Randall has a Hitch in Marrakesh
After a commercial plane touches down in Marrakesh 6 of the passengers board the bus for the hotel. One of these people is a courier carrying $2,000,000 in bonds which local crime boss Mr. Casimir (Herbert Lom) has an interest in and needs to work out which one is the courier within 48 hours. American tourist Andrew Jessel (Tony Randall) finds himself mixed up in this when he and Kyra Stanovy (Senta Berger), who he met on the bus, discover a dead body in her hotel room and she convinces him to help hide the body. But in doing so it forces them to go on the run from the cops and bad guys as they try to work out what is going on.
As a rule I enjoy Hitchcock movies but have never gone crazy about them and as such whilst I can spot movies which if you like pay homage to Hitchcock I have never been too bothered out them. Take "Our Man in Marrakesh" which obviously draws on Hitchcock's "North by Northwest" and "The Man Who Knew Too Much" it is a fun little movie about an innocent man involved in a crime in a foreign country but that it is all it is a fun little movie with obvious influences.
Probably the most interesting aspect of "Our Man in Marrakesh" is the casting of Tony Randall in the lead role with him playing very much a typical character for him. That means he is more Cary Grant than James Stewart but done with even more humour, more humorous faces and moments of nervous humour. But whilst Randall is the star of the movie Herbert Lom makes for a great bad guy whilst Hyde-White and Le Mesurier are ideal as upper class English tourists.
The trouble is that whilst "Our Man in Marrakesh" is a comedy take on a Hitchcock style movie it never really sparks to life with some humour, some drama, some mystery but the sum of all these somes is not enough, Maybe back in 1966 the sum of the somes was enough but it now feels quite weak and a little meandering.
What this all boils down to is that "Our Man in Marrakesh" is an okay movie, an often amusing take of a Hitchcock style thriller but it is not as sharp and witty as it could have been leaving it far too often feeling a bit lost.
