starring Paul Newman
directed by Jack Smight
121 minutes
Private investigator Lew Harper (Paul Newman) searches for a missing multi-millionaire, Ralph Sampson. Harper's friend, attorney Albert Graves, hired him but Mrs. Sampson is the one footing the bill. Harper finds a tangled web of people behind the kidnapping. Some play innocent when Harper meets them, some do not. Mr. Sampson is already dead when Harper finally finds him. Sampson recovers the ransom money but the movie ends on a very ambiguous note.
There are a number of familiar faces (Lauren Bacall, Julie Harris, Janet Leigh, Robert Wagner, Robert Webber, Shelley Winters, Harold Gould) in this movie.
I did not like the ending. I'm not sure what to make of it or what it even means. It seems like a complete copout. I thought that there was going to be at least one more reveal and at least a couple more characters killed when the movie just stopped. The reveal I was expecting was that Mr. Sampson's adult daughter was going to be behind it all.
I wasn't about to give it a glowing review before the very abrupt ending. On the whole it felt clumsy. I'm not a fan. I don't regret watching it but I can't see myself watching it again.
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