This Girl for Hire (1983) (TV)

Director:

Jerry Jameson

Writers:

Barbara Avedon (story)
Steve Brown (writer)

Release Date:

1 November 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Mystery

Plot:

In this pilot for a proposed TV series, B.T. Brady is a flippant, but somewhat klutzy female private...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | 1940s | Failed Pilot | Spoof | Female Detective

Cast

Bess Armstrong	...	B.T. Brady
Celeste Holm	...	Zandra Stoneham
Cliff De Young	...	Lieutenant Phil Hansen
Hermione Baddeley	...	Edwina Gaylord
Scott Brady	...	Mitch Dillon
Howard Duff	...	Wolfe Macready
José Ferrer	...	Harrison Wooly
Beverly Garland	...	Evan Picard
Roddy McDowall	...	Manfred Hayes
Percy Rodrigues	...	Jonathan Eastman
Ray Walston	...	Abner Litto
Elisha Cook Jr.	...	Eddie (as Elisha Cook)
William Lanteau	...	Maurice
Fredric Lehne	...	Peter Canton (as Frederick Lehne)
George Reynolds	...	Garth Jackson

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

Grauman's Chinese Theater - 6925 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Orion Television

Trivia:

Last film of Hermione Baddeley.

So Boring... (watch a decent noir)

This film is about a private detective who, in the employ of an elderly mystery writer, is supposed to keep a manuscript for his latest book, then deliver it to a publisher when it is due. However, after only a day with the manuscript, the author is killed. This leaves our private eye with a manuscript for a book, nowhere to take it and some pretty bloodthirsty people looking for it.

The plot above sounds like it could (I cannot stress "could" enough) make a fairly decent Film Noir. The plot is fairly good. However, that is not the problem of this movie.

I will now use the example of two classic Film Noirs - "The Big Sleep" and "Build My Gallows High" ("Out of the Past" in America). These two movies have, as their lead actors, Humphrey Bogart and Robert Mitchum, respectively. These are men, who are quite macho. They are well cast in their roles, and act well in these movies.

However, this movie does not have a man in the lead role - it has a woman. This is perfectly acceptable in most types of film, from romance to action. However, a woman cannot play the lead in a private eye movie. The whole beauty behind "The Big Sleep" and "Build my Gallows High" is that they have two actors who are completely believable. They look like they haven't slept for days, they look poor and unkempt. The problem with having a woman in the lead role is that a woman rarely can fulfill any of these criteria. They spend hours in make-up to make themselves more attractive to the opposite sex, and generally take good care of themselves. This is one of the reasons why "This Girl for Hire" doesn't quite work. The lead (Bess Armstrong) is fairly attractive, and wears a lot of makeup. Because of these things, she doesn't look like a Private Eye.

She makes references throughout the movie to how she hasn't got any sleep for 48 hours, or how tired she is. At no time in the movie does she look like she is tired, or that she is more than 2 hours away from a make-up session. Now, where would a genuine private eye get all that time to apply make-up?

Well, actually, this private eye may have far more time for these things than "Sam Spade" probably because she doesn't do an aweful lot during the film. Basically, it is about her looking after a book, which is only jeopardised two or three times during the movie.

This does not all make an exciting movie. In fact, the most suitable adjective to use here is "boring". If you really must see a Private Eye film noir, go and rent Bogart in "The Big Sleep" or "The Maltese Falcon", or Mitchum in "Build My Gallows High" / "Out of the Past".

David Bridson