Verdict
Summary
A complex character study of a dimensional con man, Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round is not your typical heist film at all, although its final act becomes very interesting and intense as Kotch finesses the job to its final moment. Writer / director Bernard Girard takes a fine approach to the material, and the film is much more involved than you’d think, with events that you really need to pay attention to in order to fully appreciate.
Plot:
A con man stages the ultimate heist.
Review:
After exhibiting extraordinarily good behavior and romancing the prison psychologist, con man Eli Kotch is paroled early for Christmas, and as soon as he’s out, he shirks his parole officer visits and gets right back to work. He gets a job as a shoe salesman, using fake names and fake accents to con attractive rich women, saving enough cash for himself to begin staging the ultimate heist: robbing a bank right by LAX airport. Keeping himself safe and secure, while aligning himself with trusted allies who will help him pull it off, he ends up conning a beautiful heiress for her connections, not quite realizing that she loves him deeply and is, in fact, richer than he could imagine. Meanwhile, secret service agents are getting ready to welcome a dignitary at LAX on the very day Kotch has planned his complicated robbery, which could either help or hinder him, depending on his luck that day.
A complex character study of a dimensional con man, Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round is not your typical heist film at all, although its final act becomes very interesting and intense as Kotch finesses the job to its final moment. Writer / director Bernard Girard takes a fine approach to the material, and the film is much more involved than you’d think, with events that you really need to pay attention to in order to fully appreciate. Coburn does a solid job with this character, and while he’s charming on the surface, his character is incredibly self-serving and aloof than you’d expect: He’s pathological. Watch quickly for a young Harrison Ford in a walk-on role as a bellboy.
Kino Lorber’s recent Blu-ray release of Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round looks quite nice in high definition, and the disc comes with the trailer and a slipcover.