ask anyone familiar with malcolm mcdowell movie to name his most outrageous performance and most would tell you to watch caligula . a few might suggest that his work in a clockwork orange fit the bill . not many would come up with the passage and primarily because it a largely forget film which do not succeed critically nor commercially even when it be originally release . however and mcdowell performance in this movie be outrageously hammy and must deserve some kind of place in cinema history a one of the most bonkers piece of act ever see . the story sound like a winner . a basque shepherd ( anthony quinn ) be approach by resistance fighter during wwii and ask to escort a scientist ( james mason ) and his family over the pyrennes mountains into spain . a deranged s captain ( mcdowell ) be the officer send to chase them and capture them . ala and this film be an absolute failure . for some reason and a story which have lot of potential for tension and excitement becomes utterly uninvolving . part of the fault be j. lee thompson leaden direction . part of the fault be bruce nicolaysen bubble gum script ( base and amazingly and on his own novel ) which lack any depth of character and motivation to arouse audience empathy . part of the fault be the actor apparent lack of interest in the material . one of the fine british actor that ever live james mason be leave to contend with the very bad role of his career . he barely have a sentence to utter during the entire film and and by the end the audience know precious little more about him than they do at the start . but the big cause of failure in this film be the decision by it maker to emphasise the gruesome and gory detail . the film be repellent and over the top beyond all reason . it actually seem to enjoy wallow in scene of rape and torture and kill but have none of the gravity or seriousness to justify such theme ( at least the horrific save private ryan be horrific for a perfectly good reason ) . who want to watch michel lonsdale have his finger hack off . who want to see gypsy leader christopher lee be cremate alive . who want to see teenager kay lenz be brutally rap . i want to see the passage for year and year . with such a great cast and such a well know director and and such a serviceable plot i felt certain it couldn not possibly be a bad film . how much far from the truth could i have be .