Friday, April 10, 2020

Movie review - "PJ" (1968) ** (warning: spoilers)

I think this was made with one eye on being a new Harper - only it doesn't have Ross MacDonald, William Goldman, an all star cast or Paul Newman.

It does have Raymond Burr in while hair who is great fun - as is Brock Peters as a Bermudan cop and Gayle Hunnicut as a babe. George Peppard is a decent private eye but the film seems unsure how tough or comic to make him - his character feels all over the shop, one minute a clown, the next a smart arse, the next a tough guy.

It's directed by John Guillermine but doesn't feel like other movies from that filmmaker - such is the power of the bland factor at Universal in the late 60s and 70s. It had the same crappy music stings.

I enjoyed seeing a young Susan Saint James. There's a memorable scene where Peppard gets beaten up by the patrons of a leather bar.

But the film never seems to get its tone right. It's too close to TV. The character of PJ was too erratic.

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