THE LINEUP

Partners in Crime: Robert Kieth; Eli Wallach

THE LINEUP (1958). Director: Don Siegel. Colorized. 

San Francisco cops Lt. Ben Guthrie (Warner Anderson) and his partner Al Quine (Emile Meyer of Shield for Murder) investigate a dope-smuggling racket when a solid citizen, Philip Dressler (Raymond Bailey), has his luggage nearly stolen by thugs pretending to be a bellboy and a cab driver. The cops discover $100,000 worth of heroin inside a statue that was sold to Dressler when he was in the Orient. As Guthrie and Quine track down the members of the gang, two men named Julian (Robert Keith) and Dancer (Eli Wallach of Plot of Fear) -- plus their new driver, Sandy (Richard Jaeckel of Come Back, Little Sheba) -- who report to someone known only as "the man," are driving around the city catching up with unsuspecting tourists who have no idea what their luggage contains. Things start to go haywire when Julian and Dancer try to find the drugs inside a doll owned by a little girl (Cheryl Callaway of Cry Vengeance) with an anxious and frightened mother (Mary LaRoche). 

Emile Meyer and Warner Anderson

The Lineup began life as a radio show and then was turned into a popular, long-running TV series in 1954. (Yes, even back in the day they made theatrical films from TV shows.) Warner Anderson played the same role in this movie as he did on TV, as did Marshall Reed as Inspector Asher. The actors playing cops are professional and solid but the movie is stolen by Keith and especially Wallach as the psychopathic Dancer. Then there 

Vaughn Taylor

is a notable confrontation between Dancer and "The Man" (Vaughn Taylor) at an ice rink that ends in a bravura moment of violence. The Lineup, well-photographed by Hal Mohr, is briskly edited and sharply directed by Don Siegel. Stirling Silliphant's excellent screenplay presents many characters who are fleshed out a bit more than in the typical thriller. The protracted chase sequence that occurs at the climax will have you on the edge of your seat. 

Verdict: Exciting and suspenseful crime thriller. The ice rink scene is amazing! ***1/2. 

NASTY HABITS

Glenda Jackson and Sandy Dennis

NASTY HABITS (1977). Director: Michael Lindsay-Hogg. 

When the elderly abbess Hildegarde (Edith Evans) passes away, a battle ensues between two factions of nuns in Philadelphia. On one side is Sister Alexandra (Glenda Jackson), who wants to remain aloof as the Prioress Sister Walburga (Geraldine Page) and Mistress of Novices Sister Mildred (Anne Jackson) conspire with the somewhat addle-pated Sister Winifred (Sandy Dennis) to spy upon the other faction and trip them up at every turn. On the other side is the younger Sister Felicity (Susan Penhaligon) who sneaks out into the woods outside the convent for romantic rendezvous and hot sex on a regular basis. She wants all of her nuns to have a steady beau. Both groups are not above using hidden mikes and cameras to find out what the others are up to. When Felicity is excommunicated, she goes public, telling all on The Mike Douglas Show. Is this the end of this oddball Philly faction of possibly Catholic nuns? 

Jackson, Jackson and Page

Frankly, the notion of setting the whole Watergate story in a nunnery is brilliant, and while the execution may be flawed, Nasty Habits emerges as a memorable motion picture. The actors are all wonderful, but Glenda Jackson is simply superb as the quietly ferocious manipulator behind the scenes. One of her best sequences has her addressing the other nuns as to the difference between ladies and the bourgeoisie, but she is wonderful throughout. Nasty Habits may not be a laugh riot a la Night at the Opera, but it is consistently amusing. Keeping it in the family, a few of the cast members' husbands are also in the film: Rip Torn; Eli Wallach, and Jerry Stiller -- all play priests (Stiller's wife Anne Meara is a gum-chewing nun from Joisey.) Vatican scenes with Stiller and Wallach examine whether or not the Philly nuns are a true order or not, a sop to the Catholic Church, of course. Melina Mercouri is also fun as a nun who travels the world as a missionary and advises Sister Alexandra by telephone. 

Verdict: This very funny movie should have been a TV series! ***. 

PLOT OF FEAR

Eli Wallach and Michele Placido

PLOT OF FEAR (aka E tanta paura/1976). Director: Paolo Cavara.

