Paul Newman as 'Harper' 1966

Paul Newman as 'Harper,' private eye, posing by his shingle.

Opinions vary about the ’66 neo-film noir, Harper. A number of film fans and critics think it’s a latter day detective classic. Others, like me, just find it a slickly entertaining Paul Newman picture.

Paul Newman's gumshoe sure spends a lot of time in his car or on the phone.

In the ‘60s, genre films were increasingly made with a mod wink at old-time Hollywood—in this case, detective movies. Harper was the brainchild of agent turned producer Elliot Kastner, whose greatest talent was pairing great stars with their cheesiest vehicles. This was perhaps Kastner’s best effort: take Ross Macdonald’s first Lew Archer novel, 1949’s The Moving Target, and riff on the ‘40s film noir era. How he got Harper off the ground is beyond me, when his only previous producer credit was Bus Riley’s Back in Town. Here’s Kastner’s IMDB resume of mostly rubbish: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0440990/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm

Ironically, Harper now feels more dated than the original movies it tweaks. Harper’s trailer and poster paint him as modern and irresistible, but the promo material feel like they’re for an old Playboy magazine cover.

The promo copy for 'Harper' tries for cool, but today just seems coy.

There's plenty of elbowing the old gumshoe movies: Detective Lew Harper tells the barracuda wife of the missing millionaire that he's a “new type.” New, maybe—but not better. Newman led the way as the new breed of movie anti-hero, a trend I think didn’t age well, either. At 40, Paul as Harper often feels more like an over-aged frat boy, as opposed to the equally cynical, but more worldly-wise Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade or other past film detectives.

The first client visit for 'Harper' deliberately echoes Lauren Bacall's 'The Big Sleep,'
 with hubby Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe.

William Goldman's script has a number of zingers. His take on mid-60s California dreaming is more like a noir nightmare. It’s funny at times, but they’re all easy targets: new age religion, druggie jazz singers, crooked lawyers and dumb cops, rich people trying to buy their way out of trouble, etc. There's not a relatable one in the bunch—least of all Harper, who is crude with suspects, and also a juvenile jerk to his lovely ex-wife, as well. I realize I’m looking at a ‘60s movie through modern eyes, but this movie is even less evolved than the movies it’s mimicking from 20 years prior.

Lauren Bacall is a catty client, whose snarky repartee is definitely not decaffeinated!

You could say the film has a sexist view toward women, as they are all mercilessly mocked for their shortcomings, but the men don't fare much better. The nearly all-star cast is mostly typecast: Lauren Bacall as the missing rich man's wife, is a snarky bitch; Shelley Winters as a former movie star gone blowzy is treated with particular contempt by Harper; Pamela Tiffin is the young rich chick on the make. However, Julie Harris is oddly cast as the junkie jazz singer who is also treated rottenly by Harper.

Shelley Winters played more latter-day blowsy broads than Joan Blondell! 

Bacall and Winters do their schtick very well. This is an era where Bacall's character is mocked as old and wrinkled at age 41, when Harper was filmed—and a whole year older than Paul Newman. Lauren looked quite timeless and chic as the rich super bitch, IMO. However, Shelley Winters is outrageous as the horny and drunk ex-star, and seems to be Harper’s walking punchline.

Pamela Tiffin, as the rich client's sexy stepdaughter, isn't exactly Ann-Margret!

Pamela Tiffin is all big hair and apple-cheeked, and dances quite badly on a pool board in a polka dot bikini. Tiffin mainly pouts and preens. Julie Harris sings a few bars of yet another Andre and Dore Previn movie theme about being lonely.

Julie Harris is the junkie jazz singer who's too high-strung for torture games.

As for the men, Robert Wagner plays his charming pretty boy bit for good-natured humor, his only real talent. At 35, RJ's on the edge of his beauty, which is what Newman calls him throughout. As the new age nutjob, Strother Martin has a field day, up in a mountain top home that looks like a low-rent version of Liz Taylor's pad in Boom! 

This was the last time Robert Wagner could get away w/playing the shallow pretty boy.

The two best performances are Arthur Hill as the family lawyer who is in love with Tiffin’s rich girl. His lovelorn lawyer gets to go through some changes and plays them skillfully, with a tinge of melancholy. Janet Leigh as Harper’s rightfully exasperated ex-wife makes her few scenes count.

