"City Heat" was a Blake Edwards project that derailed in Hollywood. The genial director of "Ten", "S.O.B.", "Victor-Victoria", among others, was fired from his own creation. A lot of people became involved, trying to bring it to the screen. This film is a perfect example of why too many cooks can spoil the broth. How much of this mess can be attributed to the original screenplay Mr. Edwards wrote, although we suspect it was completely changed. The fact that Sam O. Brown is given credit might indicate how Blake Edwards felt about seeing his work destroyed. Ultimately, Richard Benjamin was selected to direct.
For lack of better things to watch, we caught "City Heat" not too long ago. It is not a complete disaster, but nothing seems to make sense. For this being a film about a period in which gangsters dominated the criminal scene in America, the criminals in the movie commit the ultimate sin: they cannot even shoot! There are frequent gun fights, but hardly anyone is hurt.
It might have been an attraction to pair the two stars, Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds, who were at the top of their craft to star in "City Heat", but their characters do not make much sense. We keep thinking whether Speer and Murphy were supposed to be allies, or enemies. The women do not fare better. Jane Alexander is totally wasted. Madeleine Kahn has nothing to do, only appearing in about three sequences. Irene Cara's Ginny Lee is an afterthought. Rip Torn, Tony Lobianco, and the rest of the supporting players do not add anything to a film that is best forgotten for what it did not deliver. Richard Benjamin would probably be better off omitting this from his directing resume.
For lack of better things to watch, we caught "City Heat" not too long ago. It is not a complete disaster, but nothing seems to make sense. For this being a film about a period in which gangsters dominated the criminal scene in America, the criminals in the movie commit the ultimate sin: they cannot even shoot! There are frequent gun fights, but hardly anyone is hurt.
It might have been an attraction to pair the two stars, Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds, who were at the top of their craft to star in "City Heat", but their characters do not make much sense. We keep thinking whether Speer and Murphy were supposed to be allies, or enemies. The women do not fare better. Jane Alexander is totally wasted. Madeleine Kahn has nothing to do, only appearing in about three sequences. Irene Cara's Ginny Lee is an afterthought. Rip Torn, Tony Lobianco, and the rest of the supporting players do not add anything to a film that is best forgotten for what it did not deliver. Richard Benjamin would probably be better off omitting this from his directing resume.