Until the screening at a local event for niche movies, I've never heard of the director Roland Klick before. Now I'm glad I do know at least one of his works. After the movie itself, a documentary about Klick was shown, that made me rate this movie one notch higher than I'd have rated it when seeing it in its own rights.

On one hand the director works very methodically when it comes to how he builds up his shots, but on the other hand he doesn't want the actors to play a character, he always encouraged them to actually be the character. Something that shines through in this movie, too. It's the way the people move in front of the camera and how they act out their roles. The overshadowing sense of danger has probably been amplified by the fact that the movie was shot in no man's land between Israel and Jordan sometime after the Six-Day War.

To me, this is an absolutely stunning western/adventure mix. With a budget of roughly 1.5 million DM, Klick filmed a captivating piece that not only depicts a decent western/robbery plot but also has some great acting in it (loved the trio Adorf/Dawson/Bohm and the chemistry between the three of them).

Better than it has any right to be.

It's an odd film, is 'Deadlock'. It drags its heels pretty much from start-to-finish and can feel aimless at times, though to be fair it certainly does live up to its title. The performances from Mario Adorf, Anthony Dawson and Marquard Bohm are solid and are the main reason as to why I'm rating this as I am. The whole thing looks neat for 1970, too.

I can kinda see why others like this more than I do, but for me it falls short to what it was seemingly attempting to do. Location is cool, cover is ace, (much praised?) soundtrack is meh. Still, I'd class it as 'good' - albeit marginally so.