- Film Review
- Reviewed By Tom Hutchinson
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4 out of 5
Also known as The Moving Target, this features an early script by screenwriting guru William Goldman, who went on to win Oscars for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President's Men. Paul Newman plays a Chandleresque private eye in the missing persons business, and Lauren Bacall the wealthy client who hires him to find her spouse. From the moment private eye Harper recycles a binned ingredient to make a breakfast beverage, we know the territory: a detective, with only honour to sustain him, up against the idle rich with time on their hands and murder on their minds. Even if you do guess the ending, Goldman's pungent adaptation of Ross MacDonald's novel, Jack Smight's pacey direction and Newman's confident portrayal of the LA gumshoe make this a classy and enjoyable thriller. A sequel, The Drowning Pool, followed nine years later.
Plot Summary
Detective thriller starring Paul Newman and Lauren Bacall. When the glamorous Mrs Sampson hires private eye Lew Harper to track down her missing millionaire husband, Harper finds himself involved with theft, kidnap and murder.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Lew Harper
- Paul Newman
- Mrs Sampson
- Lauren Bacall
- Betty Fraley
- Julie Harris
- Albert Graves
- Arthur Hill
- Susan Harper
- Janet Leigh
- Miranda Sampson
- Pamela Tiffin
- Alan Taggert
- Robert Wagner
- Dwight Troy
- Robert Webber
- Fay Estabrook
- Shelley Winters
- Sheriff Spanner
- Harold Gould
- Claude
- Strother Martin
- Puddler
- Roy Jenson
Crew
- Director
- Jack Smight
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