OTLEY (1969) ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: Dick Clement
Tom Courtenay, Romy Schneider, Alan Badel,
James Villiers, Leonard Rossiter, James Bolam,
Fiona Lewis, Freddie Jones, Ronald Lacey
With all the spy movies that came out in the mid-to-late '60s, a few were bound to be underappreciated, and one of those was this one. Tom Courtenay plays Gerald Arthur Otley, a petty thief and overall layabout who's hijacked into an espionage caper and finds that his talent for bluffing and conniving could be his ticket to survival. A slim chance, to be sure, but it's all he's got. It's one of Courtenay's best roles, and arguably his funniest performance: a working-class idler who's in way over his head but won't admit that to anybody, least of all himself. Highlight: a high-speed car chase that coincides with Otley's behind-the-wheel driving test.
