Hot Picks
|
|
|
Sherlock Holmes in New York
USA 1976
produced by John Cutts, Nancy Malone (executive) for 20th Century Fox/NBC
directed by Boris Sagal
starring Roger Moore, John Huston, Patrick Macnee, Charlotte Rampling, David Huddleston, Signe Hasso, Gig Young, Leon Ames, John Abbott, Jackie Coogan, Maria Grimm, William 'Billy' Benedict, Marjorie Bennett, Paul Sorenson, John Steadman, Robert Ball, Vincent Barbi, Roy Goldman, Tom Denver, Gil Perkins, Harvey Parry, Alvin Sapinsley, Shawn Mallory, Geoffrey Moore
screenplay by Alvin Sapinsley, based on characters created by Arthur Conan Doyle, music by Richard Rodney Bennett
Sherlock Holmes, Moriarty, Irene Adler
review by Mike Haberfelner
|
|
|
|
Related stuff you might want!!!(commissions earned) |
|
|
|
London, 1901: Once again, Sherlock Holmes (Roger Moore) has smashed his
arch-enemy Moriarty's (John Huston organisation. Only Moriarty himself
manages to escape, but not before announcing the crime of the century that
he'll commit, with Holmes being unable to do anything. Soon afterwards,
Holmes and Watson (Patrick Macnee) are summoned to New York by Holmes' one
true love, actress Irene Adler (Charlotte Rampling), whose son (Geoffrey
Moore), who might or might not be Holmes's offspring, has been kidnapped.
Soon after learning that, Holmes receives a message from Moriarty that he
is to refuse cooperation when the police approaches him otherwise the boy
will be harmed. Soon after, the police approaches Holmes in a case bigger
than anything he has ever worked on: Turns out the New York gold exchange
has been robbed clean, entered via a tunnle digged from a subway
construction site. Holmes refuses of course ... Of course, Holmes
doesn't really turn down the police, he merely has to free the boy without
Moriarty knowing it - which he does thanks to a series of bizarre
disguises and of course clever deduction -, then he dives into the case of
the emptied gold exchange head-on, and eventually finds out it was never
actually robbed at all, there was just a replica of the vault (without the
gold) built directly above it, and the elevator to the vault was stopped
prematurely. Knowing that, Holmes has Moriarty's gang rounded up, but
Moriarty escapes, and once again he takes Irene Adler's son hostage. But
Holmes fights it out with Moriarty and frees the boy, and ... Moriarty
escapes! Roger Moore as Sherlock Holmes? Now this does sound
like a terrible idea, and to this movie's defense, it is not as bad as the
idea sounds - but it's not good either. Basically it's just a rather
boring period crime thriller that really fucks up when it comes to its
lead character, who is presented like something of a romantic hero here -
which is kind of a gross misinterpretation of Holmes's relationship with
Irene Adler as depicted by Arthur Conan Doyle. Add to this a plot that's
far-fetched and lacks excitement, and a Doctor Watson that does not do
justice to its actor's abilities and the most boring Irene Adler in movie
history (not Charlotte Rampling's but the script's fault though), and
you're left with precious little. And a final word about Roger Moore as
Sherlock Holmes: Well, he is not the most versatile actor, and Holmes as
we know him/expect him to be is a bit out of his range, but he had to work
with a very weak script, so he was never even given a chance to prove his
doubters wrong, so bearing this in mind, his performance is almost decent.
The film just isn't good!
|