Very disappointing...

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

For quite some time, this movie has held a place on my list of quintessential 60s guilty pleasure; it's a mini-super-light heist flick variation on some of the same themes in John Boorman's masterpiece, POINT BLANK - with its consistent visual chronicling of a transient American culture made anonymous by its materialistic-quack preoccupations (and thus,easily vulnerable to chameleon criminality). James Coburn, who plays DEAD HEAT'S hero shares some of Lee Marvin's traits in POINT BLANK. Both men move, mysteriously, like the wind, "beat the system," "win out" as anti-heroes but, in the process,they negate themselves out of existence ( they are, literally, "gone with the wind" at their respective pictures' fade-outs). On this last go-round, having just recently watched it again (via TCM), I'm prepared to give it a less qualified, more hearty endorsement. Writer-director, Bernard Girard makes the best case for modern international airports to be THE stage for absurdist comedy of any film I can think of. It begins with a mock-dramatic monologue by Coburn that keys the unique tongue-in-cheek tone of the film brilliantly and is probably the best acting he ever did on film. Stu Philips' catchy theme music maintains the puckish spirit of the piece in a way that few American movie scores of the 60s ( or movie scores of any other period for that matter) have been able to do as successfully or as memorably.

This film deals with a con-man named Eli Kotch, (James Coburn) who just gets out of prison and decides to lay out his ground work for a large bank robbery at the Los Angeles, California airport. Eli also knows that a Russian Prime Minister will be visiting Los Angeles and flying into the same airport which will distract the police force away from a bank holdup. Eli also meets up with a very sexy blonde named Inger Knudson, (Camilla Spary) who works for very rich people and cons her into doing all kinds of things, Eli even marries her with a fake ID. There is plenty of comedy and some tense moments in a police station. You will never be able to figure out how this picture will end. It will definitely surprise you. Enjoy.

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.

A great movie to see while knowing nothing much about it. (Stop here if this is you, and watch it!)A marvelous script, and Coburn is fantastic. The rest of the cast does a great job with their material, too. Good to very good direction and good to very good production values.Cute sub-plot, and a nice ironic twist at the very end.This has long been one of my favorite movies.