The Spanish Prisoner 1998
Nicely written, beautifully shot, and intriguing throughout, but ultimately a little disappointing. Campbell Scott is good in his role and Steve Martin also good in a completely serious role. It’s nice to see Steve Martin in something serious. He’s shown he can really act in movies like Roxanne, Parenthood, L. A. Story, etc., but he’s always leaned on doing something silly, so this was a nice change.
Other acting performances were a little questionable. Scott’s friend, a company lawyer, seems a little forced into dialogue he isn’t comfortable with. A secretary in the movie walks the line between annoying and charming and I still don’t know which to pick. If she qualifies as supporting actress she could get it, but it’s hard to say if she was even doing an adequate job.
David Mamet wrote and directed this and I like the way he didn’t feel the need to get distracted with what the movie is supposedly about. It’s about intrigue and deceit, and who really cares what props are used? Plans for nuclear weapons, a list of everyone in the mafia, who cares? Instead the object is referred to only as the process. Getting bogged down in what that process is would merely be a distraction to the movie. It’s like the contents of the briefcase in Pulp Fiction. Plenty of people will wonder, but ultimately it doesn’t matter.
I was disappointed with the ending and Mamet should be ashamed for giving us one of the worst last lines of any movie. Nonetheless this is a good movie if you’re out for something a little different that is nice to look at.
8 of 10 (9 on effort, 7 on final product)
Written: 23 May 1998