Harper (1966)
R1 / NTSC DVD
Warner / 2006
Directed by Jack Smight
Written by William Goldman and Ross Macdonald
Cast: Paul Newman, Lauren Bacall, Robert Wagner, Janet Leigh, Shelley Winters
Review by James Garfield
Los Angeles private eye Lew Harper gets hired by the rich paraplegic Mrs. Sampson to find her missing husband, who may have been abducted in Las Vegas. Harper finds an assortment of leads and suspects, including Mr. Sampson’s teen daughter, his pilot, and one or more mistresses he had on the side. Harper’s sleuthing leads him to a religious cult in the mountains. Along the way, he gets knocked around several times and tries to win back his ex-wife, who hates him but is at least more honest than anyone else he meets.
Adapted from Ross Macdonald’s novel The Moving Target, Harper alters the name of the book’s protagonist, Lew Archer, to fit in with star Paul Newman’s track record of mega-hit “H” films (The Hustler and Hud).
Here we catch the private-eye genre in transition, when the new artistic freedom of the late 60s allowed more explicit depiction of the violence and sex of the pulp literature that the films derived from. Lauren Bacall’s here as a reminder of the earlier days of the genre, and its business as usual with regard to the female characters, nearly all of who come across as sluttish and conniving. The plot is nothing special, but involving enough. The real charm in Harper is the top-flight cast delivering witty, clever dialogue—future screenwriting superstar William Goldman was on the rise here. As always, Shelley Winters steals her scenes.
Private-eye fans will have the best time with Harper—it’s no masterpiece, but its considerable charm makes it a solid entry in the genre.
