John Cassavetes is a teacher at a school for the blind. Confronted by two hit men, Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager, he waits stoically for the flood of bullets that shortly follow. The dead man's resignation surprises the killers and they determine to find out why he didn't try to run. As it turns out, Cassavetes was seduced into joining a gang of thieves run by Ronald Reagan. The seducer was Angie Dickinson. She betrays Cassavetes, leads him into a trap in which Reagan plugs him non-mortally, and then runs off with Reagan and all the loot from the big robbery they've just pulled. There is a shoot out at the end, in which Reagan, Dickinson, Gulager, and Marvin all wind up mincemeat.
This was originally filmed for TV, efficiently directed by the seasoned Don Siegel or however his name is spelled. (I wish Don and George and Steven and Barbara and the rest would decide on a single spelling of that last name. How tiresome.) The viewer will find an abundance of intrigue and action, as well as those unusual guns that Siegel was developing a fondness for, culminating in Dirty Harry's .44 magnum. The California locales are well photographed but, as in any TV made-for, seem somewhat flat.
Angie Dickinson is attractive but not in any conventional way. Her mouth is small and crooked, her nose broad and rather flat, and her eyes seem to look in two slightly different directions, but she's never been more inviting. She's glamorized, of course, but not to the point of revulsion. What I mean is, she comes out -- just fine. I can't imagine why Ronald Reagan would treat her as a speed bag in one scene. Lee and Clu bat her around and hang her out of a window in another scene. That's understandable, they being what they are, but Ron? Actually, everyone in this movie seems a little too dressed up, a little too clean, even the mechanics who have been crawling under cars. Dickinson dresses in pastels, Marvin wears a silver business suit, the others are in pressed dark clothing. The overall impression is that of cut-outs from a fashion magazine being animated on screen.
This isn't really too bothersome. The two dimensional quality of the images is more than made up for by the acting of Marvin and Gulager as the bad guys. (Some might call it overacting; the mean-spirited might say "ham".) It's interesting, too, to see the future president in the role of commander-in-chief of the evildoers, a genuinely slimy character with every hair set in place as if by Elmer's Glue. He tries his best to scowl, really he does, but his easiest role has always been that of the good-natured pal. The best performances are probably given by Marvin, Gulager (an under-rated actor), and Cassavetes. Watch Marvin's final scene in which, mortally wounded, he offs Reagan and Dickinson then staggers about on the lawn like a drunk. One of the things that makes the scene so magnetic is that, during the take, Marvin actually WAS thoroughly discombobulated by alcohol.
A good movie, in some ways the equal of the original. Nice job.
This was originally filmed for TV, efficiently directed by the seasoned Don Siegel or however his name is spelled. (I wish Don and George and Steven and Barbara and the rest would decide on a single spelling of that last name. How tiresome.) The viewer will find an abundance of intrigue and action, as well as those unusual guns that Siegel was developing a fondness for, culminating in Dirty Harry's .44 magnum. The California locales are well photographed but, as in any TV made-for, seem somewhat flat.
Angie Dickinson is attractive but not in any conventional way. Her mouth is small and crooked, her nose broad and rather flat, and her eyes seem to look in two slightly different directions, but she's never been more inviting. She's glamorized, of course, but not to the point of revulsion. What I mean is, she comes out -- just fine. I can't imagine why Ronald Reagan would treat her as a speed bag in one scene. Lee and Clu bat her around and hang her out of a window in another scene. That's understandable, they being what they are, but Ron? Actually, everyone in this movie seems a little too dressed up, a little too clean, even the mechanics who have been crawling under cars. Dickinson dresses in pastels, Marvin wears a silver business suit, the others are in pressed dark clothing. The overall impression is that of cut-outs from a fashion magazine being animated on screen.
This isn't really too bothersome. The two dimensional quality of the images is more than made up for by the acting of Marvin and Gulager as the bad guys. (Some might call it overacting; the mean-spirited might say "ham".) It's interesting, too, to see the future president in the role of commander-in-chief of the evildoers, a genuinely slimy character with every hair set in place as if by Elmer's Glue. He tries his best to scowl, really he does, but his easiest role has always been that of the good-natured pal. The best performances are probably given by Marvin, Gulager (an under-rated actor), and Cassavetes. Watch Marvin's final scene in which, mortally wounded, he offs Reagan and Dickinson then staggers about on the lawn like a drunk. One of the things that makes the scene so magnetic is that, during the take, Marvin actually WAS thoroughly discombobulated by alcohol.
A good movie, in some ways the equal of the original. Nice job.