Jack Lord should be an inspiration to
struggling actors. Stick at it long enough and you might get lucky. Lord
had been acting professionally since 1949 in various roles that got him little
acclaim. He was Felix Leiter in the first Bond film, Dr. No, but demanded
too much money and wasn't cast in the second film. He was offered a role
in a sci-fi series but demanded 50% of the ownership and was turned down.
It went to William Shatner. But at the age of 48 after a few others turned
down the role - Richard Boone being one - he was offered to play Steve McGarrett
at the last minute. It may not have needed great acting, but it paid
the bills for 12-years. This film was released in theaters right before Hawaii
Five-O but it is unlikely that it had anything to do with him getting the
role. It is a stinker and for good reason as another review I read informs
us.
It had been a TV episode on Bob Hope Presents
the Chrysler Theater in May 1966. The Bob Hope Presents offered a different
show every week with a different cast with Hope only introducing them - they
ranged from crime to spy to comedy shows. Some talented people were involved.
In this episode titled The Faceless Man, Lord plays an undercover agent who
goes behind the Iron Curtain to find out who is killing defectors. It was
an hour show. For reasons unknown, this show is taken and has 30-minutes
added to it, the plot changed and is released into theaters. It is as one
might expect a mess. Dreary and making no sense.
This time around two sailors have been murdered
in America and the FBI thinks it is related to a counterfeiting ring that
is passing out phony bills. Lord goes undercover wearing these weird Batman
sunglasses as a professional hitman. He is quickly checked out by Jack Weston,
gets involved with a bar girl (Shirley Knight) and hired by his old friend
from Dr. No, Joseph Wiseman to make a hit. Showing up also is Mercedes McCambridge
as a hardened bartender, L.Q. Jones as the dimwitted hotel clerk and somewhere
in there is Nicholas Colasanto (Cheers) as a cop. The score to its credit
comes from Quincy Jones.
