The Prize

The first half of the film did nothing for me, however the last half, seemed very cheesy and corny, and I shudder at how utterly awful it was, but when you see Paul Newman being chased by people wanting to kill him, when you see him in the Nudist convention, and when you realise that there are striking similarities between this film and the whole plot of Naked Gun 2 and a half, with the physicist, the award, and the evil twin, you have to forgive the first half.

To say that this is an Alfred Hitchcock movie made by Mark Robson is not a put down, it's just a fact of life. Look at the framing and you'll know immediately that we're not in Hitchcockian territory. But the the Hitchcockian ingredients are there even if not mixed or cooked at the wrong temperature, or something. Paul Newman, absolutely gorgeous and funnily enough he'll make a spy film with Hitchcock set in Sweden during the Nobels. Elke Sommer is like an imitation Hitchkcock ice blonde made in Germany. Diane Baker was the brunette in Hitchcock's Marnie and she's a real delight. Edward G Robinson, of course, always a pleasure but then Mr Robson casts Micheline Presle, Micheline Presle from "Devil And The Flesh" and ignores her. She is framed as if Robson didn't know who she was. Another unforgivable bit of business, Sergio Fantoni's Italian mamma. What was he thinking. All that aside. It's entertaining and Paul Newman can take me anywhere, anytime.

Absolutely lovely movie. A lovely 60's Stockholm and its Grand Hotel, an adorable and extremely beautiful Elke Sommer, a very young and charismatic Paul Newman, the glamour of the Nobel prize and lots of what we now a days consider that romantic innocence from the older times. The movie itself is not exactly a good one. First of all you can notice that every scene outside is shot with a film behind so that very probably, Mr.Newman never got to go to Stockholm at all, but was filmed in some studio in Hollywood. Then all these stereotypes that are making angry to Italians, Swedes and even Danes. Well, take a look at any Hollywood movie happening in Spain and you will find see that those old stereotypes are there for every nationality and are certainly annoying. We are bullfighters here theoretically. The plot is very simplistic, the bad guys are really clumsy, some scenes are taken from other movies and as mentioned before by someone else, it is a photocopy of Hitchcock's Torn Curtain as well. Still, as imperfect as it is, it is just lovely, and the little romance of Newman and Sommers, those innocent but very hot kisses dressing up so smart are worth the movie for those who feel romantic.

If you have read the book, what the film has to offer is unfortunately a replay of what Hitchcock created in 1959. Ernest Lehman was the script writer for Hitchcock's "North by northwest." I was surprised that two scenes from the classic were modified by Lehman for "The Prize". The famous scene of Cary Grant being almost killed by a plane in the open field is replayed here with Paul Newman being terrorized by a car on an empty bridge at night. A few minutes later into the film Lehman replaces the auction sequence in the Cary Grant film with Newman in a nudist conference. If you have seen the Hitchcock film you know what follows. Was it a homage to Hitchcock or was Lehman suffering a bout of creativity loss? Or was Director Mark Robson a die hard Hitchcock fan? The book, pulp fiction at its best, made good casual reading. The film is good to pass the time, watching Paul Newman and Edward G. Robinson re-enacting roles similar to what they have enjoyed playing so often. The wisecracks (thanks to Irving Wallace) make the otherwise dumb and predictable film worth your time.

I absolutely enjoyed this 2+ hour-long movie, and the fact that, as others have mentioned, it's inspired by Hitchcock doesn't change anything. I liked Newman's character. A man who is more interested in women and drink rather than the Nobel Prize, who has a devil-may-care attitude towards everything, decides to endanger his own life when he realizes his colleague is in trouble. Maybe he does it partially because he is bored and partially because he has been writing detective stories for the past few years, but it is interesting to watch his behavior anyway. Although the plot is pretty simple, there is something that gets you hooked from the very beginning and doesn't let you go until the very last phrase. The film is very interesting, and the supporting characters play a significant role here.

"The Prize" is a fitfully entertaining, slickly made Hitchcock-like thriller. The premise is somewhat reminiscent of "The Lady Vanishes" and screenwriter Lehman, who also wrote the script for "North By Northwest", includes a scene here - the one involving a convention of nudists - that plays like a direct homage to the unforgettable auction sequence of the 1959 Hitchcock classic. The film stars Paul Newman, who is nearly as enjoyable to watch in his role as Cary Grant, and it's full of lively dialogue and colorful performances. But it goes on too long and the pace seems slack at times; if the storytelling was tighter, the film would be much more exciting. Now, it's only a mild entertainment.

