Take Two

My review was written in November 1988 after watching the movie on Academy video cassette.

Fans of the traditional B-film probably will enjoy "Take Two", which contains today's requisite R-rated nude scenes but otherwise is a pleasant throwback to the plot-twisty pics of yore.

Grant Goodeve plays identical twins, parted at birth by mom Nita Talbot who secretly kept Barry (the good one) for herself and delivered Frank (the baddie) to the surrogate father who paid for her mothering services. She tells grownup Barry the tall tale on her deathbed and encourages him to head to L. A. and get his just shared of an inheritance from rich Frank.

Frank is a businessman who has no time to listen to Barry's odd story on the phone,k but the have-not brother (via mistaken identity) finagles his way into Frank's life, even going to bed with Franks wife Robin Mattson. Since Frank is mistreating her, it isn't long before Mattson teams up with Barry to plan Frank's murder.

Fly in the ointment is Mattson's possessive boyfriend, a rock singer played by Frank Stallone, but many twists later almost everyone is dead.

Helmer Peter Rowe and scripter Moshe Hadar keep the viewer guessing, with only drawback being a bit of padding (now B-movies run 100 minutes instead of 70).

Goodeve does a fine job of differentiating the twins (with enough ambiguity to keep the pot boiling) and Mattson is impressive in an earthy portrayal. She also contributes three (count 'em) nude shower scenes, with statuesque Suzee M. Slater as Frank's secretary/mistress als adding to the film's pulchritude content.

A poor twin of a millionaire arrives in Los Angeles to beg for a slice of the pie from his estranged brother. Unfortunately the tycoon turns out to be a tightwad, so he decides to double for him.. falling in love with the guy's wife in the process. A very complicated chain of events ensues..

What a shock! A one pound film from a charity shop that turns out to not be half bad. It has thrills, spills, chills.. and even a bit of decent nudity thrown in. I won't even begin to get into the twists in the plot here, but sufficed to say there are quite a few. The actors acquit themselves well.. and the twins are never even glimpsed on camera together, so there's none of that ridiculous blue screen stuff. Hurray! This really was a bit of a pleasure to sit through, and I can quite happily recommend it (Providing you can find it first). A 6/10 all the way.