A series of murders are tied in to a sex club that was run by a man named Hoffmann (John Steiner of Shock) as well as a (true-life) dark children's book. Inspector Lomenzo (Michele Placido) questions a private detective named Struwwel (Eli Wallach) who is being hired for protection by some of the other members of the now-defunct club. A young prostitute who was hired for a party at the sex club and who supposedly died of fright may be part of the puzzle -- or not. As Lomenzo questions other people involved in the case, he encounters Jeanne (Corinne Clery), who was at the party where the prostitute died, and their relationship turns sexual. Now he has to wonder how far involved she was in what happened and in the current series of killings. Plot of Fear has a convoluted plot a la Dario Argento, but where that director's work at its best could be mesmerizing, neither this movie nor the direction of Paolo Cavara is in the same league. The storyline verges on the incomprehensible as well, and the denouement makes little sense. The movie has some suspense, however, and Michele Placido makes an attractive and likable leading man, with a pretty Clery more than competent as his lover and suspect. Eli Wallach gets several good scenes as the detective, but Tom Skerritt, as Placido's superior officer, is on camera for maybe a total of three minutes; he did Alien three years later. The picture has no real style and the non-gory murder scenes are not filmed with any elan. Paolo Cavara also directed the similarly mediocre and confusing Black Belly of the Tarantula. Michele Paolo was a busy Italian actor who later appeared in the homoerotic Ernesto.

Verdict: Mediocre, nominal giallo. **. 

A COLD NIGHT'S DEATH

Robert Culp and Eli Wallach

A COLD NIGHT'S DEATH (1973 telefilm). Director: Jerrold Freedman.

A man named Vogel is conducting high altitude tests on primates for the space program at the Tower Mountain research station. When he begins sending messages that appear to be gibberish, Frank Enari (Eli Wallach) and Robert Jones (Robert Culp) -- accompanied by another test chimp -- are sent to investigate. They find Vogel frozen to death with a look of horror on his face, but they can't understand how he wound up in this condition when he could have easily gotten out of the frigid room. Other strange things begin to happen, creating an atmosphere of suspicion and paranoia among the two arguing men. Jones seems to have figured out what may be going on, but Enari can't accept it, and it's a question of just who is experimenting on whom. A Cold Night's Death is a very memorable telefilm with two excellent performances by Wallach [The Hoax] and Culp [Calendar Girl Murders] and a decided feeling of claustrophobia and creepiness. Christopher Knopf, who co-wrote the screenplay for 20 Million Miles to Earth, has fashioned a unique story that is both suspenseful and harrowing, and it also has a very clever and darkly amusing wind-up. Freedman, whose directorial assignments were mostly for television, does a good job building tension. Michael C. Gwynne has a small part as a helicopter pilot at the beginning and is effective.

Verdict: Monkey see, monkey do. ***1/2.

HOW TO STEAL A MILLION

Peter O'Toole and Audrey Hepburn

HOW TO STEAL A MILLION (1966). Director: William Wyler.

Nicole (Audrey Hepburn) lives in a big house in Paris with her father, Bonnet (Hugh Griffith of Craze), who forges paintings and sculptures and sells them to the highest bidder. Now Bonnet has agreed to lend a phony Cellini statue to a museum, which Nicole warns him is a mistake. It sure is -- the statue has to be authenticated for insurance purposes and it is sure to be exposed as a fake, which will also ruin Bonnet's reputation and call into question every sale he ever made. Nicole decides to steal the statue before the inspection can take place, and enlists the aid of a burglar, Simon (Peter O'Toole of The Ruling Class), that she caught apparently trying to steal one of her father's paintings. There's an undeniable attraction between the two, but can they actually steal the sculpture from such a heavily guarded museum ... ? Although director William Wyler [The Heiress, The Letter, Carrie, four star movies all] wasn't exactly a suspense specialist and was an odd choice for this assignment, he had worked with Audrey Hepburn more than once, and the film still has entertainment value, although it's hardly one of Wyler's best. Hepburn gives another terrific performance, matched by O'Toole, Griffith, and Eli Wallach as a suitor and art collector. Charles Boyer is fine in a brief bit as a colleague of Simon's. Bonnet is in many ways a reprehensible character with no true appreciation of art or artists when you get right down to it. Wyler directed Funny Girl after this, another odd choice.

Verdict: Light and fun if minor. ***.