The Passenger | 
 enlarge | Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Actors: Jack Nicholson, Maria Schneider, Jenny Runacre, Ian Hendry, Steven Berkoff
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.94
Buy New: $3.94
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New (76) Used (35) from $2.74
Rating:  37 reviews
Sales Rank: 5983
Format: Color, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), German (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), Chinese (Subtitled), Thai (Subtitled)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 99
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 126 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 12654
UPC: 043396126541
EAN: 0043396126541
ASIN: B000E33W0I
Theatrical Release Date: April 9, 1975
Release Date: April 25, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: ******BRAND NEW****** THE SOURCE FOR RARE MEDIA, THOUSANDS OF CUSTOMERS SATISFIED, AND OVER 250 000 ITEMS IN STOCK, BUY FROM A TRUSTED SOURCE, ESTABLISHED SINCE 1998 - INETVIDEO ~~~
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Product Description
Originally released in 1975 Sony Pictures Classics re-releases Antonioni's suspenseful and haunting portrait of a drained journalist whose deliverance is an identity exchange with a dead man. He embarks on a treacherous journey through Africa Spain Germany England Spain.System Requirements:Run Time: 126 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: PG-13 UPC: 043396126541 Manufacturer No: 12654
Amazon.com
The Passenger is one of those movies that is all about the vision of the director, in this case, screen legend Michelangelo Antonioni. Starring none other than Jack Nicholson, and featuring a plot billed as an international romantic thriller, The Passenger defies expectations by turning the genre on its head, making the characters and the story secondary to theme and tone. London-based Journalist David Locke (Nicholson) is working in North Africa when a fellow traveler by the name of David Robertson, who looks remarkably like him, happens to die suddenly. Burned out and depleted, Locke decides to assume the dead man's identity, drops everything, and starts again as a new man with a new life. With no idea of who Robertson was or what he did for a living, Locke uses Robertson's datebook as a guide as he travels through Europe and Africa, takes meetings with people he finds out are gun runners, and ends up falling for a beautiful young woman (Maria Schneider). As Robertson, David Locke thinks he has found an exhilirating new freedom, but the fact is he's in over his head: there are people looking for him and his life could be in danger. The movie is a thriller in structure only. While designed for suspense, it's just a premise for Antonioni to explore on themes of identity, humankind's seemingly futile relationship to the world around us, and isolation. For Antonioni, the action is the means by which the image unfolds, and not the other way around. The actors and the plot are set pieces, simply smaller means to a larger end, and the image and atmosphere supersede all else. A slow pace, long, lingering shots, a focus on emptiness, and a detached, almost brutally objective point of view are the trademarks on full display here. Especially notable is the stunning seven-minute long shot in the final scene, one of the most famous in cinema history, which Nicholson, in his commentary, tags as an "Antonioni joke." It caps a crowning achievement by one of the big screen's most visionary directors. On the DVD:
The commentaries are most definitely welcome guides, and those looking for a way into the movie and into Antonioni's head will really enjoy them. Jack Nicholson provides one commentary track where he generously shares his memories of the shoot, his thoughts on the movie thirty years on, and lets out the secret of how they managed to get the camera through the bars on the window for that seven-minute shot in the last scene. On the second commentary track, journalist Aurora Irvine and screenwriter Mark Peploe offer more of a wide-angle lens view of the movie and its place in history. Both are insightful narratives—Nicholson's is particularly enjoyable--and make excellent additions to the DVD. --Daniel Vancini
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| Customer Reviews: Read 32 more reviews...
 THE PASSENGER April 28, 2008
WONDER WOMAN
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
IT'S OKAY TO WATCH I LIKE OLE JACK NICHOLSON IN JUST ABOUT ANY OF HIS MOVIES.
 Clumsy plot, beautiful images April 22, 2008
A Reader (San Francisco, California, USA)
Other reviewers here have pointed out the essential ups and downs of this film. Like "Blow Up," this is another metaphysical thriller that uses the skeleton expectations of the action/adventure genre but slows down the tempo to focus on identity and alienation. The plot is improbable. How could the gunrunners not recognize that Jack Nicholson is not the gentleman they were expecting?
But the storyline is not the reason to watch this film. The way Antonioni films the world is a feast for the eyes. The North African landscape is especially stunning -- the desert, villages, and people. The film begins there and ends in a similarly dry and striking landscape, this time in southern Spain. At this final resting point Jack Nicholson delivers a monologue about how hopeless and dusty the world is. But it seems ineffective and slightly ridiculous after so many beautiful images.
