Alan Ladd, at almost 50, plays a rocket scientist (literally) who is too dumb to fill up his gas tank. So he gets stranded on a lonely street and gets roughed up by a gang led by pretty boy Michael Callan. It's a little disconcerting to see someone who was once a major star getting the crap kicked out of him, but that's Hollywood. So Ladd winds up in the hospital, where we get introduced to his wife, played by Dolores Dorn. Ethnic Detective Rod Steiger (he is supposed to be of Polish descent, apparently so he could use the word "Pollock") investigates the case. Steiger wears a bowtie, but no one will confuse him with Pee Wee Herman. Steiger manages to get a few details out of Ladd, then the case bogs down.
Dorn's brother just happens to be the principal of the local high school, so she enlists Steiger to go with her and see if any of the local kids might be involved. One of the kids spots her, and later, somebody throws an object through her window. Dorn walks outside the house to check. Idiot. A few moments later she gets a threatening phone call. When Ladd gets home a few seconds later, she makes up a story that she was vacuuming the drapes and the machine slipped; thus the hole. Yeah, I'd swallow that story in a minute. Eventually, Ladd gets the truth out of her, and so he proceeds to break numerous laws on his quest to bring the gang to justice. I lost count of the violations, but there is stalking, breaking and entering, obstruction of justice, stealing a police car, hiring an incompetent private eye, and challenging Jack Palance to draw. This would all be worth it if had he been eliminating the gang members one by one in vigilante style; sadly, that is not the case, and he comes off as pathetic at times. Meanwhile, Steiger keeps warning Ladd to cool it.
Steiger, who works even slower than Columbo, finally puts some clues together, one of which is a gang member who hangs himself. In the finale, Callan breaks into Ladd's house (naturally Ladd's not around) and terrorizes Dorn. Well, terrorize isn't quite the right word. Annoys might be better. Callan runs off when he hears a police siren, and Ladd (in the aforementioned stolen police car) tracks Callan down, where he proceeds to assault Callan with a cane. Steiger, who by now has switched from bowtie to necktie, arrives in the nick of time and allows Ladd to walk away (well, limp).
There are plenty of familiar faces in the cast, including Ted Knight, Stanley Adams, Henry Beckman, Margaret Hayes, and future soap stars Chris Robinson and Jeanne Cooper. I also spotted future biker-film scuzzball Adam Roarke sitting in the back seat of a car. Michael Callan, who was almost 27 by the time the film was released, almost convinced me he could be a high school student - assuming his high school went up to grade 22.
I went back and forth on whether Ladd was the right choice for his role. He was at the end of his career and did not look well. He spends most of the film on crutches or using a cane (due to the beating, although a cynic might say it was possibly due to his drinking). He just looks plain tired and his speech sounds slurred at times. Dolores Dorn was over 25 years younger than Ladd, which makes things even worse. Steiger is clearly on tranquilizers. I've never seen him so sedate. Apparently there was not enough scenery in the budget for him to chew this time.
Dorn's brother just happens to be the principal of the local high school, so she enlists Steiger to go with her and see if any of the local kids might be involved. One of the kids spots her, and later, somebody throws an object through her window. Dorn walks outside the house to check. Idiot. A few moments later she gets a threatening phone call. When Ladd gets home a few seconds later, she makes up a story that she was vacuuming the drapes and the machine slipped; thus the hole. Yeah, I'd swallow that story in a minute. Eventually, Ladd gets the truth out of her, and so he proceeds to break numerous laws on his quest to bring the gang to justice. I lost count of the violations, but there is stalking, breaking and entering, obstruction of justice, stealing a police car, hiring an incompetent private eye, and challenging Jack Palance to draw. This would all be worth it if had he been eliminating the gang members one by one in vigilante style; sadly, that is not the case, and he comes off as pathetic at times. Meanwhile, Steiger keeps warning Ladd to cool it.
Steiger, who works even slower than Columbo, finally puts some clues together, one of which is a gang member who hangs himself. In the finale, Callan breaks into Ladd's house (naturally Ladd's not around) and terrorizes Dorn. Well, terrorize isn't quite the right word. Annoys might be better. Callan runs off when he hears a police siren, and Ladd (in the aforementioned stolen police car) tracks Callan down, where he proceeds to assault Callan with a cane. Steiger, who by now has switched from bowtie to necktie, arrives in the nick of time and allows Ladd to walk away (well, limp).
There are plenty of familiar faces in the cast, including Ted Knight, Stanley Adams, Henry Beckman, Margaret Hayes, and future soap stars Chris Robinson and Jeanne Cooper. I also spotted future biker-film scuzzball Adam Roarke sitting in the back seat of a car. Michael Callan, who was almost 27 by the time the film was released, almost convinced me he could be a high school student - assuming his high school went up to grade 22.
I went back and forth on whether Ladd was the right choice for his role. He was at the end of his career and did not look well. He spends most of the film on crutches or using a cane (due to the beating, although a cynic might say it was possibly due to his drinking). He just looks plain tired and his speech sounds slurred at times. Dolores Dorn was over 25 years younger than Ladd, which makes things even worse. Steiger is clearly on tranquilizers. I've never seen him so sedate. Apparently there was not enough scenery in the budget for him to chew this time.