Shameless Self Expression

Psychiatrist Christopher Lee is accused of murder when his wife goes missing, with accusatory (and anonymous) letters showing up at the police station. Jon Finch is the shabby police detective in charge of the investigation, Judy Geeson is Lee’s secretary and mistress, and Jane Merrow is an unhappily married woman Finch is having an affair with.   No, this is not the Dick Van Dyke medical mystery series, though this film was originally intended for TV. IMDb on one hand says it was meant to be a TV movie, but another bit of trivia says it was part of an intended anthology series. Either way, here it is as a theatrically released film in some quarters of the globe. One of the more obscure films in Christopher Lee’s filmography despite a pretty prominent cast, this 1974 film from director Sidney Hayers ( “Circus of Horrors” and a plethora of TV work) has just enough flaws to hold it back from a recommendation.   Every intrusion with Jane Merrow and her miserable husband...

For purely political reasons, the CIA decides to recruit African-Americans, with the idea that rigorous training will be too much for them anyway. Lawrence Cook plays one such recruit who doesn’t drop out, though his subsequent duties of basically manning the photo copier by the door (hence the reactionary title) do eventually see him resign a few years later. So what does he do? Officially working as a social worker, Cook is in actuality using his CIA training to utilise Chicago’s street gangs in staging a seizure of the ghettos. J.A. Preston is Cook’s cop friend who may be forced to work against him, and Joseph Mascolo plays a shameless white senator trying to win the black vote. Real-life Black Panther member (and Chicago cop at one point apparently) David Lemieux appears as a white-passing guerrilla member.   Directed by Ivan Dixon (best known for appearing on “Hogan’s Heroes” ), this 1973 adaptation of the novel by Sam Greenlee is a priceless, cynical film. A running time ...