Arthur Hill plays the most realistic character in 'Harper,' as Newman's old pal,
who is now the family lawyer for the kidnapped man.

Harper runs just over two hours, too long for this fast-paced genre, and it drags in spots. The subplot involving Harper and his ex-wife is supposed to show how he's unable to give up a thankless job that doesn't love him back. From today's standpoint, Harper’s interactions with his ex make him look a dick, and I don't mean a private one. The scenes that are supposed to be funny aren’t and the one where Harper barges in on her late at night for a booty call and sympathy, only to ditch her the next morning, doesn’t age well.

Newman's Harper lets his ex down not so easily after a late night visit. W/Janet Leigh.

For anybody who feels that I’m too hard on Harper, I was expecting to love this movie, as mystery/suspense is one of my favorite genres. I also love films that depict an era or locale. This movie feels very ‘60s, but not in a good way, just a mainstream, dated way. One example: the hip music that plays in any scenes with young people sounds like Herb Alpert-style elevator music. And the young folks dancing hip looks like the Peanuts characters when they dance for joy.

'Harper's' spoof of the cool kids is strictly Squares-ville!

What about Harper himself, Paul Newman? At this point, Paul had loosened up as an actor, from his sometimes stiff ‘50s stardom. In his quiet, serious moments, Newman is on his way to the stellar star character actor he later became. Yet, his anti-hero stardom here came with his sometimes heavy-handed sense of humor. A stronger director other than journeyman Jack Smight would have reigned in Paul’s smirking, eye-rolling, lip-pursing, voice-mimicking “humor.” 

Paul Newman as Harper cracks himself up constantly, with his amused contempt
for the crooked characters he encounters. It feels a bit sophomoric today.

 

William Goldman, considered one of the best screenwriters and go-to script doctor, scripted many crowd pleasers like this movie. He was a bit like Robert Towne in that regard. Yet, Towne wrote a modern film noir that actually had depth and resonates just as much today—1974’s Chinatown.

Harper’s finish was one of those mod freeze frame non-endings that made me want to throw something at the screen. Harper wasn’t new, but just a mixed bag.

Paul Newman was 40 when 'Harper' was filmed.

Check out my take on Paul Newman’s early forays into southern melodrama from 1958:

The Long, Hot Summer: https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-long-hot-summer-long-but-not-so-hot.html

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof:  https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2016/08/cat-on-hot-tin-roof-still-scorches-now.html

FYI: I put all the movie overflow on my public FB  movie page. 

Check it out & join!  https://www.facebook.com/groups/178488909366865/

 

"Harper" was going to be called "The Moving Target,"
from the original Ross Macdonald book, for a hot minute.

‘No Way to Treat a Lady’ 1968

Lee Remick realizes that her Italian chef is a serial killer, "No Way to Treat a Lady."

Thrillers set in the Big Apple were big in 1968, like the somewhat forgotten sleeper, No Way to Treat a Lady. The Boston Strangler and The Detective were notable hits. The best of the bunch was Rosemary’s Baby.

Yet, compare the way No Way to Treat a Lady was filmed versus Rosemary's Baby, both made by Paramount Studios, in NYC. They are psychological suspense films, but Lady was filmed "realistically" versus Roman Polanski's mood-enhancing visual style in Rosemary’s Baby. Lady seems like a Universal TV movie in comparison. No Way to Treat a Lady was directed by competent but workmanlike Jack Smight and cinematographer, Jack Priestley. Both artists spent much of their career in TV and it shows. The same goes for screenwriter John Gay, as well.

It's in his kiss: the lipstick is the killer's trademark.

The strengths of No Way to Treat a Lady are the clever, engaging story by William Goldman and the appealing, well-cast actors. Goldman wrote some stories that are wonderfully entertaining: No Way to Treat a Lady, Magic, and Marathon Man are his best. More importantly, Goldman was considered one of the best screenwriters of his time. He was inspired to write No Way to Treat a Lady from the Boston Strangler headlines at the time. For awhile, it was thought that there might be two different killers, and Goldman wondered what would happen if the original killer became jealous sharing the headlines? In the film, this isn't at the core of the movie, but it offers a little levity. Several major points differ from book to film: the killer is much more prominent in the film; he also succeeds in killing the cop’s girlfriend; and the film is more about the killer and cop’s relationship. These changes are for the better, IMO. What is most amusing is that the cop and killer are both browbeaten mama's boys.