Why? April 17, 2008
P. Belfiglio
Yes, why do I like this film? You would think that it just drags along, but no, you really get into it. It `moves' along in a mysterious, captivating manner. I could just `feel' the heat and dust in the air during certain scenes. You have to view the last scene with Jack Nicholson's commentary as he explains how it was done. It broadened my appreciation for talented directors. Just for that scene alone it was worth the purchase price.
Yes, I like this film and will continue to view it. It has a story. It is what it is, and may not appeal to everyone, though. It's an examination of someone's life and representative of what some people will do to escape from that life no matter what that entails. In the end, though, this film makes you realize that far away hills are not always as green as you think. Or maybe they are. It's just a different kind of `green' that you were always looking for...and got.
The Great Escape March 13, 2008
C. Rocklein
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
It's hard to judge this movie. It's meditative and windswept and transfers the feeling of traveling to remote places where you are an unknown amongst people you do not know. Its premise was more intriguing than the actual experience of watching the story unfold however, which is slow indeed. Being a traveler and amateur photography buff myself, I have great patience for looking at travel photos and find National Geographic magazine interesting, if not for the reading than at least for the photography of exotic places and the work of talented photographers. My girlfriend however doesn't have that same love of pictures and won't spend much time critcally analyzing what makes a picture good or bad..
So how to judge this movie becomes the issue for me. This is no high speed ride. It's fine cinematography with a few shots that are probably more famous than the movie (she in back of the car as the trees go by her is an incredibly beautiful visual image). The story again while conceptually interesting didn't go as deep for me as it seemed to for other reviewers. While forgivable, I didn't find the scenes where Jack interacts with the arms buyers extremely likely - he obviously looked like he didn't know what was going on and I didn't wholly buy their complete oblivion to this.. I liked the girl. She was a real work of art. Her presence in the movie made about as much sense as anything else, but I was glad she was there. It was a fun "what if" study. What if a man went to the extreme of getting rid of his whole history in this way? This idea is probably attractive to most people from time to time in their lives, so there's no question that the idea appeals. The next question is would such a thing be possible, and would it play out something like the way it is depicted in "The Passenger"? My gut reation to that is probably "no". But these are not the most important questions - like one of the interviewees says to Jack when he asks him loaded questions before an interview. The questions tell you more about the asker than the subject questioned. For me, the question is what makes this a good movie? Is it a good movie or a great movie? The answer will depend on the criterion that you bring.
If being intellectually or intuitionally intrigued is a condition for your idea of a great movie, then.. you will have to answer whether or not it does that for you. For me, there were moments. Definite moments. There was always this kind of vast isolation, and mild uneasiness wrapped up in a sense of possibility that didn't seem likely to produce. But the journey seemed a worthwhile one just for the sake of being what it was - an attempt to escape. Chances are, our watching these movies is nothing less than that same urge, on some level. Thus, the protagonists story has meaning and was worthwhile for me. Other things too, make it worthwhile. Antonioni's rendering of the story - the scenery and some of the scenes were worthwhile. One I liked - near the end, a little girl is casually blowing a bubble as Jack is walking by, and that pink bubble just gets bigger and bigger, but before it pops - the shot stops. The concept of the movie, the subdued loveliness of the actress very much a part of the Spanish landscape, the moments of sparse dialogue where brilliance occasionally flashes through - I tip my hat to all these things - but what keeps me from giving this movie 5 stars is that it didn't succeed in helping ME escape. And while the ending was fitting and somewhat ironic, it didn't blow me away content wise. And let me also say that while there are some good shots in this movie camerawise, there are also many that go on long enough to test your endurance. So much so, that I could go look outside my window for ten minutes and have a similar emotional reaction. Not usually what I go to the movies for. So, all things considered, the movie'll probably be even more interesting for viewers after they've seen it, should they care to think about it, rather than while they are undergoing the actual movie.
Good Film March 7, 2008
Ryan Johnson (Rochester, MN USA)
The great thing about this movie is the final shot. I won't give anything away but the shot is breathtaking. Nicholson's performance is very subdued, very similar to other performances of his back in the 70's. The film does have some flaws, but overall it's a very good movie. It's not quite as good as Antonioni's 'Blow Up' but it's definately worth a viewing.
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