I never thought I would live to see the day when Candice Bergen was made up to look plain in a movie, but 'The Domino Principle' is a good example, and this kind of wrong-headedness is symptomatic of almost every other aspect of the rest of the film. Pointing this out makes me seem churlish I know, and maybe that judgment is correct. Whatever other sins this movie may commit (and we'll get to those in a moment), plaining down one of the best looking actresses of the seventies is just something I cannot get let go of and insist on pointing out, at the outset of this review. Poor Candice. Playing the part of Ellie Tucker, she wears a terrible wig, seems to be wearing no make up at all and dresses like a housewife on a very strict budget. To say she is not playing a glamour girl would be a sad statement of the obvious. It's a nothing part that was handed to her and she is obviously meant to do something with it but it would be an impossible task for any actress. Just by citing this one example of the poor casting of Candice Bergen it becomes obvious how the film shoots itself in the foot from the start for being astoundingly unbelievable; it is also however, tedious (and at the risk of being tedious myself I'll get to that right now.) Gene Hackman plays prisoner Roy Tucker, who gets broken out of jail after being persuaded on the proviso of an unnamed government agency that he allow himself to be trained as a political assassin at their behest. Why anybody would submit to such a crazy- sounding plan to begin with, stretches the viewer's credulity within the first twenty minutes of the film. (Personally I would rather stay in jail…but then there would be no movie, would there.) As well as breaking out himself, Hackman also smuggles out his fellow inmate Mickey Rooney, who surprise, surprise is actually working for the agency who has organised the break out. (These pesky spies are all over the place aren't they?) Naturally, everything that can go wrong, does, but I won't go into that right now. Suffice to say, Hackman does yields to the pressure and does the agency's dirty work, but ends up turning on them and eventually gets killed himself on an empty stretch of beach, presumably done in once he has outlived his usefulness. Between the beginning and ending of this movie, which I have just explained, there is really little in between that's of any interest.The film is a stale re-working of clichés that are given little explanation, and then presented as if they should be regarded as the Ten Commandments of conspiracy theory. For example, don't we all know how the CIA breaks convicted criminals out of jail and then trains them because sociopaths don't mind it if they are ordered to kill people? Don't we all know that the criminal has a long-suffering wife who will stand by him even if she doesn't know why the hell she's received word (from somebody or other) that they are to be reunited on an unnamed luxury island when they both appear to be so poor they couldn't afford a bus ride to the seaside? And don't we all know how urbane and sophisticated the secret agents are and how the convicts are lumps who haven't got a clue what they're doing and should be treated as idiots who just do as they're told by the well-spoken but nefarious spies who are their intellectual superiors? As you can tell, it is one cliché after the other and I would not be facetious in stating that making Candice Bergen look plain is the least of this film's problems. Honestly, this stuff bored the pants off me on the first showing of 'Get Smart' on free to air undigital television.You can't laugh at 'The Domino Principle' for being bad, when it wants to be so much better than it is, and it becomes an embarrassment in contrasting the banality that you're watching, with what might have been if the material or execution had been better.As it is, the film doesn't count for much as an entry in the conspiracy thriller genre, and it only comes recommended if you've accidentally lent your copies of All the President's Men and/or JFK to a friend who turns out to be a kleptomaniac who has stolen them.

Vietnam veteran Gene Hackman (as Roy Tucker) is serving time in San Quentin for murder. Then, mysterious dark-suited Richard Widmark (as Tagge) arrives to spring Mr. Hackman from prison in return for his assassinating somebody very important. Hackman insists foul-mouthed cell-mate Mickey Rooney (as Oscar Spiventa) should also be released. On the outside, Hackman is eventually reunited with wigged-out wife Candice Bergen (as Eleanor "Ellie" Tucker). Handsome young Edward Albert (as Ross Pine) is part of the plan. Ever reliable Eli Wallach (as Tom "General" Reser) helps arranges stuff.Very disappointing, "The Domino Principle" isn't what you're expecting from a Gene Hackman movie directed by Stanley Kramer. It seems to have suffered from re-writes during filming and/or extensive cutting. The opening monologue turns out to be pointless, along with much of what follows. It's impossible to determine what was intended.The supporting cast must have been wondering what happened. Mr. Rooney ponders sexual exploits amusingly. "Instead of getting her period every 28 days, she had periods that lasted 28 days," is how Rooney describes one disinterested female; it's one of his cleaner observations. As we watch the plot unravel before our very eyes, Mr. Widmark sums it up as, "The bigger the stink, the more there is to cover up." Mr. Albert offers a good, albeit underdeveloped, characterization. In a noteworthy final appearance, watch for veteran Jay Novello as an immigration official who wants to see Hackman's passport.**** The Domino Principle (3/23/77) Stanley Kramer ~ Gene Hackman, Candice Bergen, Edward Albert, Mickey Rooney

Heavy-handed action-melodrama from producer-director Stanley Kramer involves incarcerated war veteran Gene Hackman, doing 15 years for murder in San Quentin, who is freed from jail by the operatives of a mysterious organization; seems they need a hit-man to assassinate a national figure at his beach-side retreat, and are offering Hackman a second honeymoon with his wife in South America to complete the job. Globe-trotting pastiche of a number of hot topics from the 1970s has a good cast but no sting in the set-up; there's no suspense or sense of paranoia in this narrative, and some of the crass dialogue is downright vile--and for what purpose? The overstuffed plot culminates in a number of story twists, none of which seems credible. Hackman is assuredly skeptical and adept, holding some of this scattershot movie together, but Kramer eventually sinks it with his 'controversial' handling. The filmmaker proves to be all thumbs in the Kafkaesque arena. * from ****

I finally saw the whole darn thing. (what I could see on pay cable) Totally blown away.. BTW.BTW.. YES "They" WOULD just walk out of prison. Just like that. Or "Die" in a fake way. Done every day.. even today.I liked how the Hackman Character Killed one of the Bad guys for THEM killing his friend. (cause he called him on the phone when they said not to) Easy to miss it.. That was in the first hotel BTW.Micky Rooney as his protector/handler in prison. Yea I buy that.What IS IT was you reviewers. Stanly Crammer was a real good filmmaker. He must have known or bumped into these "Types" while as a film guy in Hollywood. There is at least ONE Company Film office in Hollywood that everybody knows about. That's where you go to get co-operation for your pro-America film (sometimes). Think "Rambo III" I think. The one when Rambo went to Afghanistan. It was a totally company made film for the masses.. (made to pump up support for Afghanistan and fill the draft rolls) Lets not talk about the latest Transformer movie OK? So yea.. Run down the film because it might not be "Gone with the wind".. But as for Content. I think he Nails the subject totally.Who are they? ????? The ones with the most power and money I guess.The guys who use the awesome power of THREE.GENE