Bloodline (1979)

Director:

Terence Young

Writers:

Laird Koenig (writer)
Sidney Sheldon (novel)

Release Date:

29 June 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

The line between love and death is the bloodline.

Plot:

When her father is murdered, a cosmetics heiress becomes the next target of an unknown killer amid the international jet set.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Snuff Film | Heiress | Female Nudity | Nude Woman Murdered

Cast

Audrey Hepburn	...	Elizabeth Roffe
Ben Gazzara	...	Rhys Williams
James Mason	...	Sir Alec Nichols
Claudia Mori	...	Donatella
Irene Papas	...	Simonetta Palazzi
Michelle Phillips	...	Vivian Nichols
Maurice Ronet	...	Charles Martin
Romy Schneider	...	Hélène Roffe-Martin
Omar Sharif	...	Ivo Palazzi
Beatrice Straight	...	Kate Erling
Gert Fröbe	...	Inspector Max Hornung
Wolfgang Preiss	...	Julius Prager
Marcel Bozzuffi	...	Man in Black
Pinkas Braun	...	Dr. Wal
Wulf Kessler	...	Young Sam Roffe

Also Known As:

Blutspur (West Germany)
Sidney Sheldon's Bloodline

Runtime:

USA:116 min | West Germany:117 min

Country:

USA | West Germany

Language:

English | Italian | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:18 (video rating) | West Germany:16 | Australia:M | Australia:MA (DVD re-rating) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | USA:R | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

NF Geria III-Produktion München

Trivia:

The part of Elizabeth Roffe was turned down by Candice Bergen, Jacqueline Bisset and Diane Keaton before Audrey Hepburn accepted, and the character's age was changed from 23 to 35.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): In Sardinia, when Major Campagna talks to his soldiers, he speaks in Italian, but when he talks to his superior, on the phone, he speaks in English and not in Italian.

Quotes:

Elizabeth Roffe: [during a board meeting to consider letting the company go public] Who didn't agree?
Simonetta Palazzi: Sam, but it was not, uh...

Good entertainment how-to if you can't be rich and glamorous

I had the good fortune as a teenager to sit through "Bloodline" each day or night for the week it ran in Freeport, Illinois. Later, when I ran away to NYC, I watched it again on my first little screen in a tiny, sloped theater-in-a-complex. I scoured Central Park for one of the scenes shot there against a graffiti-dusted bridge. Ahh... It was my last fix for a while on what chic is, what perseverance, trust and fabulous Parisian locales can do for a lost soul... Then I ran away to France. It would a few more years before I made it to Paris, but when I did I searched out Hotel de Crillion, Maxim's, Notre Dame. The Sydney Sheldon book was a bore compared to the film. Seeing these great international actors together -- Romy "Shrew in Silk" Schneider and Irene "Show me your back!" Papas, for example -- gave me a great shot of what it must be like to tread life's waters in Gucci and Bulgari (back when Gucci didn't seem so silly (watch out! is Chanel next?)) This film, about the Roffe Pharmaceutical heiress (Audrey Hepburn)tagged for murder because she won't go public with the stock market, has a great soundtrack, with lovely resolution, and if you can get the album or CD you'll catch a funky tune not used in the film. All those bits of different languages, different people: "Kennst du dieser Mann?" "They make cheese!" "Poland? This time of year?". What about that tacky snuff-murder sidebar (Roffe's film stock is being used to discredit the company)? You have to admit that that bald man is a hotty. I am in a whirl of support for this little picture and I'd see it again and again. Sometimes the best teachers in life are lurking in the cinema. It's not just about art! Look at Audrey's friendship with her Dad's aide, Beatrice Straight. What about that "senseless" death when Audrey goes back to get earrings? The cool unfolding opening credits and shocking change in music? And I could write a book on all that absolutely fabulous Givenchy clothing!!! The velvet applique and crystal-studded gown she wears to meet Gazzara (another hotty) at the "Guess who?" restaurant? How about the OD green wool cape as she meets about a new formula that can save Roffe? How about her chic sweater and cords as she crawls across the imbricated roof of that villa in Sardinia? Reprising the Jewish ghetto in Crakow? Horses and syringes? The ubiquitous tied-up silk robe Audrey wears? Count me in! This was one of her best "adult" roles. She got a million bucks to do it, it gave her family even more security, and I say she infused the project with inestimable elan. It is a satisfying and slightly sickening love story. Long live Audrey Hepburn! (May she rest in peace.)