SPECIAL DELIVERY (director: Paul Wendkos; screenwriters: Gilbert A. Ralston/Don Gazzaniga/based on a story by Don Gazzaniga/John Melson/James Edward Grant; cinematographer: Harry Stradling Jr.; editor: Houseley Stevenson; music: Lalo Schifrin; cast: Bo Svenson (Jack Murdock), Cybill Shepherd (Mary Jane), Michael C. Gwynne (Carl Graff), Kim Richards (Juliette), Vic Tayback (Wyatt), Robert Ito (Chu), John Quade (Barney), Gerrit Graham (Swivot), Richard Drout Miller (Artie), Jeff Goldblum (Snake), Sorrell Booke (Hubert Zane); Runtime: 98; MPAA Rating: PG; producer: Charles A. Pratt; BCP (American International Pictures);1976)
“A so-so zany comic melodrama about a botched robbery.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A so-so zany comic melodrama about a botched robbery that director Paul Wendkos (“The Flight”/”Gidget”/”Wing and A Prayer”) never gets a complete grip on. It’s based on a story by Don Gazzaniga.
Three desperate for cash unemployed disabled Vietnam veterans rob a downtown L.A. bank, disguised as toy manufacturers, and flee over the rooftops. During the botched robbery two are captured. Ex-marine sergeant Jack Murdock (Bo Svenson), the mastermind of the caper, escapes with the dough and stashes it in a mailbox while on the run. Things get complicated when he learns the mailbox can’t be opened until midnight.
A ditsy divorcée artist, Mary Jane (Cybill Shepherd) witnesses his mailbox drop and wants a cut of the action, and after he agrees both retreat to her apartment to wait until midnight. Meanwhile a junkie (Michael C. Gwynne), another witness, steals the money to pay off some gangsters. Mary, by now, is attracted to the bank robber, and helps him retrieve it. It ends with an exciting car chase and the lovebird couple on board a luxury ocean liner with the president of the robbed bank also a passenger.
REVIEWED ON 1/27/2015 GRADE: C+
Dennis Schwartz: “Ozus’ World Movie Reviews”
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