The Solid Gold Swingers
While
answering a high-rise apartment burglary call, McCloud stumbles on a body,
which then disappears. The case leads to a VIP madam under indictment, whose
girls are apparently being murdered by a serial killer.
The Uptown Call Girl and the Suburban Hit Man
Michael
Gleason’s script is characterized not by independent strands (as often the case
with McCloud) but shifting perspectives controlled by the overriding
mystery.
McCloud’s
lead is a British interior decorator who turns out to be a paid escort from
Philadelphia who’s really a hooker from the Bronx. “Maybe next time,” she says,
“I’ll try the Virgin Islands.”
Karen
Chandler, the madam, expresses the theme: “I spent my life scrambling to get
off these streets, and just when I’ve got it made they’re trying to take it
away from me.” She’s also blackmailing several notable clients, including a
senator, a television star and a football player, for sizeable sums.
The
murderer is a traveling salesman who turns out to be a serial killer and drug
addict who’s really a hit man. He lives on Long Island in a comfortable
suburban home with his wife and two children; “how horrible the city is,” he
tells them. His dream is to “get away” to Duchess County. He suffers from
chronic headaches, for which he takes a morphine powder obtained in Chinatown.
He’s being paid through a detective in the D.A. Squad, who’s on the madam’s
pad.
The
key is a charming joke on Dante’s famous courtesan Thaïs: “digitalis leaf” is
supposed to induce a semblance of death that only a doctor can diagnose correctly.
Antonio’s
direction pays significant attention to rhythm and tempo in the editing (two
editors worked on The Solid Gold Swingers), and there is a large amount
of location footage, culminating in a genuine feeling of New York.
|
Joanna Pettet Melissa Thompson/Margaret
Harker/Charlotte Ockerman Ross Martin Jerry Davis/Frank Morris/Charles
Hollenbeck Neville Brand Det. Lt. Roy Mackie Joanna Barnes Karen Chandler Steve Allen Doug King Elizabeth Lane Grace Hollenbeck Simon Scott Senator Arthur Ferris Denny Miller Murphy Michaels Don Hanmer Harvey William Bramley Detective Sgt. Reese William Gleason Billy Richard Loo Y.S. Chen (unbilled) |
Written by Michael Gleason Directed by Lou Antonio |
38003, 12.2.73
CHIEF CLIFFORD: You know, Senator Ferris isn’t a bad
sort—when he stops shouting
KAREN CHANDLER: You know, I’m sure my lawyer would
frown on this conversation.
CHIEF CLIFFORD: And don’t give me any of your
barnyard bromides, a straight yes or no will do.
DETECTIVE MACKIE: I know how to make it look real,
right down to the last detail.
KAREN CHANDLER: When I first met Peter, he was the
roughest, straightest, handsomest flatfoot on Forty-Fifth Street.
CHIEF
CLIFFORD: And you were the prettiest... pedestrian.
SENATOR FERRIS: We’ll miss you, McCloud.
McCLOUD: There ya
go.
McCLOUD: I was standin’ there like a three-legged jackass!
McCLOUD: I didn’t know they had coal mines in the Bronx.
CHARLOTTE
OCKERMAN: It’s only geography, Sam.
GRACE HOLLENBECK: Sometimes he’d whimper... like a
little lost child.