr. Klein (Ben Gazzara). It's a formula that will put them ahead of the Japanese for the next three to five years, and during that time it's going to make everyone in the company very rich. Only two people have access to the formula, which is written on Xerox-proof paper and kept in a safe: Joe and Mr. Klein. Joe, however, is somewhat concerned about being properly compensated for his work, as he is not a full time employee of the company, but took this particular job as a work-for-hire; and Mr. Klein has a way of putting off any talk of how much Joe can expect by telling him to wait until the "Board meeting." And it's making Joe a bit anxious.

In the meantime, Joe meets another man, Jimmy Dell (Steve Martin), a wealthy businessman who ingratiates himself with Joe and in a subtle, passive-aggressive way inflames Joe's doubts about whether or not he will eventually get his due from Mr. Klein and the company. Joe has no reason to suspect that Jimmy wants anything from him; Jimmy apparently has enough irons in his own fires and he shows no real interest in whatever it is that Joe is involved in, business wise. He's merely a man who seems to know finance, and his counsel to Joe is nothing more than well-disposed advice to a friend with a mutual concern from someone with experience. Jimmy even goes so far as offering to have his lawyers look into Joe's affairs. Joe is not exactly naive, but he lacks experience in these matters. He trusts Jimmy, but he still wants to believe that Mr. Klein and the company will do right by him eventually. It's something of a conundrum, but very quickly things begin to happen that force Joe's hand and make it necessary for him to make some decisions. And it all comes down to the age old question: Who do you trust?

Mamet certainly knows how to weave a web, and what makes this one so effective is the fact that with a clever, detailed screenplay he never lets the audience in on anything more than what they have to know at any given point in time. Watching the story unfold, you never know any more than what Joe knows, which allows you to experience it all first hand, so to speak, through Joe. It all becomes very confusing very quickly, and it's supposed to be; it's what makes it so engrossing and very subtly gets you inching ever closer to the edge of your seat. You-- like Joe-- know that something is going on, but you never know exactly what or who's behind it. That it has something to do with the formula and Joe's access to it is obvious early on, but beyond that, anything goes. It's complex storytelling, and Mamet makes it even more mesmerizing with his unique touch of having his actors deliver their lines in a clipped, rhythmic manner, which combined with the plot makes this spellbinding cinema.

Campbell Scott is well cast as Joe Ross; he has the look and affects a manner completely compatible with his character. Anyone who has ever been in a position in which things are not quite clear will be able to identify with him, and Scott never lets the character get ahead of where he's supposed to be, as far as what he could possibly know and when, and it adds credibility to the fact that a con like this can be perpetrated at all. If Scott didn't do his job, it would be like having a crack in the dam, and the water would quickly come gushing out. But he does do his job, and it keeps the tension and the mystery in tact until the very end.

In a dramatic role, Steve Martin is effective playing somewhat against type in the role of Jimmy. He's convincing, and displays an aloofness that makes everything he does believable and, like Scott, he never tips his character's hand or does anything to reveal any more than he should. The winsome Rebecca Pidgeon gives an absolutely enticing performance as Susan Ricci, the "new girl" with the company who befriends Joe and gives him the encouragement he needs as he attempts to make some sense of all that is happening. Pidgeon has an extremely direct approach and employs Mamet's style of acting perfectly (few actors have been able to utilize that rhythm more effectively, in fact; Joe Mantegna, William H. Macy and Lindsay Crouse among them), and she has a quality that draws your attention, no matter who else may be in the scene with her. Arguably, it is her performance that defines the realism of Mamet's world.

The supporting cast includes Ricky Jay (George), Felicity Huffman (Pat McCune), Ed O'Neill (F.B.I. Team Leader), Paul Butler (Bookbinder) and J.J. Johnston (Doorman). With a cryptic title taken from one of the oldest con games on the books, "The Spanish Prisoner" is riveting drama that will keep you guessing until the very end. But be forewarned; like "Enemy of the State," this film has the ability to induce paranoia. It may make you take a closer look at your co-workers and neighbors, and if you don't already have a caller ID on your telephone, you'll probably want to get one, and soon. Such is the impact a film like this can have, and it's all a part of the magic of the movies.

More The Spanish Prisoner reviews:
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Description of The Spanish Prisoner

AN INTRICATE THRILLER ABOUT A YOUNG INVENTOR WHO FALLS PREY TOAN ELABORATE CON-GAME FULL OF TWISTS, TURNS AND STUNNINGSURPRISES.
Campbell Scott plays a green young technocrat who invents a secret and highly successful high-tech process that, it appears, most of the free world would like to get their hands on. His own company may not be dealing with him fairly, and competitors are lurking around every street corner and kiddie carousel in New York (not to mention Caribbean hideaways) hoping to steal, cajole, or trick him out of the formula. The plot is as full of switchbacks as a mountain highway, and the delights are in watching it unfold around Scott, who is not so much of a naif that he doesn't catch on that not only his formula, but his life, are in dire danger. Steve Martin is consummately assured--and scary as hell--as a wealthy big shot determined to come out on top. David Mamet's script is refreshingly free from his trademark mannerisms; it's his most satisfying film since 1987's House of Games. --Anne Hurley
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