99 and 44/100% Dead (1974)

Director:

John Frankenheimer

Writer:

Robert Dillon (written by)

Release Date:

23 September 1974 (France)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | 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 | Rival | Chase | Gang War | Crime Boss

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
Zooey Hall	...	Tony (as David Hall)
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:
Tom Anfinsen	...	Dakota
Bennie E. Dobbins		(as Bennie Dobbins)
Chuck Roberson	...	Gunman
William Hansen	...	Joe - Kelly's Accountant (uncredited)

Directed by
John Frankenheimer

Writing credits
Robert Dillon		(written by)

Produced by
Mickey Borofsky	....	associate producer
Joe Wizan	....	producer

Original Music by
Henry Mancini

Cinematography by
Ralph Woolsey		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Harold F. Kress

Casting by
Jack Baur

Art Direction by
Herman A. Blumenthal		(as Herman Blumenthal)

Set Decoration by
Jerry Wunderlich

Costume Design by
Ron Talsky

Makeup Department
Ken Chase	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Mel Dellar	....	unit production manager (as Melvin D. Dellar)
Jere Henshaw	....	executive in charge of production

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Kurt Neumann	....	assistant director
Lorin Bennett Salob	....	second assistant director (as Lorin B. Salob)

Sound Department
Glenn E. Anderson	....	sound mixer (as Glenn Anderson)
Don Hall	....	sound editor
Godfrey Marks	....	dialogue editor
Edward Rossi	....	sound editor
Theodore Soderberg	....	sound re-recording mixer

Special Effects by
Ira Anderson Jr.	....	special effects
A. Paul Pollard	....	special effects (as Paul Pollard Jr.)

Stunts
Craig R. Baxley	....	stunts
Max Kleven	....	stunt coordinator
Jerry Brutsche	....	stunts (uncredited)
Joe Canutt	....	stunts (uncredited)
Erik Cord	....	stunts (uncredited)
Howard Curtis	....	stunts (uncredited)
Nick Dimitri	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bennie E. Dobbins	....	stunts (uncredited)
Larry Duran	....	stunts (uncredited)
Dick Durock	....	stunt double (uncredited)
Tony Epper	....	stunts (uncredited)
Fritz Ford	....	stunt double (uncredited)
Bob Herron	....	stunts (uncredited)
Larry Holt	....	stunts (uncredited)
Loren Janes	....	stunts (uncredited)
Gene LeBell	....	stunts (uncredited)
Terry Leonard	....	stunt double (uncredited)
Fred Lerner	....	stunts (uncredited)
Harvey Parry	....	stunts (uncredited)
Peter Peterson	....	stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Roberson	....	stunts (uncredited)
George Robotham	....	stunts (uncredited)
Walter Scott	....	stunts (uncredited)
Paul Stader	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jack Verbois	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jesse Wayne	....	stunts (uncredited)
George P. Wilbur	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jack Williams	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Lamar Boren	....	underwater photographer
Chris Schwiebert	....	camera operator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Shelly Levine	....	costumer

Transportation Department
James E. Haynes	....	driver
Chris Haynes	....	driver (uncredited)

Other crew
Phill Norman	....	titles
Paul Stader	....	underwater director
Bruce Pittman	....	production assistant (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1974) (USA) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Video (1982) (UK) (VHS) (PAL)
• 20th Century Fox Video (1982) (USA) (VHS)
• CBS / Fox Video (1985) (Greece) (VHS)
• CBS/Fox Video (1984) (Belgium) (video)
• Shout! Factory (2011) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Westheimer Company  titles (as Westheimer Co.)

Also Known As:

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:

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

Filming Locations:

Port of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Ann Turkel was a last minute replacement for Jacqueline Bisset.

Movie Connections:

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

Soundtrack:

The Stars and Stripes Forever

Mob Bosses and the hit men who work for them

99 and 44/100ths Percent Dead is the story of a mob war between two rival bosses, Edmond O'Brien and Bradford Dillman and the two hit men working for them, Richard Harris and Chuck Connors. The film is enjoyable but it can't seem to make up its mind whether it's a spoof of the genre or a straight out action film.

Richard Harris is hired by O'Brien to help him in his war with Dillman over the Los Angeles territory. O'Brien needs Harris bad especially since Dillman has Connors on retainer. Harris and Connors have some history with Harris leaving Chuck with a permanent reminder.

Which is in the form of a handy/dandy claw which has various attachments for whatever need you have at the moment. When I saw this in the theater back in the Seventies it was that claw I remembered. Connors who first started in films playing villains like Buck Hannessy in The Big Country went to television and became a hero in The Rifleman and Branded. Personally I always thought Connors was better as a bad guy.

Bradford Dillman though I had forgotten, his was an incredibly hammy performance as the rival gang boss. It would have been appropriate and would have succeeded if the satire that might have been intended had come off.

The film while not memorable in his career did furnish Richard Harris with a wife. Tall and leggy Ann Turkel made her second film and was billed as being 'introduced' here. The old adage about having no attachments is certainly true as the bad guys can get to Harris through Turkel and nearly succeed.

Sadly this was the farewell film for Edmond O'Brien who was another victim of Alzheimer's Disease and spent the last ten years of his life losing his career and memories thereof to that terrible curse. He could have probably done something better, but at least it was no Cuban Rebel Girl that terrible film Errol Flynn capped his career with.

99 and 44/100ths Percent Dead is still enjoyable, but could have been done a lot better by director John Frankenheimer.