The Amsterdam Kill

• Chinese: 荷京喋血
• Directed by Robert Clouse
• December 26, 1977 (Denmark) / February 23, 1978 (Hong Kong) / March 3, 1978 (US)

An ex-DEA agent tries to destroy a powerful Amsterdam-based drug cartel.

Robert Mitchum at one time defined tough and cool. He had greater range than that but often found himself in parts that required one or both. He was in the original Cape Fear where he did little to convey a threatening character yet was very scary. Then there was Scrooged as the network executive that wanted to have a TV show designed to appeal to cats. How could you go wrong with a Mitchum film then?

The Amsterdam Kill isn’t bad yet not great. It is trying to be that edgy 70s thriller that was once so popular. It wishes to be like The French Connection but is a lot closer to Brannigan. It’s an older gentleman trying to do the tough guy 70s thing and it works a little better than it should courtesy of Robert Mitchum.

We have an international drug dealing conspiracy with corruption left and right. Chung Wei (Keye Luke) is feeding bits of information to the DEA through ex-DEA agent Quinlan (Robert Mitchum) in a manner very similar to The Blacklist. Maybe it was the concept of a super connected villain informing on other bad guys. If Chung Wei had been taken out of the story sooner with Quinlan being more central it would have been a much more focused story.

This is the second film I’ve seen with Leslie Nielsen before his Airplane! days which completely changed his career trajectory. Plus he is not a good guy. His Riley Knight is clearly superficial and quite fake in his interactions. He was much better in this than Day of the Animals. Less ham and more drama.

The Amsterdam Kill relies on Mitchum’s tough guy screen persona. Yet despite that very tough guy screen persona Quinlan spends a lot of his time being just a go-between for Mr. Wei’s communications to the DEA stationed in Hong Kong. He is little more than a glorified courier!

Quinlan needed to be more active in the story rather than a passive participant in events. Knight’s turn as a villain was almost expected but not unwelcomed. And the last minute save felt a little convenient. The Amsterdam Kill has its moments, but the film is kind of lumbering until the ending when the whole plot reveal occurs. Nothing is enough to make this a great undiscovered classic, but it prevents my time from feeling completely wasted. Not a horrible film, but one that needed a little bit of polish.

The Amsterdam Kill wanted to be an intelligent thriller but was more dumb fun than anything. An interesting idea that didn’t quite come together.