Bloodline (1979)

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

Director:

Terence Young

Writers:

Laird Koenig, Sidney Sheldon (novel)

Stars:

Audrey Hepburn, Ben Gazzara, James Mason

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Sam Roffe, president of a multi-national pharmaceutical corporation, is killed while mountain-climbing. It is first determined to be an accident, but Inspector Max Hormung later deduces that Roffe was murdered. Sam's daughter Elizabeth assumes control of the company, and while traveling through Europe she immediately becomes a target as well. Suspicion falls on the Roffe cousins, all of whom want to go public with the company and sell their stock at a huge profit. Since this would be against her father's wishes, Elizabeth rejects their advice and decides to keep the company within the family. As Inspector Hormung investigates the background of the cousins, more attempts are made on Elizabeth's life. Hoping to reveal the guilty party, Hormung is able to connect these attempts to a series of murders on prostitutes, which are recorded on snuff films.

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Plot Keywords:

murder of a nude woman | snuff film | heiress | attempted murder | detective | 

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Taglines:

The line between love and death is the bloodline.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Audrey Hepburn's first, and only R-rated film in the United States.

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Goofs

When Elizabeth Roffe and Rhys Williams are in the hotel room, she left the bathroom in a nightgown after a night of love, but he is in jacket-and-tie with a overcoat in the arm.

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Quotes

Elizabeth Roffe: [to Rhys as she flees Maxim's] You really and truly are a perfect bastard!

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Alternate Versions

Network TV version features 40 minutes of additional footage not included in theatrical release.

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Connections

Referenced in They All Laughed 25 Years Later: Director to Director - A Conversation with Peter Bogdanovich and Wes Anderson (2006)

User Reviews

One wishes every single copy of it would magically disappear

When "Bloodline" was released in 1979, a major magazine review pointed out that in the course of the story, ostensibly for failure to pay a gambling debt, a character's knees are nailed to the floor. The critic then went on to say, `This is what Paramount Pictures is going to have to do to get audiences to sit through this picture.' There aren't enough negative things to say about this abomination of a movie. The meandering, incoherent story is hampered at every turn by ludicrously bad production values. The direction, the inept blocking of the scenes, the lighting, the sets – in every case conspires to make the results look cheap and hollow. The movie is really a miracle of dreadfulness. The following is one of thousand small crimes against cinema throughout the picture: There is an explosion in the street. This is conveyed by a flash of light on the actors in the scene and a sound effect. The next shot, meant to be the view of the street from the window, is a still photograph beneath which someone is apparently waving a lit piece of paper. Just before the cut from this scene, the photograph actually starts to buckle from the heat of the flame. And the filmmakers left this in the film! The real crime against cinema is the fact that the name of Audrey Hepburn is associated with this repugnant film, a monstrosity so putrid, one wishes every single copy of it would magically disappear.

Details

Country:

West Germany USA

Language:

English Italian German French

Release Date:

29 June 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bloodline

Filming Locations:

Burghausen, Bavaria, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

$12,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$8,218,695

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$8,218,695

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bavaria Film, NF Geria III-Produktion München

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min 117 min (cut) (original)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1