Review: Duffy

James Fox stars as the rather aimless playboy son of wealthy James Mason, the former loses quite a sum of money on a darts bet to his rather cruel shipping magnate father. He then informs Fox that he and his half-brother have been disinherited. However, Fox and his thick-headed half-brother John Alderton soon hatch a plan that will see a substantial amount of Mason’s business wealth redirected to his two scheming sons. This scheme involves the title hippie-ish American rogue Duffy (James Coburn, in his element), a slight acquaintance of the two half-siblings who is apparently an expert in smuggling and heist-like matters. Susannah York plays Fox’s main squeeze, who nonetheless insists she isn’t the type to be tied down to any one person.

 

It’s as easy to see why James Coburn briefly became a star as it is to understand why his stay as a top leading man was so short. This unfairly maligned 1968 caper from director Robert Parrish (“Lucy Gallant”, “Fire Down Below”, “Saddle the Wind”) and writers Donald Cammell (writer-director of the infamous “Performance”), Pierre de la Salle (who based the title character on a real person), and Harry Joe Brown Jr. (strangely his only screenwriting credit), is a good showcase for both. Along with the still-underrated “The President’s Analyst”, this might just be the quintessential James Coburn role before his latter day resurgence as a John Huston-ish ‘grand old man’ character actor in the 90s and early 00s (after an arthritis-ravaged stint and mostly TV work during the 80s nearly saw him fade out completely). However, like Coburn’s other big starring roles in “The President’s Analyst” and the Derek Flint spoof films, this is very much a product of the swinging 60s, and so once that era was over, the image that Coburn had built up in these four films had perhaps gone out of fashion like the era itself had. A string of flops in the late 60s and through the 70s didn’t help the man keep his star status, either (Even though there was good work in there in films like the rather underrated “Hard Contract”, “The Last of Sheila”, and his favourite role in “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid”).

 

Let’s put that negativity aside though, because I actually really enjoyed this film, and it’s a great shame that it was poorly treated on release and not very highly regarded today. Coburn is one of my all-time favourite actors, and in my view he was the coolest actor who ever lived. Cooler than James Dean, cooler than Elvis, cooler than Paul Newman, Marlon Brando, George Clooney, and even cooler than ‘The Cooler King’ himself Steve McQueen. Although it takes 15 minute for Coburn to show up as the title character, it’s well worth the wait. True to Coburn form he’s lanky, laconic, hippie/beatnik ladies’ man cool with a helping of suave machismo in there too. The role of Duffy was seemingly made to order for Coburn, and he doesn’t remotely disappoint. He’s certainly more comfortable delivering the ‘groovy’ hippie dialogue than co-star James Fox and to some extent Susannah York (who is otherwise terrific) as well. Duffy’s house is an hilariously weird pop-art abode that you could easily imagine Coburn himself calling home, if his screen image was anything remotely like the real man. The rest of the cast is solid too, Susannah York in particular has never been better. Pacing is a bit of an issue, otherwise I think it’s a shame that this wasn’t very well-liked by critics or audiences of the time.

 

Highly underrated, fun film especially for James Coburn fans, as he’s got a plum role here. I had a good time with this one, even though there’s really not a single reputable character in the whole thing. Perhaps that’s part of the perverse charm on offer here, these people are mostly either greedy, bored, or both. Time for a re-evaluation of this one in the critical universe, I think. An absolute must for Coburn fans.

 

Rating: B