Dirty Tricks

My review was written in June 1981 after a Manhattan UES screening: Despite the efforts of a willing and able cast, "Dirty Tricks" flounders as a would-be chase comedy, done in by lame writing and misjudged direction. Word of mouth is likely to be poor.

A bearded Elliott Gould toplines as Colin Chandler, a Harvard College history prof, who is harassed and chased by three pairs of adversaries out to get a secret history-revamping letter written by George Washington that was discovered by a murdered student of his. Television newswoman Polly Bishop (Kate Jackson) is pestering Chandler about the murfer story and becomes linked with him in both chase and romantic modes.

With wit and verbal humor lacking, the stars eke out pic's few laughs with physical bits and gags. Director Alvin Rakoff makes a fatal error in staging the story's frequent violence with convincing realism, a ploy which does not match the cartoonish villains (twin karate nuts, raffishly attired he-she gangster duo, bumbling FBI snoops). When the baddies and even Gould start beating up Jackson near the end of the film, it's not only unfunny but actually repellant.

Distracting from the main plot is pic's Canadian origin, jarring at times with the Boston-Cambridge locale (token location footage) and the U. S. patriotic story premise. Gould is an ingratiating lead, but script oddly has him doing self-homages with scenes echoing "Getting Straight", "Mash" and "Move" among his decade-ago pics.

Jackson makes a feisty heroine and Rich Little has a couple of good innings as Gould's best friend, but Arthur Hill's dean/villain is underwritten. Tech credits are okay.