Ernest Lehman can be excused for borrowing liberally from himself in the course of writing the script for THE PRIZE, since he gets us hooked by setting up the tale with some very clever exposition in the first fifteen minutes by having waiters delivering a special guest tray to the various recipients of the Nobel Prize in Sweden at the Grand Hotel, with a sense of irony and humor in their shenanigans. The sophisticated wit and humor doesn't stop there. As soon as the character of PAUL NEWMAN (as Andrew Craig, literature winner) is introduced, we're treated to another version of the sort of character Cary Grant played in NORTH BY NORTHWEST--a man who suddenly finds himself in a situation where he becomes the target of assassins who want him out of the way because he knows too much. The similarities don't end there. There's a nudist convention that Newman has to barge into in order to escape two killers and he tries in vain to get them apprehended by the authorities. (Sound familiar?) There are people who refuse to believe his story of an attempted kill where he was thrown off a balcony and into the sea by a man trying to knife him to death. Another familiar moment occurs when he revisits a murder scene with the police--but the scene has been cleaned up and a woman denies that there was ever a dead body on the floor or that they owned a TV set (which is missing), as Newman claims. Furthermore, every situation Newman is thrown into has its humorous side, mostly because of some stinging one-liners he gets to bandy around at the bad guys, like the waiter who only hours before is the one who threw him off the balcony. "How are the crepe suzettes? Is there a body in there?" Lehman keeps the yarn spinning along in dangerous territory, but always with a good deal of humor in the words and actions of DIANE BAKER (as a mysterious woman), EDWARD G. ROBINSON (in a pivotal role as a Nobel scientist replaced by a double), KEVIN McCARTHY, LEO G. CARROLL and others. Handsomely photographed in Widescreen and color, it's no NORTH BY NORTHWEST as far as the suspense is concerned, but it is almost as diverting despite some mighty far-fetched escapes that only a writer as talented as Ernest Lehman could manage to make credible. Never read the Irving Wallace book, but I'm sure the crisp dialog can be attributed to Lehman, not Wallace, since it sounds so much like NORTH BY NORTHWEST at certain moments. Nice jobs by PAUL NEWMAN and ELKE SUMMER as the foreign assistant assigned to be his aid during his stay in Stockholm and with whom, of course, he becomes romantically involved. Newman's breezy performance is full of cocky ease and he's clearly at home in this sort of caper.

Director Mark Robson and scriptwriter Ernest Lehman (both of From the Terrace) transformed the relatively serious Irving Wallace novel into a glossy blend of comedy, suspense, melodrama, romance, sex and international intrigue The complicated story concerns a group of Nobel Prize winners gathered in Stockholm for the ceremonies… Newman is the winner in Literature, although he's written only cheap detective thrillers (under pseudonyms) for the past five years… Another hard-drinking womanizer, he has plenty of booze, and a beautiful Swedish official (Elke Sommer) assigned to him… But he's distracted from these long enough to suspect that the Physics prizewinner (Edward G. Robinson) has been kidnapped by the Communists and replaced by a double… Naturally, nobody believes him

I know that Paul Newman was a great actor. His body of work includes some very highly regarded films. In this film, he really portrays a person who could not be real. It is demeaning to see him perform such poorly written, produced and directed work. The story is choppy. The circumstances just too comedic. The film's texture is very nice because of where it was done. But the premise and the story are so awful. Edward G. Robinson, Elke Sommer just to name 2 of a cast full of beautiful women. They brighten up the scenery. I don't want to say more because if you are a fan of comedy/drama you might love it. Have patience if you decide to watch it.

The Prize by Mark Robson is a hugely underrated but very entertaining movie. In fact this movie is so enjoyable that I count it among my twenty (or so) favourite movies of all time. Paul Newman (witty and recalcitrant as always) plays an American writer who is about to receive the Nobel Prize for literature in Stockholm. Although his work is highly praised, he has to make a living by writing detective novels. Known for his drinking problem and his aversion to authority the Swedish Nobel organisation provides Newman with a personal host (Elke Sommer looking prettier than ever!) to keep him from doing foolish things... and ofcourse that's exactly what happens! Newman, with his fine nose for crime, discovers a case of mistaken identity (Edward G. Robinson in a fine double role) and witnesses a murder. What happens next is very similar to other great movies from the same period of time like North By Northwest or Charade. If you like those, if you like Paul Newman or Elke Sommer or... if like me you like ALL these things than this is y