STILETTO (1969)

One-time exploitation producer Joseph E. Levine (see SHOWMAN/’63: https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2022/10/showman-1963.html) had gone downright classy with recent Oscar-winners like THE PRODUCERS/’67, THE GRADUATE/’67 and THE LION IN WINTER/‘68.  So how did his second adaptation of a Harold Robbins bestseller, following 1964's top-grossing THE CARPETBAGGERS, turn into a ‘B-pic?’  (He’d fail again next year on Robbins’ THE ADVENTURERS/’70, not seen here.)  Whatever the reason, Levine seems to have given up during pre-production, hiring tv-sized talent in all departments and getting what he paid for.  Series tv director Bernard Kowalski sends jet-setting playboy Alex Cord off with alternating gal pals (Britt Ekland; Barbara McNair) on globe-trotting missions to take out possible witnesses against mob guy Joseph Wiseman.  Mush-mouthed Patrick O’Neal’s the police dick in charge of keeping someone alive long enough to testify in court for lawyer John Dehner.  There’s an artsy, hard-to-follow prologue (still shots in sepia!) showing why Cord follows instructions, but execution (in sex as well as in executions) ain’t lively enough (in gun & stiletto play) or titillating enough (to bed with blonde Ekland or Black McNair?) to cause much of a stir.  Though the abundant over-teased ‘70s hair much appreciated.

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK: Coarse as it is, between Edward Dmytryk’s professionalism and Paramount Picture’s polish, THE CARPETBAGGERS still makes for dandy entertainment.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-carpetbaggers-1964.html

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Lots of early sightings here: Olympia Dukakis, Charles Durning, Raul Julia, M. Emmet Walsh; plus a late one for the great Eduardo Ciannelli.