Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round
James Coburn’s time as an A list star lasted only… how long? A year? Three? 1966’s Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round is emblematic of the films that took Coburn to the top rung and then pulled him off it again. Key exhibit here is Our Man Flint, also from 1966 – a bona fide hit giving him a star vehicle after having been eye-catching in other people’s hits, like The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape and Charade. Dead Heat was not a hit but it didn’t stop Coburn returning to the Flint teat again and again, milking it dry with successive films – In Like Flint, Waterhole Three, The President’s Analyst, Duffy, Candy – comedy … Read more
