Reading the reviews over the years on IMDb, one might come to the conclusion that many very bad movies become cult classics over time. That is, those that are poorly made, scripted, acted, shot, etc. If so, I nominate "Midas Run" for just such a distinction.
The idea behind the plot is OK. Just four months after this movie came out, "The Italian Job" hit theaters. The two films had identical plots – theft of millions in gold in a European country. But the difference is that the second film had some real meat in it, good acting, a terrific script and good comedy to go along with the action and crime. "Midas Run," on the other hand, has a horrible script, below amateur direction, infantile camera and technical work, and the hammiest acting I've seen in a long time.
I suspect that this may have been intended to be so outlandishly lousy as to push it for cult status. That's because it has a cast with some highly acclaimed performers. They are mixed in with some much lesser performers. And then there is the musical score by Elmer Bernstein. This is the guy who composed the music for some great Broadway shows and Hollywood films – "The Magnificent Seven," "The Great Escape," "To Kill a Mockingbird," "The Ten Commandments," "Ghostbusters" and many more. He was nominated 14 times for Academy Awards and won an Oscar for "Thoroughly Modern Millie." But, anyone who can sit through this movie and not grimace at some of the scenes with the musical background must be deaf. That's why I think it must be intentional. This film has all the features of an old-fashioned TV soap opera. I have no idea what the daytime soaps are like today, but back when, they had some very hammy acting, over-emphasis and often poorly matched music, and mediocre to poor direction. I think those who couldn't do too well in the movies or on Broadway got the early TV production jobs.
Anyway, the only reason I give "Midas Run" three stars is because of a different twist toward the end – novel and nice, but too easily guessed at way earlier; and its cast of high caliber actors, only one of whom is any good. That one is Ralph Richards as Lord Henshaw. Cesar Romero is so-so as Carlo Dodero, and Adolfo Celi is mediocre, with little energy, as General Ferranti. John Le Mesurier is fair as Wells. Fred Astaire is terrible as John Pedley. Again, it must have been intentional because in his best comedic roles in musical comedies, he seldom so obviously panned for the camera – with smirks, quirks, off glances, rolling eyes, etc.
But the rottenest tomatoes are reserved for Richard Crenna as Mike Warden and Anne Heywood as Sylvia Giroux. Crenna was mostly a supporting actor in his career, although he did have some lead roles. He was best in his more serious roles. Heywood is a British-born actress who played in mostly lesser films, although she did play opposite some leading male actors of the time. If one wants to get an idea of her talents, check out her 34 acting credits on IMDb. She has to be in the running for lowest ratings overall of an actor or actress. She wisely retired from films in 1988 after her first husband died and she married again.
These two in this film are really bad in their roles. The characters would be OK, but the script and their acting are terrible. There are a couple of scenes that are so bad that they really do evoke laughter. They have some slo-mo with close-ups of flowers and faces, the couple walking through a field of flowers, more slow-mo, more facial close-ups, and music that sounds like it may have come in part from a funeral dirge, war action, and symphony all mixed together and blasted a couple of decibels above the rest of the sound. It truly made the usual soap opera fare seem superb.
In a nutshell, this film is so bad that it's funny at times. Just about any other film one might chose would be better than this one.
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