The Mackintosh Man

The Mackintosh Man
Original film poster by Tom Chantrell
Directed byJohn Huston
Screenplay byWalter Hill
Based onThe Freedom Trap
by Desmond Bagley
Produced byJohn Foreman
StarringPaul Newman
Dominique Sanda
James Mason
Harry Andrews
Ian Bannen
CinematographyOswald Morris
Edited byRussell Lloyd
Music byMaurice Jarre
Production
company
Newman-Foreman Company
Distributed byWarner Bros. (US)
Columbia-Warner Distributors (UK)
Release dates
  • 25 July 1973 (1973-07-25) (US)
  • 9 November 1973 (1973-11-09) (UK[1])
Running time
99 minutes
CountriesUnited States[2]
United Kingdom[3]
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1,500,000 (US/ Canada rentals)[4]

The Mackintosh Man is a 1973 Cold War spy film directed by John Huston from a screenplay by Walter Hill, based on the novel The Freedom Trap by English author Desmond Bagley.[5] Paul Newman stars as Joseph Rearden, a jewel thief-turned-intelligence operative, sent to infiltrate a Soviet spy ring in England, by helping one of their agents break out of prison. The cast also features Dominique Sanda, James Mason, Harry Andrews, Michael Hordern and Ian Bannen.

Filmed in England, Malta, and the Republic of Ireland, The Mackintosh Man was released in the United States by Warner Bros. on July 25, 1973, where it received a mixed critical response.[6] Huston called it "a spy thriller with some amusing moments" that was similar to his earlier The Kremlin Letter.[7]

  1. ^ "Film reviews". The Times. 9 November 1973. p. 17 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  2. ^ "AFI|Catalog". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  3. ^ "The Mackintosh Man (1973)". BFI. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  4. ^ "Big Rental Films of 1973". Variety. 9 January 1974. p. 60.
  5. ^ "The Village Voice – The Mackintosh Man". The Village Voice. 2 May 1974. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  6. ^ "The Mackintosh Man - Rotten Tomatoes". www.rottentomatoes.com. 11 June 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  7. ^ Phillips, Gene D. "Talking with John Huston". Film Comment. Vol. 9, no. 3, (May/Jun 1973). New York. pp. 15–19.