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

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:

Family secrets run deadly.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

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:

117 min (cut) (original)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

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

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Goofs

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.

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Quotes

Inspector Max Hornung: [at his computers] Double social security numbers! That's a crime even in France!

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Alternate Versions

According to Playboy magazine, some scenes of explicit sex were deleted from the US version of the film. It's not known if edits in other countries included this material.

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Connections

Referenced in Terence Young: Bond Vivant (2000)

User Reviews

I dream of James Bond

"Bloodline", based on a novel by "I Dream of Jeannie" creator Sidney Sheldon, probably qualifies as one of Audrey Hepburn's lesser movies. Hepburn plays the heir to a pharmaceutical company who becomes a marked woman following her decisions about the company's future. I didn't find it a terrible movie, but Hepburn obviously starred in much better films (much of the movie seems like a rehash of her earlier movie "Charade"). She and co-star Ben Gazzara later co-starred in Peter Bogdanovich's bizarre "They All Laughed".

Director Terence Young is probably best known for "Dr. No" and "From Russia with Love". He didn't hit the bottom with this flick, but I doubt that anyone would want to stress it in their resumes. Usually I would say that there would be an incentive to remake it to try and do it right, but I actually don't like the idea of remaking an Audrey Hepburn movie. Since everyone is bound to have a few bad spots on his/her resume, we can leave it at that. "Bloodline" is still a pretty enjoyable movie, if not a masterpiece.

Also starring James Mason, Claudia Mori, Irene Papas, Michelle Phillips, Maurice Ronet, Romy Schneider, Omar Sharif, Beatrice Straight, Gert Frobe, Marcel Bozzuffi, Pinkas Braun, Ivan Desny, Vadim Glowna, Walter Kohut and Wolfgang Preiss.