Surrender to the charms of the Guttenberg

Ah, eBay! Such a wonderful thing.

I had a sneaking suspicion that there would be a person or two out there looking to sell old Steve Guttenberg movies.

It turns out I was right.

And so yesterday, a very special package arrived at my flat. A package containing this little beauty:

That's right. It's 1987's Surrender. And it didn't look like it would be too bad. It has Michael Caine and Sally Field. And they're both good actors. And we all know that I love the Gütt.

Once again, he doesn't recieve top billing, but he's still got quality above the title billing.

But it was the photo on the back that really captured my interest.

A moustachioed Guttenberg? Fantastic!

So, it was with some quite high expectations that I sat down to watch this film. And did it disappoint?

Sweet mother of God, yes. Ooh, what a bad movie. So very very very bad. So very bad. I really can't say that enough times. So so so very bad.

Roger Ebert's review sums it up quite well:

"Surrender" is an astonishing case of a movie that can do no wrong for its first half and little right thereafter. The story has no place to go, and Belson's contrivances in keeping it floating are desperate.

Steve plays Sally Field's rich lawyer boyfriend, and I'm sad to say he's a bit of a jerk. I'll confess I didn't pay much attention to the movie because I kept getting bored, but the Gütt did what he could with what he was given.

I knew that completing this mission would mean watching some bad movies. But until this, I had no idea how painful that could be.

Ah well, I can only hope that Film #4 is a little less upsetting.

Title: Surrender

Steve Guttenberg Films Still To Be Collected: 33

Purchased: On eBay, 16 July 2005

Cost: £2.89, including delivery

The First Truly Bad Movie In The Collection: Priceless.