DeathTrap
The Trap Is Set...For A Wickedly Funny Who'll-Do-It.
If you were a famed mystery playwright with a devastating string of recent flops, what would you do for a can't-miss thriller script? Beg for it? Pray for it? KILL for it?
Get smared in DEATHTRAP, the fiendishly funny film version of Ira Levin's Broadway his starring Michael Caine as the blocked writer, Cyan Cannon as his loving, naïve wife and Christopher Reeve as a former student who's written a play so flawless "even a gifted director couldn't ruin it." Gifted director Sidney Lumet and screenwriter Jay Presson Allen pack this movie's insidious hairpin twist with such drop-dead wit and delightful dread that you'll stop laughing...only long enough to gasp in surprise.
Member Reviews
Sit back, relax and just go with it. - Oscar81
I was probably one of the few who knew absolutely nothing about the movie Deathtap. It's a play- within-a-play-murder-mystery-thriller (if there is such a genre)that is fun to watch if only to see a younger Michael Caine in action. You might have to suspend belief in parts but that's actually part of the fun. My only strong criticism is for Dyan Cannon. Either bad writing or just bad acting led to a horrible performance.Enjoyable! - eoguy
An enjoyable whodunit with some clever twists and turns in this "play within a play". Besides his role as Superman, I'd always considered Christopher Reeve kind of a bland actor, but he's much more edgy in this one and reminded me that the guy really was a talented performer. And Michael Caine's in it, so that's really all you need to know. If the guy can make "Jaws: The Revenge" passable, anything beyond that is cake. He's equally at home in comedies, dramas, and thrillers, and here we get to see him trying his hand at all three, at turns homicidal and slapsticky. I could have done without the psychic character as she was the least interesting and actually pretty annoying, but then it would have defeated the purpose of the movie in the first place, so oh well. Funny, light, clever story.If you're an aficionado of whodunits and haven't seen this one, it'll be a treat. - The_Cunninghams
DEATHTRAP is a wonderful windup fiction machine with a few modest ambitions: It wants to mislead us at every turn, confound all our expectations, and provide at least one moment when we levitate from our seats and come down screaming. It succeeds, more or less. It's a thriller that depends on all sorts of surprises for its effects, and you may continue reading in the confidence that I'll reveal none of them.
DEATHTRAP is not a great film and will not live forever, but if you're an aficionado of whodunits and haven't seen this one, it'll be a treat. It's more fiendishly complicated than, for example, Caine's similar outing in SLEUTH. It plays absolutely fair, more or less, and yet fools us every time, more or less. And perhaps its greatest gift is the sight of three lighthearted comic actors having a good time chewing on the dialogue, the scenery, and each other.
Member Reviews
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Sit back, relax and just go with it. - Oscar81
I was probably one of the few who knew absolutely nothing about the movie Deathtap. It's a play- within-a-play-murder-mystery-thriller (if there is such a genre)that is fun to watch if only to see a younger Michael Caine in action. You might have to suspend ...Enjoyable! - eoguy
An enjoyable whodunit with some clever twists and turns in this "play within a play". Besides his role as Superman, I'd always considered Christopher Reeve kind of a bland actor, but he's much more edgy in this one and reminded me that the guy really was a ...If you're an aficionado of whodunits and haven't seen this one, it'll be a treat. - The_Cunninghams
DEATHTRAP is a wonderful windup fiction machine with a few modest ambitions: It wants to mislead us at every turn, confound all our expectations, and provide at least one moment when we levitate from our seats and come down screaming. It succeeds, more or ...