Caravan to Vaccares ** (1974, David Birney, Charlotte Rampling, Michael Lonsdale, Marcel Bozuffi, Michael Bryant) – Classic Movie Review 10,173

David Birney stars with Charlotte Rampling and Michael Lonsdale in the 1974 British-French action film Caravan to Vaccarès, based on the novel by Alistair MacLean. 

‘The Guns of Navarone – Where Eagles Dare – When Eight Bells Toll – AND NOW…’ Well, no pressure then on Geoffrey Reeve’s Franco-British co-production Caravan to Vaccares.

Director Geoffrey Reeve’s 1974 low-gear, highly improbable, sluggish Alistair MacLean action thriller Caravan to Vaccares [Le Passager] stars David Birney as Neil Bowman, a cocky Yank travelling on the French Riviera, who is engaged by French land owner Duc de Croyter (Michel Lonsdale) to take a mystery man, Hungarian scientist professor Stefan Zuger (Michael Bryant), to the US.

Lots of silly accents match the daftness of the proceedings.

As British photographer Lila, Charlotte Rampling looks lovely but as out of place in Birney’s bed as he does on the Riviera.

The Provence filming looks great, though, nicely captured by director of photography Fred Tammes.

Also in the cast are Michel Lonsdale, Marcel Bozuffi, Michael Bryant, Manitas De Plata, Jean-Pierre Cargol, Serge Marquand, Marianne Eggerickx, Françoise Brion, Vania Vilers, Jean-Pierre Castaldi, Jean-Yves Gautier, Alan Scott, Jean Michaux, Graham Hill, and Gordon Tanner.

Originally 98 minutes, it was cut to 84 minutes for the US.

Caravan to Vaccares was an inauspicious feature film debut for Birney, after seven years of TV work. He later acted in the films Trial by Combat (1976), Bye, See You Monday (1979), Oh, God! Book II (1980), Prettykill (1987) and Nightfall (1988).

David Birney (April 23, 1939 – April 27, 2022).

Reeve previously directed Alistair MacLean’s Puppet on a Chain (1971).

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,173

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