Lee Remick & George Segal have great chemistry as the free-spirited woman & the cop.

George Segal, as Morris Brummel, is winning as the cop who is driven crazy by his mama and the homicidal maniac, and finds his woes lightened when he’s smitten with Remick's free-spirited modern woman. Segal is a natural comic actor, but is also dramatically intense enough to be believable as a cop.

George Segal, as cop Mo Brummel, gets flack at work, home, & from a serial killer!

Lee Remick is smart, funny, not to mention lovely, as Kate Palmer. A quirky charmer here, Lee reminds me of the late Carole Lombard in mixing playfulness with sexiness. Remick had a solid career as a leading lady in film and TV. Especially considering that beautiful actresses were falling out of style for the few serious roles for females as the ‘60s went on. For instance, Lee would have made a great Hitchcock blonde. Yet, while Remick was a top leading lady, she never made that top tier as a female star who could carry a movie on her own. This was illustrated when Lee Remick won a Tony for her 1966 Broadway performance in Wait Until Dark. Yet, when it was made into a film the following year, Audrey Hepburn was chosen to play Susy Hendrix, the terrorized blind woman.

Lee Remick plays a latter day Hitchcock blonde, like Grace Kelly in 'Rear Window.'

Eileen Heckart has a field day as George's Jewish mama, Mrs. Brummel. The character is a total stereotype, but Heckart makes the mama good-hearted and fun, beneath the endless kvetching! Eileen was the next generation Thelma Ritter.

Eileen Heckhart as the Jewish mama of Segal's cop Morris Brummel, multi-tasking.

Rod Steiger's serial killer offers an impersonation of W.C. Fields to George Segal's harried cop. Segal's reaction was like the critics later, when Steiger played Fields!

Rod Steiger has a field day as a would-be actor whose mother was the real talent in the family. His frustrated character, Christopher Gill, busts out every cliché in the book: the Irish priest; the gay hairdresser; the German plumber, etc. Steiger even offers an ear-splitting imitation of W.C. Fields—a film role he played later—and is so over the top that Segal’s Mo responds by wincing! Still, Jack Smight later wrote that while he had to remind Steiger to stop chewing the scenery, the method actor was totally committed to the role. Steiger gives it his all, and any Rod excess just benefits the character. Steiger as Christopher is funny, vain, scary, neurotic, sad, and just about everything in between. What’s especially interesting about Rod’s character is that he truly engages his victims that you hate that he’s going to kill them! Also, darkly funny, is when Gill follows his own press about the murders, like an actor reading his reviews.

Rod Steiger as killer Christopher Gill, keeping track on his press persona.

This film is filled with great character actors. Murray Hamilton seems to have been in every movie during this era, starting from ‘59’s Anatomy of a Murder through ‘75’s Jaws. Hamilton is Inspector Haines, Brummel’s no-nonsense boss. David Doyle, future Charlie’s Angels wrangler Bosley, is Lt. Dawson. The victims are very distinctive, real, and sympathetic: Sybil’s mom aka Martine Bartlett as Alma Mulloy; Ruth White as Mrs. Himmel; and Irene Dailey as Mrs. Fitts. The always quirky Barbra Baxley is the one who gets away, as the cat lady, whose sister is played by an unrecognizable Doris Roberts—until she speaks!—and scares Steiger off. Michael Dunn is hyper and amusing as the wannabe killer.

Steiger's killer as hissy hairdresser "Dorian," with fussy customer, droll Barbara Baxley.

Lady is a great time capsule of NYC in the late '60s. Speaking of which, the ‘60s is when wigs went mainstream and between virtually every female character and Rod Steiger’s master of disguise, it’s like Wigstock!

Though not a classic thriller, No Way to Treat a Lady treats its audience to a gripping story with strong performances from its stellar cast.

FYI: I put all the movie overflow on my public FB  movie page. 

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Lee Remick's last supper? Steiger's killer zeroes in on the cop's girlfriend.