ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

Mehdi Hoffman There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

MrOllie I saw this film at the cinema in the 1960's and years later, although I had never forgotten the title of the film, I could not remember anything else about it. I decided, therefore, to buy the DVD and pay a long time return visit to this film. In it James Coburn plays a con-man and is at times quite amusing, but I must say, however, that the movie is rather tame and slow and pretty much forgettable. Still it brought back memories of a time now gone, but a time I often wish would return. If you are wanting thrills and excitement, then this film is not for you. However, for those of you who enjoy watching 1960's films then this rather overlooked movie is worth a look.

U.N. Owen First, I LOVE James Coburn.That said, this is a film made (as several other people have noted) during Hollywood's mid-60's transition, so, on one hand it's got that early 60's, lush, buffed, faux-location quality (especially the early parts of the film), and a grittier, realistic real-location quality.the film features a bevy of character actors, and for me - a delightful surprise - was seeing the late(great!) Carol Wayne's almost identical younger sister, Nina (who didn't make a lot of appearances) as a housekeeper named Frieda Schmid -(doing a remarkable Carol Wayne impersonation), who Coburn wines & dines in order to gain entrance to her boss' home.The biggest problem with the picture is that it seems to be pulled in those two directions - the early 60's sex romp, and the later 60's grittiness. That plays out in several ways, chief amongst them is (as noted by another reviewer) the film code did not let the 'baddies' enjoy their purloined proceeds. After they do the caper, you sit - waiting for 'the man' to show up, and slap on the cuffs.I'm not going to give away what happens, but I will say that you really DO have to wait until the last few seconds for the big 'twist.' I'm not going to say this is the worst picture of that ilk, it's middling, and definitely enjoyable.

bkoganbing This film is all in the how. Dead Heat On A Merry Go Round casts James Coburn as one ruthless and amoral ex-convict who has no plans to go straight by any means. In fact he's got a score lined up on the outside that some like James Westerfield thinks he's absolutely nuts to even try. Coburn's so anxious to get out he successfully uses and seduces his prison psychiatrist Marian McCargo to get an early release.In earlier times the lead in a film like Dead Heat On A Merry Go Round would have been played by a charming rogue type like Tyrone Power, Robert Montgomery, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., even Errol Flynn whose real life persona as a seducer would have worked in the lead. One of the elements I found interesting was that James Coburn who has played some really deadly killers on the big and small screen only broke hearts in this film. But he's just as deadly with them as with heads.Coburn's scheme is to rob the bank at Los Angeles International Airport while the Russian premier was arriving for a state visit. I believe the premier would have been Alexei Kosygin at the time of Dead Heat On A Merry Go Round. Of course that's going to bring law enforcement on all levels out in force at the airport. But that's the whole idea, Coburn's going to make all the extra security precautions work for him.The whole last half of the film is the caper itself and it's one intricately plotted affair. Here's one big hint as far as the film goes. Remember some of James Coburn's early roles. As part of the plan he has to adopt the accent of a foreigner, a nationality he had played successfully on the screen before. He pulls it off beautifully.I would also note the performance of Carmilla Sparv, the beautiful woman he actually marries and who he uses unwittingly to help case the airport before robbing it and of Robert Webber the very nervous State Department official who is truly relieved that its only a robbery taking place and not some incident involving a visiting head of a foreign government.If you like intricately plotted caper films you will absolutely adore Dead Heat On A Merry Go Round.

zardoz-13 James Coburn plays the ultimate con artist in writer & director Bernard Girand's complex but rewarding heist thriller "Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round" that slickly defied the standard thinking of its day. Aside from its surprise ending, "Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round" is chiefly remembered today as "Star Wars" leading man Harrison Ford's film debut movie as a lowly bellhop in one scene. As amoral heist thrillers go, "Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round" qualifies as one of the best ever made and the suspense will keep you poised on the edge of your seat or sofa right up until fade-out.*****Please read no farther if you haven't seen this wonderful movie.Since its formulation in 1930 and its enforcement in 1934, the self-censorship office of the Motion Pictures Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) ruled what filmmakers could insert in their films. The MPPDA stipulated that crime must not pay and criminals could not get away with their crimes. Essentially, these rules stayed in place until the 1960s when filmmakers had to resort to more risqué material to lure adults away from television. "Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round" emerged possibly as the earliest film to show that crime could pay and pay well.Coburn plays a chameleon of a crook called Eli Kotch. Kotch uses his considerable charms on a prison psychologist to get out of stir. Later, he masterminds several small jobs around the country to obtain $30-thousand dollars in order to finance the major set-piece of the movie: a daring, daylight bank heist at Los Angeles International Airport. The cheeky thing about Coburn's character is plans to pull the heist while virtually every policeman in Los Angeles is at the airport. Interestingly enough, the State Department, is working on security precautions for the Soviet Premier when he arrives in America at LAX, and Milo Stewart (Robert Webber of "$") is pulling hairs to make sure that nothing goes awry during the Russian's visit. Meanwhile, Kotch marries an innocent bystander, Inger Knudson (pretty Camilla Sparv of "Downhill Racer") as a front so he can go to L.A. without attracting attention.Girand doesn't waste a moment in this taut, efficient thriller that requires patience from its audience as the writer & director painstakingly orchestrates this melodrama. The surprise ending is terrific. Watch this one.