The Domino Principle

R

1977

1h 37m

Crime

Drama

List

14%

7 Reviews

Tomatometer

20%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

Prisoner Roy Tucker (Gene Hackman) gets an offer that's too good to be true when a stranger called Tagge (Richard Widmark) visits him one day in jail, and says he can give Roy his freedom in exchange for agreeing to do an unnamed job down the line. Roy accepts and, after visiting his wife (Candice Bergen), is told the job is murdering someone. When Roy refuses to be a gun for hire, his wife is kidnapped, and Roy must find out who Tagge's mysterious employers are before it's too late.

Read More

Read Less

Watch on Fandango at Home

Premiered Aug 22

Buy Now

Fandango at Home

Prime Video

Apple TV

Rent The Domino Principle on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

antonis k

A really good and solid conspiracy thriller with great work from Gene Hackman in the leading role. It might have it's ups and downs? But by the end it works better than you might think. (8/10)

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I have put off watching this movie only to have forgotten to watch it again and again. I should have left it unwatched. What I thought would be a fast-paced espionage-thriller was actually a poorly directed melodrama.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Certainly not one of the better Hackman movies or performances. A very plodding movie that does not take the time to answer some of the many plot holes. Candice Bergen puts in a lack luster performance that does not generate the kind of relationship with Hackman that the movie requires. Poor directing concentrates more on the scenery and less on the story.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

Full Review

delysid d

pretty lame movie by hackman standards, it was enjoyable enough though

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/02/18

Full Review

Audience Member

This was on a recently purchased Blu-Ray with The Cassandra Crossing. Watching both films made for an interesting experience. This film is trying to combine Seconds with the Parallax View but doesn't quite reach the level of paranoia that those two thrillers achieved. In fact, Gene Hackman faced a more sinister and realistic conspiracy in The Conversation. Hackman is in prison for murder when he is approached by Richard Widmark (sinister as always). Before you know it, Hackman is busted out of prison and given a new identity, a full bank account, and a house in Costa Rica. He is even reunited with his wife (Candice Bergen trying a West Virginia accent). There is a catch, however and Hackman is expected to take part in an assassination on behalf of his sinister benefactors, known only as "they." With Mickey Rooney as Hackman's cellmate, Eli Wallach as a sinister ex-Marine general, and even Star Trek's Majel Barrett as one of "their" employees. Like I said, there are better examples of post-Watergate paranoid political thrillers to be seen, but this one was enjoyable and fun.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Un bon thriller américain typique des seventies.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Stanley Kramer

Director

Gene Hackman

Roy Tucker

Candice Bergen

Ellie Tucker

Richard Widmark

Tagge

Mickey Rooney

Spiventa

Edward Albert

Ross Pine

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

83%

83%

Straight Time

98%

87%

The Friends of Eddie Coyle

56%

48%

The Laughing Policeman

87%

64%

The Onion Field

95%

87%

The Long Goodbye

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

Variety Staff

Variety

Stanley Kramer's film contains a lot of physical and logistical nonsense.

Nov 7, 2007

Full Review

Time Out

With a lame script and the leaden hand of Kramer's direction, it blows most of its chances.

Jan 26, 2006

Full Review

Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

A puzzle with no solution that pretends to be a terrifying sociopolitical insinuation, when it is nothing more than a mockery. [Full review in Spanish]

Aug 16, 2023

Full Review

Steve Warren

The Barb (Atlanta)

The Domino Principle has nothing new to say. Neither has Stanley Kramer, and it's high time he was put out to pasture.

May 9, 2023

Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

...a stirring thriller that succeeds despite a narrative that is, to put it mildly, rather far-fetched.

Rated: 3/4

Apr 5, 2020

Full Review

Ruth Batchelor

Los Angeles Free Press

Falls apart and goes downhill at such a snail's pace, all you can say is, "Who cares!"

Oct 23, 2019

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

Prisoner Roy Tucker (Gene Hackman) gets an offer that's too good to be true when a stranger called Tagge (Richard Widmark) visits him one day in jail, and says he can give Roy his freedom in exchange for agreeing to do an unnamed job down the line. Roy accepts and, after visiting his wife (Candice Bergen), is told the job is murdering someone. When Roy refuses to be a gun for hire, his wife is kidnapped, and Roy must find out who Tagge's mysterious employers are before it's too late.

Director: Stanley Kramer
Production Co: Associated General Films, Incorporated Television Company
Rating: R
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 12, 2017
Runtime: 1h 37m

Most Popular at Home Now