Harry Roat Jr: "I cannot negotiate in an atmosphere of mistrust."
Classic American thriller, released in 1967. It was directed by
Terence Young and written by
Robert Howard-Carrington and
Jane Howard Carrington, based upon the
play by
Frederick Knott.
Mel Ferrer was the
producer,
Henry Mancini composed the
music, and
Charles Lang was the
cinematographer. The
film starred
Audrey Hepburn as Susy Hendrix,
Alan Arkin as Harry Roat,
Richard Crenna as Mike Talman,
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. as Sam Hendrix,
Jack Weston as Carlino,
Samantha Jones as Lisa, and
Julie Herrod as Gloria.
Basic plot: Susy is
blind. Her husband has obtained a
doll which, unbeknownst to him, was being used to
smuggle drugs. He has left it somewhere in their
apartment and left town for a few days. Mike and Carlino are
hoods who want to get the doll away from Susy. Harry Roat is a
killer, and he's set his sights on getting the doll
and killing Susy. Is there any way for Susy to make it out of this situation
alive?
It's been a very, very long time since I saw this
movie, but the main thing I remember is how incredibly
scary it is. The
suspense is excruciating, especially toward the end of the film. It's tight, scary,
smart -- all the things you look for in a good thriller. You've watched a bunch of crappy movies this year, haven't you? Go out and rent this one -- you should treat yourself to a seriously great movie for once.
Hepburn was nominated for both an
Oscar and a
Golden Globe, while Zimbalist was nominated for a supporting actor Golden Globe. The big crime was that Arkin was
not nominated for an
Oscar, 'cause he's absolutely
outstanding.
Neat
trivia: Hepburn learned to read
Braille for this role and had to be fitted with special
contact lenses because it was decided that her eyes were too
expressive to belong to a blind woman; and when the film was released, many theaters began
dimming their house lights during the film's
climax until all the
lights were out (if you've seen the movie, you know why; if you haven't -- listen, I already told you to go rent it. Go, dammit!).
Research from the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com)