Trenchcoat

The descriptors "simple" and "uninspired" apply to both this film and its title. It's the story of a stenographer who flies to Malta to write a mystery noir novel during her two week vacation. While there, she inadvertently comes into contact with nefarious elements.

Unfortunately, "Trenchcoat" has no charm, no intrigue, no artistic value. Margot Kidder--playing the wannabe writer--looks like she is doing a walk-through. Reportedly she did not get along with the director.

The direction and everything else about the film feels amateurish. The only thing that could make it worse would be a laugh track. The main problem is the script, which offers very little that is original. Its main approach seems to be putting the "heroine" in dangerous circumstances and having her lament that no one believes her. Not funny, unless maybe the actress is someone who is intrinsically funny.

Avoid this stinker.

If you liked Margot Kidder as Lois Lane in Superman - and Robert Hays in Airplane - you'll like them together in a charming, funny, well-plotted mystery set in Malta.

The movie does have some twists and turns - and suspense and danger for Kidder's character - but at no point does it cause one to forget that this is a captivating fun film with two lead actors who really like each other - the romance seems very natural.

Kidder and Hays are also so good looking! :) If you liked Romancing the Stone and its sequel - you'll like this - it's VERY similar in premise - equally charming - but Robert Hays and Margot Kidder are more easy going, less intense than Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner.

Wanna be writer Mickey Raymond (Margot Kidder) heads to Malta to work on her first mystery novel. Along the way she meets smarmy cheap jewelry salesman Terry (Robert Hays). While on a tour, she picks up some postcards that have a top secret map hidden in them and becomes the target of various spies. Double and triple crosses ensue with plenty of hijinks. Notice I didn't say "hilarious hijinks" there. Despite the best efforts of the two leads, this is pretty rough stuff. Obviously I pulled it out because of Kidder's passing and she shows her charm in this. The problem is it can't carry the bad script by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. I legit think they went to see the Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn classic Foul Play (1978) and walked out saying, "We can do that!" This is so similar that they have the same composer, Charles Fox, and he appears to be ripping off his own Foul Play score. Director Michael Tuchner had done some great thrillers before this (Villain and Fear is the Key), but it all falls flat here. Well, at least I got to fulfill my life's dream of seeing Ronald Lacey (the melting bad guy in Raiders of the Lost Ark) in drag.

The only reason I decided to check this one out was because it’s set in Malta; the result, however, was an exceedingly feeble comedy-thriller from, of all people, the Disney stable and, needless to say, a long way behind Hitchcock.

Incidentally, this was the film which forced the studio to open a parallel label – Touchstone – so that they could make more adult-oriented fare: its few moments of violence and the appearance of a man in drag, presumably, were the offending elements in this regard! The title is the typical outfit worn by the detective hero of 1940s film noirs: here, it’s incongruously donned by the irritating would-be thriller novelist Margot Kidder(!) – while the boyish-looking Robert Hays is the typical undercover agent (whose mission is to catch a ring of plutonium-traffickers). I can’t say the script-writers/film-makers were particularly inspired by the Maltese locations – so much so that it could have been set practically anywhere else to much the same dismal effect (it’s simply not thrilling and certainly not funny)!

Most of the other characters are seen either aiding or harassing the two leads – sometimes they seem to be doing one when their intention is actually the opposite; these include clumsy assassin Leopoldo Trieste, laid-back police chief David Suchet (TV’s future Hercule Poirot!), a couple of sweet old lodgers at Kidder’s hotel, a German mystery woman, and a Sicilian stud. A notable appearance is put in by John Justin (yes, the hero of the classic Michael Powell/Alexander Korda THE THIEF OF BAGDAD [1940] in what amounted to his last feature-film role!) as the long-suffering aristocratic owner of the hotel, whose place is turned upside-down by the end of the film. By the way, I only spotted two Maltese actors of stature in bit roles – one played a guide at a museum, and the other a fishmonger who helped Kidder evade her pursuers in one scene.

For what it’s worth, the identity of the villains is ingenious (if not exactly original); in the end, though, in spite of a number of chases, the film is never as engaging (or enjoyable) as it should have been…and only manages to give a bad name to the genre it’s playing at, not to mention the people and country involved!

Once upon a time, people knew who they were. Some were mechanics, some were politicians, some were writers.

Since about 1980, the real writers have been removed so that the rich tea party families could "write on the side".

That's why we had so many "situational tea party type Miss Marple comic murder mysteries", comic fantasies purely going with formula.

There is no "writing" here. It is formula stage play. It is a mixture of "Romancing the Stone", "Miss Marple", and virtually every stage comedy one has ever seen.

Then again, all good cinema begins as good stage plays, so you have at least a mediocre movie here.

What helps here is great casting. Margot Kidder is a bit like Lois Lane here, only more likable. She shows that comedy is her forte, and the role seems to have been written specifically for her.

This is probably what Kidder should always have done. The rest of the cast is also splendid.

In a formula film like this, casting makes a big difference. It's lightly likable, with the cast pulling it up over the 5/10 mark.