Like David Mamet's debut feature "House of Games," "The
Spanish Prisoner" centers on an elaborate confidence game, and its
labyrinthine plot is laden with twists and reversals. Reminiscent of "The
Usual Suspects" and Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much"
and "North by Northwest," "The Spanish Prisoner" is
a film that will keep audiences guessing until the very end.
Meet Joe Ross (Campbell Scott), inventor of "The Process," a top-secret
formula that's already got his boss Mr. Klein (Ben Gazzara) seeing dollar
signs. But while he's flown Joe down to a secluded Caribbean island resort
for a hush-hush meeting of big stockholders, Mr. Klein has only vague promises
about cutting Joe in on some of the profits. Joe's a trusting guy, but he's
starting to think that he might be getting shut out of the biggest thing
that's ever happened to him. Taking a walk on the beach to mull things over,
Joe encounters Jimmy Dell (Steve Martin), a mysterious, jet-setting businessman,
and they make plans to meet in New York.
When, back in the city, Joe confides his troubles to Jimmy, Jimmy offers
to help Joe fight to get what's his. But as his relationship with the company
deteriorates, so does Joe's faith in the people around him--his colleague
and confidant George (Ricky Jay), Klein, Jimmy, and even Susan (Rebecca
Pidgeon), a secretary with a none-too-subtle crush on him. Are these people
his friends, as they claim, or is there something darker underneath? As
they all pledge to stand by him, Joe finds himself not knowing who to trust
or where to turn, trapped in a world in which nothing and no one are what
they seem.
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