P.J. - Der Gnadenlose

I saw this movie many years ago and it has stuck in my mind. I have always felt that someone made a huge mistake by not having George Peppard reprise this role for a TV series...it was classic George Peppard...definitely at his best. It is my understanding that it has never been released on video, DVD, etc. If someone knows otherwise, I would certainly like to know, too. After all, we don't have George Peppard or Raymond Burr anymore and they were both excellent in this film. The character seemed to be created just for George Peppard and he was certainly up to the challenge. I have seen clips from this movie used in later films (i.e., the scene of the car coming down the mountain with no brakes and him running it along the wall on the right and into garbage cans, etc. on the left). Wish I could see the whole movie again.

George Peppard is very amiable as the title character, a down-on-his-luck private detective who'll take just about any paying gig. He is hired by a supremely arrogant fat cat, William Orbison (Raymond Burr), to act as bodyguard for his not-exactly-secret girlfriend Maureen Preble (Gayle Hunnicutt). This, despite the fact that Orbison is already married to a fairly pathetic woman named Betty (Coleen Gray). Eventually, after he has accidentally killed a man, P.J. is smart enough to realize that he's been set-up from the start. But for what purpose?

The script by Philip H. Reisman Jr., based on a story by him and Edward Montagne, manages to stand out a little for being rather humorous and sometimes witty. Also, director John Guillermin does a pretty stylish job, giving some life to the entertaining story. The story is not necessarily a great one, but it does entertain, and even adds up at the end; one of its best assets is that eventually you do learn something interesting about one of the side characters that has actually motivated the whole con job. Wonderful location shooting in a Caribbean locale helps, too, and the jaunty pop score by Neal Hefti is a true delight.

Peppard is all too human here (he takes some lumps here and there), and is a believable, compelling main character to watch. He has genuine chemistry with the enticingly sexy Hunnicutt, whom the camera clearly loves. Burr is superb at playing the kind of heel the viewer will love to hate. The supporting cast is superb and full of familiar faces: Wilfrid Hyde-White (as a governor), Brock Peters (as a cheerful police inspector), Jason Evers (as Orbison's employee), and Susan Saint James (as Orbison's opinionated niece), as well as Severn Darden, George Furth, Herb Edelman, John Qualen, Bert Freed, and Ken Lynch. Anthony James appears unbilled as a bartender.

Overall, this is a pretty good example of the private eye genre at a time when it was being revitalized, thanks to efforts like Paul Newman's "Harper". It contains effective amounts of sex appeal and violence, as well as elements that would be unlikely to fly in the present culture.

Seven out of 10.

If you've only seen PJ on Television, you haven't really seen it. In the late 60s, censorship was temporarily relaxed: Ratings were "G" for Nothing Offensive, and "M" in case there was anything objectionable. With the wisdom of their breed, Studio execs quickly realized they should try to get away with as much as possible, and films like GUNN, DEADLIER THAN THE MALE and NIGHT OF THE FOLLOWING DAY were filled with raunchy (for those days) sex and violence. However, with an eye to TV showing, the studio execs also had alternate scenes shot for these films and the resulting Tv showings were tepid at best. The movie version of PJ has a seamy, tasteless feel totally appropriate to a cheap Private Eye film.

After years of trying to see the original release version of the film, I finally acquired an uncut copy from a collector and must say I was puzzled with the outcome. There was the original, infamous subway scene intact, as well as the gay-bar beating. There are some really gritty location shooting in NYC, but its mixed with the most banal, studio bound bland scenes. If you can image a film that intercut the "French Connection" with an episode of "The Rockford Files" then you would get a good idea of how this film plays out. Not bad, but a disappointment. Don't even bother watching it if its the TV version, which cut out most of the gritty scenes.

This was the first 'X' certificate film I was able to see, under the UK title 'New Face In Hell' (at 103 minutes as opposed to the original 109 minutes). I've never forgotten it and have been searching for a copy of it for years. Can anyone explain why it's disappeared and has never been available? It was an exciting, smart, brutal thriller with a great cast, very slickly put together by a respected director. Here are some of the things I remember: a slow tracking shot going up to a white-haired Raymond Burr sitting at a desk as he explains to George Peppard what he wants him to do for him; George Peppard saying there'll be a "New face in hell for breakfast" when threatening somebody; a man being killed, very messily, under an underground train - a guard shouts "Somebody get a first-aid kit", to which George Peppard replies, "You're gonna need a big one"; and a huge splatter of blood when somebody's shot dead in the final scene. Not to mention various vicious fist-fights ... and the gorgeous young Gayle Hunnicutt. This was 'sex and violence' at its best! Come on, Universal, find it in your archives and get it released!