The Lineup (1958) / Z-View
The Lineup (1958)
Director: Don Siegal
Screenplay: Stirling Silliphant
Stars: Eli Wallach, Robert Keith and Richard Jaeckel.
The Pitch: “Hey, if it works on tv…?”
Tagline: “The Manhunt They Had To Put on the Giant-Sized Movie Theatre Screen!”
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
A criminal organization gets heroin into the US by hiding it in tourists’ luggage (without the tourists’ knowlege). A psycho hitman and his partner then retrieve the heroin (by whatever force needed).
Two police detectives investigating a murder discover what is going on. As the bodies pile up they learn that a woman and her little daughter are next on the psycho’s list!
I was expecting a lot more than a by-the-numbers police procedural from director, Don [Dirty Harry] Siegal, writer and Sterling [Route 66] Silliphant. There’s a lot of potential here but only Eli Wallach rises above the material given.
Perhaps my rating is a bit tough because I was expecting so much more.
Rating:
