Another complex 60's political thriller with lots of great art Direction and glances and heavily made-up females dealing with a visiting Australian diplomat (Christopher Plummer) in London and the arrival of a South Wales Australia police officer Rod Taylor gives in the instructions to arrest him. It turns out that there's so much more going on, an attempted political assassination on Plummer (one scene has it through nearest real camera at a tennis match) by a nasty spy ring (led by the exotic looking spider woman Daliah Lavi) which Taylor uncovers.

Along the way there are encounters with the sardonic Camilla Sparv, Plummer's devoted wife (Lilli Palmer) and such memorable supporting players as Clive Revill, Calvin Lockhart and Burt Kwouk.

This film probably look much better on the big screen because it's one of those cinematic films that loses something on a smaller TV. It's often complex to the point where it becomes convoluted and messy, but there are a lot of entertaining moments. That doesn't necessarily add up to a good film, but Plummer, Taylor and Palmer are memorable. A very typical 60's thriller that is attractive on the surface but rather empty inside.

NOBODY RUNS FOREVER is a fairly engaging and likeable little British thriler from 1968, virtually forgotten about today but worth taking a look at thanks to a genial performance from lead actor Rod Taylor, for once getting a chance to play an Aussie. He's flown over to the UK to arrest and take back to Australia a politician, played by Christopher Plummer in his usual slightly sleazy way. Taylor becomes Plummer's unwitting bodyguard when it becomes apparent that someone is determined to see him dead. This film boasts some fine fight and chase sequences, although it's a little slower in between during some of the romantic, sub-Bond style moments. The strong supporting cast includes a typically loathesome Derren Nesbitt, an alluring Daliah Lavi, Calvin Lockhart as a tough agent, and Clive Revill as Plummer's butler.

In my opinion, a previous reviewer, Charles Joe Agnes, submitted a splendid account of this movie. I agree with his conclusions entirely and have little to add.

Based on an excellent thriller by Jon Cleary, his detective, Scobie Malone, was most engagingly brought to the screen by Rod Taylor in "The High Commissioner" (1968).

Also known as "Nobody Runs Forever", the movie failed to impress the traditional press and magazine reviewers. In fact, the film earned an unwarranted but almost universal thumbs down from critics on both sides of the Atlantic and even in Australia itself on first release.

But in my opinion, the film actually stands up rather well on the M- G-M DVD. Admittedly, I think the movie is even better than the book, thanks to a number of factors, but particularly its superior support cast led by Christopher Plummer, Clive Revill and Lilli Palmer.

Director Ralph Thomas also contributes to what I regard as the film's success. Thomas keeps the action moving fast enough to keep interest alive through all the plot's unlikely twists and turns. They come so fast, only professional critics would have the time and audacity to suggest that they lacked verisimilitude!

Also contributing - at least in my view - to the film's success as a tense thriller are a number of other factors, including Ernest Steward's bright-as-night color cinematography, Tony Woollard's dripping-with-opulence sets and Yvonne Caffin's glorious costumes. These factors reinforce each other and, in my opinion, they give the movie not only just the right over-luxurious setting but contribute to its wholly engaging atmosphere.