Based on a novel by Ross D. MacDonald, who wrote The Moving Target which Goldman adapted into Harper. It's a real shame this film wasn't made afterwards as it's a very good PI story, as solid a script as Harper - maybe without that film's central betrayal-of-friendship plot but TBH they tend not to mean much in PI stories because you usually just meet the friend.
We have the return of Harper's ex wife Susan who is trying to get over him - in the funny opening sequence she's at a party having served him divorce papers so he pretends to be in bed with someone which makes her jealous. You can totally imagine Paul Newman playing the hell out of this - actually the whole role is perfect for Newman, no wonder he wanted to repeat it in The Drowning Pool and it's pity he didn't do this one too.
The script is written in Goldman's lively, crisp style, lots of funny pungent dialogue and use of "..." and "--" in dialogue. He does a lot of scene transitions where we cut to close up of an object or a person then pull back to reveal the scene - this took me a little while to get used to but it did add to the pace.
The story has Harper go visit an old friend of his Dr Godwin, a shrink. Godwin lives near some 60s college students, which means they protest and the girls are hot - Goldman's writing often took on a pervy middle aged man tone and that's the case here. Harper crosses with Dolly, a hot young thing who looks like a young version of his wife, who wants to hire him. (There is no clear and obvious "hiring" moment though.) Dolly is then beaten up by a large man who looks like Santa Claus, a very scary scene.
Harper meets Mrs Bradley, mother of Roy Bradley, the dean. The script is full of these terrific character parts like in Harper - you can imagine it wouldn't be hard to cast good actors, as in that film. Other juicy parts include Roy Bradley, an aging handsome man who would love to be a detective (the Robert Wagner part), and the harsh academic Laura. Dolly blames her attack on Harper. No one really believes Dolly which I feel was a mistake - it would be more exciting if Harper was genuinely at threat of being arrested for this.
Harper then meets Kate Flynn, Dolly's advisor, a sensuous middle aged woman who promptly tries to seduce Harper (the Joanne Woodward part maybe?). Kate tells Harper that Dolly lied and that she was beaten up by a bearded man. Kate also tells Harper she needs a bodyguard and that someone is trying to kill her and they have been tracking her for twenty years. She offers Harper her body ("it's still good, I swear- it may not be as young as once upon a time, but the flesh retains a certain elasticity") but he says no. Kate refers to her old man being a corrupt cop and it causing her a great deal of distress.
Harper goes to visit the bearded man who beat up Dolly. He admits to hitting her, explaining he's Dolly's father Tom, angry that Dolly testified against him for the murder of Tom's wife, resulting in Tom going to prison for ten years. Tom Smith is an awesome character - terrifying, witty, a complete psycho, physically imposing. Tom wants to know who killed his wife. His sidekick Baby helps beat up Harper.
Harper goes to the Bradley house to find Dolly covered in blood, but alive. He takes her to Godwin. There is some entertaining by play between Dean Bradley and his mother (the tone is of favoured-but-long-suffering-son-and-his-overbearing-mother kind). Dean Bradley and Harper go to visit Kate, see a car drive past with a Nevada plate, then they discover Kate's dead body. That is a shocking scene - to see this likeable sexy girl dead. I wonder if that is why this didn't get made - she asked Harper for help, he said no, she winds up dead...? It gives the whole script a gloomy feel. Anyways...
Dolly is a suspect for the murder; Harper takes her to stay with Godwin. Harper then drives to Sacramento to meet Alice Jenkins, Dolly's aunt, who says Dolly saw Tom Smith murder her sister, Dolly's mother. He then goes to visit Kate's father, a cop and questions him about the death of Cliff Malone, which Kate thought was murder covered up by her dad but the father insists was an accident. The father admits the death was suspicious, that he got an order to ignore it, and that he hit Kate when she confronted him about it years ago. There's a great moment when Kate's dad literally beats himself up.
Harper then visits the widow of Cliff Malone, a snooty type, who says her husband committed suicide. Harper discovers the driver of the car with Nevada plates was a blackmailer called Foley. Susan appears to ask Harper if they can back together and he agrees but says he has to solve this triple murder first. (Their relationship will remain unresolved at the end.)
Harper visits the blackmailer Foley who lets slip he saw Kate because of Dean Bradley. They wind up having a fight with Foley plunging the room into darkness. (This fight scene is excellent.) Harper win this one forcing Foley to admit he's an ex of Kate's, that she told him she was worried someone would kill her and that Bradley knew him and had been asking why he was at Kate's.
Harper visits Bradley to find him in bed with Laura, who is his secret wife. Foley knew Bradley was living in sin with Laura and was worried his mother would find out.
Harper discovers Bradley divorced a lady called Tish Macready, who he married twenty years ago. He confronts Mrs Bradley with this. She refuses to believe him and it becomes apparent Mrs Bradley is cray-cray. Harper gets Mrs Bradley to admit there was a Tish claiming she tricked him into marriage and Mrs Bradley had to pay her off.
Harper calls Godwin, senses something is wrong - it turns out Tom Smith and Baby are holding him at gun point to get at Dolly. Smith goes to visit Dolly. Harper goes to Godwin and knocks out Baby. Then Harper goes to Dolly who is being beaten by her father and rescues her (all this stuff is exciting). Dolly admits she was coached in what to say at the trial by her aunt and that her mother was having an affair with Roy Bradley and wanted to marry him.
Harper meets Laura and tells her that her marriage to Roy isn't legal if he's still married to Tish; she sticks up for Roy. He visits Mrs Cliff Malone who is with Roy Bradley. Mrs Malone admits Tish was her sister who she loved and is dead. Bradley says Tish is alive and living in a special place where she can do no harm - he says she's a crazy who killed Kate, and who shot Dolly's mother, who he was having an affair with.
Roy Bradley says he was in love with Tish, met her when she divorced Macready. Tish and Mrs Malone's father was a senator. Roy explains when he slept with Tish, Cliff Malone busted them and went wild, beating up both of them, resulting in Tish shooting him. Roy says he befriended Kate, gave her a job - he took her out in public so Tish would kill her.
Harper sees a photo of Mrs Malone's father then is knocked out by Bradley. He wakes up with Mrs Bradley and Roy. Harper realises that Mrs Bradley is Tish. She wants to kill Harper. Dean Bradley is reluctant. They fight. There's a gun shot. It's Harper who is wounded. Harper recovers to make a phone call. The phone is dead. Mrs Bradley is triumphant. Harper keeps collapsing and rising. At the end he rises and the picture freezes. It's unclear whether he survives, or calls the police or whatever. He's got a gun so he's got that in his favour.
It's a great mystery, plenty of twists and turns and would've done well if shot with the same money and quality of cast as Harper. I'm not so sure you could make it now it feels inherently late sixties.
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