Possibly the most abysmally plotted melodrama I have ever seen. It plays like three separate movies all stitched together.
In the first movie, an SF-based structural engineer and JFK-aficionado (David Janssen), married to cold fish Stephanie Powers, embarks on a 12 year plan to win half a million dollars using his foolproof blackjack system, fake his own death, and start a new life overseas. Or something.
Along the way, Janssen's wife hires a loser PI to keep tabs on Jannsen. Janssen and the loser PI become fast friends (don't ask), and Jannsen uses his cardsharp skills to help the loser PI get out of debt to the mob. That's movie #2.
In movie #3, Jannsen successfully fakes his own death and disappears, after which his "widow" Powers goes on to marry her longtime boyfriend (yep, all this time, Powers was cheating on Jannsen) and in the final 15 minutes, Jannsen and his new love, Linda Evans, board a plane to Israel THAT IS IMMEDIATELY OVERTAKEN BY HIJACKERS.
You read that right.
So, insane, disjointed plotting.
Good actors spouting okay lines under the guidance of a skilled director. But the story lets everyone down. Including the viewer.
In the first movie, an SF-based structural engineer and JFK-aficionado (David Janssen), married to cold fish Stephanie Powers, embarks on a 12 year plan to win half a million dollars using his foolproof blackjack system, fake his own death, and start a new life overseas. Or something.
Along the way, Janssen's wife hires a loser PI to keep tabs on Jannsen. Janssen and the loser PI become fast friends (don't ask), and Jannsen uses his cardsharp skills to help the loser PI get out of debt to the mob. That's movie #2.
In movie #3, Jannsen successfully fakes his own death and disappears, after which his "widow" Powers goes on to marry her longtime boyfriend (yep, all this time, Powers was cheating on Jannsen) and in the final 15 minutes, Jannsen and his new love, Linda Evans, board a plane to Israel THAT IS IMMEDIATELY OVERTAKEN BY HIJACKERS.
You read that right.
So, insane, disjointed plotting.
Good actors spouting okay lines under the guidance of a skilled director. But the story lets everyone down. Including the viewer.