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The Black Windmill

Play trailer Poster for The Black Windmill PG 1974 1h 46m Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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57% Tomatometer 7 Reviews 38% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
Hated by his boss (Delphine Seyrig), estranged from his wife (Donald Pleasence), a British secret agent (Michael Caine) tries to rescue his kidnapped son.

Critics Reviews

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Penelope Gilliatt The New Yorker 03/06/2024
The film is full of set pieces that are nearly up to 007 at his groomed best, except that Michael Cain is no mere gamesman at showing off. He makes peril seem real. Go to Full Review
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times 07/10/2018
2/4
The Black Windmill commits the one crime no thriller can be pardoned for. It's not thrilling. It's also terribly passive and static, and Siegel directs Caine almost to a standstill. Go to Full Review
Eddie Harrison film-authority.com 03/31/2021
4/5
...a rewarding watch for fans of Michael Caine, and director Don Siegel... Go to Full Review
Rob Aldam Backseat Mafia 03/24/2021
Caine, as usual, eats up every scene and the writing cleverly serves up a number of red herrings. Go to Full Review
Dick Lochte Los Angeles Free Press 12/13/2019
The Black Windmill finds its producer-director Don Siegel invading Hitchcock territory. He'd have been better off staying at home. Go to Full Review
Raquel Stecher Out of the Past 01/04/2019
The Black Windmill suffers from a lack of real tension and a convoluted plot. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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delysid d 04/17/2022 micheal caine movies are seriously a mixed bag. you never know what youre in for when you watch one. this ones ok, but however a movie that only 70s addicts will enjoy. it's a spy movie about rescuing a kidnapped kid. See more 04/08/2017 If you like Caine you will love this one. Why the audience didn't like this one is beyond me. Caine's son is kidnapped and as he works for the British secret service he becomes involved in a ransom attempt on his son. The Brits won't pay up so its up to him to deliver the ransom and he tries but it is not so easy. This is a fast paced thriller which is well worth your time. Without Caine as a star this could have been just another movie about extortion. See more 10/14/2015 A gripping spy thriller that rises above it's cookie cutter Hollywood form to be a much more enjoyable film than the horrible Le Carre mess "The Spy that came in From the Cold." Caine, unencumbered by the baggage Burton was carrying in the Le Carre film, whether or not to marry Elizabeth Taylor again, gives a very good performance. The film has excellent pacing, plot development, that makes at least a little sense, and fascinating cinematography. See more 07/26/2015 Michael Caine isn't Harry Palmer here but this film is better than some of that other spy's vehicles. It's taut - and after some initial exposition (spoken unnaturally by the characters) - director Don Siegel keeps the plot mechanics churning. Caine is again working for MI6 with an unclear role but things come apart when his son is kidnapped and the culprits seem to know enough inside information to suggest a mole (although that term perhaps wasn't yet created by Le Carre who didn't write the source novel here). Caine is emotionless or perhaps stoic and he gets the job done, although John Vernon seems to have crafted a diabolical plan to entrap him. Even spymaster Donald Pleasance is fooled. Don't look here for deeper meanings or even the musty bureaucratic cloak and dagger dealings of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - instead this is a no frills British action film with well-oiled gears courtesy of American Siegel. See more 06/14/2014 Don Siegel's British Dirty Harry is uneven but interesting. Now it looks like a fascinating period piece, with troubled gender politics, sleaze, survelliance and corruption everywhere. Some great locations, giving texture to a pretty improbable plot. See more 12/21/2013 Michael Caine's commanding presence makes this paint by numbers spy thriller more appealing. See more Read all reviews
The Black Windmill

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Movie Info

Synopsis Hated by his boss (Delphine Seyrig), estranged from his wife (Donald Pleasence), a British secret agent (Michael Caine) tries to rescue his kidnapped son.
Director
Don Siegel
Producer
Don Siegel
Screenwriter
Leigh Vance
Production Co
Universal/Universal Int
Rating
PG
Genre
Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Runtime
1h 46m