Who risk their necks

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Movie
German title Who risk their necks
Original title The Gypsy Moths
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1969
length 107 minutes
Age rating FSK 18
Rod
Director John Frankenheimer
script William Hanley
production Hal Landers , Bobby Roberts , Edward Lewis
music Elmer Bernstein
camera Philip H. Lathrop , Carl Boenish
cut Henry Berman
occupation

Risk the Neck is the title of a US film from 1969. A novel by James Drought served as a literary model . It is MGM color film in Metrocolor.

action

Mike Rettig, Joe Browdy and the youngest of the three men, Malcolm Webson, are parachutists . They travel through the country in their car and demonstrate their daring jumps.

This time they have arrived in a small town in Kansas where a small airfield and grandstands are the requirements for their performance. They rent a plane and a pilot, discuss the details of the flight, when and where to take off and then look for accommodation.

Malcolm's aunt Elizabeth lives in town with her husband, a professor, and the three of them can stay with them. Malcolm obviously only knows his aunt slightly, and so the first contact between hosts and guests is very formal at first.

In general, everyone seems to have their problems. Mike is dissatisfied with himself and the world, Malcolm doesn't know what he really wants, Elizabeth has obviously married the wrong man, and he in turn doesn't understand his wife. Only Joe lives carefree into the day.

In the evening Joe goes to a bar, where he looks for a one-night stand and finds it. Mike and Elizabeth then get closer, fall in love and sleep together, which her husband observes more or less impassively. Mike asks her to come with him, which, despite her dreary everyday life, seems too daring in view of an uncertain future and she refuses.

The next day the demonstration takes place, they perform their tricks. Mike's specialty is jumping where he pulls the rip cord as late as possible . So a real thrill for the audience. But things go wrong, it falls like a stone to the ground, dead. The other two immediately discover that he did not pulled the ripcord and probably suicide committed.

Another day later, the two people who stayed behind give another performance. You need the money for Mike's funeral. Now it's Joe who dares the special jump. He only barely succeeds. It was his last, he gave up skydiving.

background

  • The film, which was shot in 1968 in Wichita, Kansas , was the last in a long collaboration between Lancaster and Frankenheimer and also of the decade in which the actor had celebrated his greatest successes. (Robyn Karney)

Reviews

  • “There are films where it is particularly unfortunate that you can only recommend them as TV tips instead of showing them on screen. 'Who risk their necks' is such a case ... Parachutists in a crisis of conscience: by John Frankenheimer alternately gripping, then again staged in a brittle manner. "(Carsten Tritt)
  • "A morally tinted, beautifully observed character study about three parachute acrobats on a guest performance in a small town: In the quiet, sour world of the film, Burt Lancaster, Gene Hackman and Deborah Kerr despair between self-accusation and excellent air sequences staged by Frankenheimer as usual." (Christoph Huber)
  • "By far the best thing about The Gypsy Moths is the aerial shots." ( Tony Thomas , Burt Lancaster, Heyne Film Library No. 29)
  • "Hackmann was excellent as was Frankenheimer's direction ... Unfortunately, the story and the roles were threadbare and fragmented and the whole atmosphere was pretty gloomy." (Robyn Karney: Burt Lancaster. Gremese 1997)
  • “The film describes a weekend where everyone goes through a bewildering, emotional crisis, including Miss Kerr, an unhappy, highly unbelievable housewife from Kansas who has a brief affair with Lancaster, mainly because - it seems - she is dating remembered their meeting from 'damn forever'. "( Vincent Canby , New York Times )

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