Counterpoint is a ridiculous film, and one need only look at the casting to see that it was doomed to be thus. In no world could Charlton Heston ever conceivably play an orchestra conductor. Heston's miscasting alone is not responsible for Counterpoint being the dreadful mess that it is, but it's indicative of the wrong thinking that went into the creation of the film. Heston is visibly uncomfortable at the podium, but the bigger problem is his overwrought acting style in general; in Biblical epics, it can approximate an appropriate grandeur, but here it just seems like to so much shouting and gnashing of teeth. Maximilian Schell comes off somewhat better, but his performance is still nothing to write home about. The screenplay, though, is the bigger problem, a mass of clichés and terrible dialogue that is simply unsalvageable. Ralph Nelson's direction is dull, never a good thing but especially detrimental in this case. The only good things about the movie are Russell Metty's cinematography and the beautiful music supplied by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
by Craig Butler
review
