Dead Cert (1974)

best movie i've ever seen.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Interesting film, however this is less a review more a footnote. One of the horses involved was well known to racing enthusiasts of the day, Go-Pontinental, owned by Fred Pontin, who ran in the '68 National as a fancied horse, missed out the next 4 Nationals, returning as a 13 year old in '73, and a 14 year old in '74, by which time he was the proverbial 100-1 rank outsider. Timeform shortly after the '74 National rated him "of no note whatsoever".

I have never heard of this flick but rented it out of interest, being a fan of Dame Judi Dench, Tony Richardson and horses. It's deals with horse tampering and throwing the books in the world of British horse racing. I didn't read the book so I don't have that insight. The acting is good, I have not heard of any of the other in the cast besides Dench. It gives a fairly light look into the actual sport and the physical and mental exertions of it, and the whole "bad guy taxi mob" and what they get away with is, well, totally implausible. That being said, I wasn't bored, it was nice to see the very "dated" fashion and lingo and the "shots" on horseback. I did figure out who the head bad person was early on, but it kept my attention. I do get the comment above about the end but it was just kind of an unfinished thing for me, didn't ruin it for me. It certainly wasn't award winning film-making, it reminded me more of a made for TV movie. I am curious about the lead actor, Scott Antony, who apparently has disappeared off the face of the earth after doing this film and "Savage Messiah" in the same year. He was really good and apparently very good in that movie as well.

METHOD OF KILLING - in the book, it's wire over a fence, in the film, it's some kind of drug;KILLER - in the book, it's Uncle George, Alan's girlfriend's uncle - at least, the girl who ultimately becomes his girlfriend - in the film, it's a policeman.The girl doesn't appear in the film - unless those sequences were cut from the version I saw.Mind you - I was watching it late at night and I had to keep the telly turned down, so it was a struggle to hear what was going on.Difficult trying to base a film on a book - bits of dialogue often have to be removed and small liberties are taken with the plot.

"Dead Cert" is a well-made British mystery. The plot is about Alan York (Scott Antony) who is a jockey. When his friend dies after a race, Alan takes it upon himself to figure out what happened. He uncovers corruption in the horse riding industry and the police force.The next part of the review does contain spoilers!!!"Dead Cert" has good acting and directing, but the ending is flawed and weird. At the end, Alan and Sandy (Michael Williams) are racing their horses. They're right next each other and Sandy starts whipping Alan with his racing stick. Then Alan, whips back and makes Sandy fall on a sharp railing, and he dies. Alan wins the race but no one ever mentions that Sandy is dead. I thought that hurt the film a lot.If you can get past the odd ending, it's a decent film.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com