99 and 44/100% Dead (1974)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

John Frankenheimer

Writer:

Robert Dillon (writer)

Release Date:

November 1974 (Turkey)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Crime

Tagline:

Everyone is dying to meet Harry Crown.

Plot:

Uncle Frank Kelly calls on Harry Crown to help him in a gang war. The war becomes personal when Harry's new girlfriend is kidnapped by Uncle Frank's enemy, Big Eddie.

Plot Keywords:

Uncle | Gang War | Rival | Girlfriend | Hitman

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe.

Cast

Richard Harris	...	Harry Crown
Edmond O'Brien	...	Uncle Frank Kelly
Bradford Dillman	...	Big Eddie
Ann Turkel	...	Buffy
Constance Ford	...	Dolly
David Hall	...	Tony
Kathrine Baumann	...	Baby
Janice Heiden	...	Clara
Max Kleven	...	North
Karl Lukas	...	Guard
Tony Brubaker	...	Burt (as Anthony Brubaker)
Jerry Summers	...	Shoes
Roy Jenson	...	Jake
Chuck Connors	...	Marvin 'Claw' Zuckerman
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bennie E. Dobbins		(as Bennie Dobbins)
Zooey Hall	...	Tony (as David Hall)
Chuck Roberson	...	Gunman

Also Known As:

Call Harry Crown (UK)

Runtime:

98 min | 94 min (FMC Library Print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1974) | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-18 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | Norway:(Banned) (1974-2003) (cinema release)

Filming Locations:

Seattle, Washington, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The title parodies the Ivory Soap advertising slogan "99 - 44/100% Pure"

Movie Connections:

Featured in Age 7 in the USSR (1991) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Sobre las olas (Over the Waves)

Not very satiric satire

It's certainly different, but it's not very good. Richard Harris plays a hit-man hired by a mob boss to knock off a rival. Director John Frankenheimer starts things off with a bang with Roy Lichtenstein inspired titles and a pretty fun shoot out/car chase. The film itself is so slow that quirky touches like a giant balloon sculpture, a lesson on cement shoes and an incorporated brothel offer a lot of relief. Harris looks otherwise engaged and Ann Turkel, though gorgeous, isn't much of an actress...and she's certainly too classy to be convincing as a school teacher/dancer named Buffy! A very old and tired looking Edmond O'Brien plays "Uncle" Frankie, the mob boss --- he looks like a puffy Humphrey Bogart and sounds like a near dead Jason Robards. Talk about Lauren Bacall's dream date! Chuck Connors plays "Claw" and clearly has a lot of fun with his prosthetic. Bradford Dillman is awful as O'Brien's rival...he affects some sort of Brooklyn accent even though no one else does AND the film is set in L.A. Henry Mancini's jazzy score is great, but becomes increasingly intrusive as the film progresses.

Flaws aside, the film is surely a high-water mark in the spotty career of Richard Harris...he went on to star in ORCA, THE CASSANDRA CROSSING, etc.