The Passenger (1975 film)
| The Passenger | |
|---|---|
US theatrical poster
|
|
| Directed by | Michelangelo Antonioni |
| Produced by | Carlo Ponti |
| Written by |
Mark Peploe Michelangelo Antonioni Peter Wollen |
| Starring |
Jack Nicholson Maria Schneider Steven Berkoff Ian Hendry Jenny Runacre |
| Music by | Ivan Vandor |
| Cinematography | Luciano Tovoli |
| Edited by | Michelangelo Antonioni Franco Arcalli |
|
Production
company |
|
| Distributed by |
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer United Artists |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
119 minutes 126 minutes (extended 2005 version) |
| Country | Italy Spain France |
| Language | English German Spanish |
The Passenger (Italian: Professione: reporter) is a 1975 film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Written by Mark Peploe, Peter Wollen and Antonioni, the film is about an Anglo-American journalist, David Locke (Jack Nicholson) who assumes the identity of a dead businessman while working on a documentary in Chad, unaware that he is impersonating an arms dealer with connections to the rebels in the current civil war. Co-starring Maria Schneider, The Passenger was the final film in Antonioni's three-picture deal with producer Carlo Ponti and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, after Blowup and Zabriskie Point, and competed for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
David Locke (Jack Nicholson) is a television journalist making a documentary film on post-colonial Africa. To finish the film, he is in the Sahara desert seeking to meet with and interview rebel fighters involved in Chad's civil war. Struggling to find rebels to interview, he is frustrated when his Land Rover gets hopelessly stuck on a sand dune. After a long walk through the desert back to his hotel, a thoroughly glum Locke discovers that an Englishman, Robertson (Charles Mulvehill), who has also been staying there and with whom he had struck up a friendship, has died overnight at the hotel.
Locke decides to switch identities with Robertson; he is tired of his work, his marriage and his life, and sees an opportunity for a fresh start. Posing as Robertson, Locke reports his own death at the front desk, where the hotel manager mistakes Locke for Robertson, and the plan goes off without a hitch.
...
Wikipedia