This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Diane Baker, mysterious former lover of amnesiac Gregory Peck, is awfully appealing in this film. Man, she is comely, resplendent. She looks like the girl in high school that all the guys dreamed about before they went to sleep -- only she was hooked up with the captain of the football team. Those kinds of looks often fade rather quickly, but hers didn't. She was elegant in "The Silence of the Lambs." I don't want to go through the entire plot here because it's rather complicated and must have been covered elsewhere. Peck is a cost accountant at a firm in New York. Only he's not. He just thinks he is. But clues -- major and minor -- lead him to believe that something is very wrong with the fit between him and his milieu.When a gunman shows up in his apartment insisting that he, Peck, is due to take a flight to Barbadoes at the order of "the major", Peck decides he must do something about his elective ignorance, which looks like retrograde amnesia. He goes to the police but when they ask him for his DOB and place of birth, he storms out -- because he can't remember. A shrink throws him out of the office. Finally he latches on at random to Walter Matthau as a novice detective who takes Peck seriously in a comic way.Diane Baker shows up periodically to reluctantly give him tantalizing clues to his identity.. She'd give her life for him, she claims, not unconvincingly. But then why the hell doesn't she tell him what's going on, because she apparently knows all about it? Instead her answers are elliptical. Peck is complicit in the rather clumsy writing. Peck: "Who is this 'major' and why does he want to talk to me. I can't remember anything!" Baker: "But don't you understand? That's the only thing that's keeping you alive!" Neither Peck nor the viewer are standing under a Niagara of information about this puzzle. The logic behind his investigatory techniques is weak. When Peck's first shrink throws him out, why doesn't the tormented Peck go to a different, more accommodating shrink? It's the fault of the writer, Peter Stone. The general aroma of paranoia -- some terrible plot is at hand -- is characteristic of the work of Howard Fast ("Seven Days in May," etc.) The climax straightens everything out but at times it seems like it's been a long slog with too few set ups. I won't spell it all out but Peck turns out not to be a cost accountant. Peck could never be a cost accountant, anymore than he could be a short order cook.

Mirage is directed by Edward Dmytryk and adapted by Peter Stone from a book written by Howard Fast. It stars Gregory Peck, Diane Baker, Walter Matthau, Kevin McCarthy, Leif Erickson and George Kennedy. Music is scored by Quincy Jones and cinematography by Joseph MacDonald.David Stillwell (Peck) finds he is suffering from Unconscious Amnesia and that he has blacked out the events of the previous two years. That's rare, but Stillwell must find out what happened because he might have a lover, has shifty characters after him and he may even have committed murder?20 years after appearing in the tricksy and turny psychological thriller Spellbound for Alfred Hitchcock, Gregory Peck jumps into the same type of shoes with a modicum of success. It's a little too contrived for its own good, with the odd character serving to the plot as god knows what? Seriously, what is Baker doing here? While the weak ending doesn't pay off on the suspense and mystery that had previously been well orchestrated by Dmytryk. On the plus side is the shadowy black and white photography by MacDonald, giving the film an edge, and the use of real New York locations lend the film some serio worth.Matthau slips in and steals the film from an efficient Peck, and Kennedy and McCarthy score well as muscle and shifty respectively. It's not essential as a Peck or Dmytryk piece, or as a politico/mystery thriller, but enough interest within to keep it above average and Matthau more than makes it worth while. 6/10

Following a blackout in the office building in which he works, cost accountant David Stillwell (Gregory Peck) is startled to discover that many people he knows no longer recall him while complete strangers address him like old friends. If that wasn't bad enough, a couple of tough guys keep trying to abduct him for a shady character called The Major.Mirage is one of those films that is initially too clever for its own good. It comes up with an intriguing idea, then finds that it has nowhere plausible to go with it and so settles for a botched resolution that pretty much ruins everything that has gone before. Peck – never one of my favourite actors – is almost good in this one, presumably because for much of the time the script calls upon him to wear an expression of stunned bewilderment. He's supported by a pretty solid cast though: George Kennedy makes the biggest impression as Willard, a frighteningly buttoned-down heavy with a taste in sadistic violence that he delivers with a cold efficiency that is truly unnerving. His clinical ruthlessness is balanced by the cocky inefficiency of his accomplice, played by Jack Weston. Walter Matthau, immediately before he finally found stardom, plays the novice detective who helps Peck unravel the mystery before coming to a nasty end at the hands of Willard, and TV actress Diane Baker plays the love interest.Director Edward Dmytryk chose to shoot the film in black-and-white. It was a good decision – the shades of grey constantly remind us of the state of Stillwell's near-blank and tormented mind while giving the location shots of Manhattan a brilliant immediacy that's still effective today. It's just a shame that the entire film is fatally damaged by that rubbish ending.

Once you watch this movie about a mysterious amnesiac you will never forget it. It has some of the snappiest dialog this side of Casablanca. The script is fantastic and the imagery is iconic. In this and other respects it follows in the Hitchcock tradition, most of all North by Northwest, in which Cary Grant Grant must figure out who he is, or rather who the bad guys think he is. And, like Mirage, there is a beautiful femme fatale who is on the side of the bad guys, more or less. A key part of this Hitch formula is to take a fairly normal guy and put him in James Bond's shoes, so to speak, and see how long he stays alive. This shows up again in Silver Streak.As the viewer watches this unfold, the movie lays down a challenge: How could these seemingly impossible things have happened in a way that makes sense? Behind it all is the maguffin, the spy deus ex machina. I see some posters have complained about the weak ending, but I think the maguffin in Mirage is actually much stronger and relevant than that in North by Northwest which was nothing more than some xxxxxxx. (No, I'm not going to tell.)Every character is strongly etched, without becoming caricatures, like some more recent movies, particularly the menacing George Kennedy as Willard, and the often comedic Jack Weston as Lester. And who can forget House Jameson as the senior citizen hit man? But it is Walter Matthau who steals the show as newbie private eye with common sense and a conscience. Talk about avoiding stereotypes! He tries to give back half his fee, saying he's not worth it. This is one of Matthau's earliest major film roles, and still one of his most memorable. Another reason I love this film is the setting in Manhattan in the mid- 1960s, perhaps at its most picturesque point in recent history. I lived in a suburb, and often came into the city back then. The movie brings back the feel of the city at the time. And then there is the allusion to the great Northeast Blackout, a strange nightmarish experience that really happened.Obviously, I am trying to avoid giving away the plot, but don't worry, even after you know the ending, you will still enjoy watching the movie again. If you are lucky enough to find this on DVD, buy it because this is a rare movie, and one of those rare movies that you can watch over and over again over the years.