Coeur solitaire numéro 555

Like many installments of "The ABC Movie of the Week", this one had a neat idea but quick production times doom this one to mediocrity status. It's a shame, as it's Rosalind Russell's final film and I really did wish it had been better.

Two detectives (one is Ross Martin) see a pattern. Old, lonely ladies are being murdered and the one thing they all have in common is that they all used dating services (here, called 'Lonely Hearts Clubs'). So they check out the local dating services but can't find the one agency that they all used.

In the meantime, you see Laurita (Russell) as she's being wooed by a suitor from the dating service. Rex (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) is charming and she is quite taken with him...and you assume she's about to become his next victim.

So why was I not a big fan of the film? Well, it was all Russell's character--one who just didn't make sense much of the time. What also made no sense was the way overly complicated and silly way the baddies tried to kill her. Why not just toss her off a cliff or put a bullet in her head?! Duh. The writing just left me cold.

The biggest problem I found with The Crooked Heart is wrapping my mind around the concept that Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. would ever need a lonely hearts club to meet women. That most elegant of stars is both a confidence man and a killer and he's set his sights on widow Rosalind Russell.

This was Russell's farewell performance and she and Fairbanks are the reason to watch this made for TV film. Even though it is plain that Fairbanks is after her money, that man is so charming who could resist. But Roz has plans of her own.

Also featured in this prominently are Ross Martin a detective who is investigating a string of disappearances of elderly women who were people of means. Also Maureen O'Sullivan has a prominent role as the organizer of the senior and middle-aged matchmaking service.

The method for killing these women I have to admit is ingenious. I'd watch this to see two of old Hollywood's best at their best.

Rosalind Russell enrolls in a lonely hearts service, and after a correspondence meets Douglas Fairbanks Jr. They both appear to be well-to-do, but cracks soon appear in their facades. Meanwhile, cops Ross Martin and Michael Murphy are trying to figure out who has been killing wealthy old women.

Fairbanks and Miss Russell play their roles in a manner that suggests every word they utter is planned and pitched to deceive, clearly intended -- along with the title -- to let the viewer know that both leads are lying. It's a well-made TV movie, directed by Jay Sandrich, with old-timers Kent Smith and Maureen O'Sullivan joining the cast, clearly calculated as a nostalgia festival for an older audience. Miss Russell never appeared in another role on the big or little screen. She died four years later.

Rosalind Russell is delightful in this bright, busy, California-set crime-comedy adapted from Colin Watson's British novel "Lonelyheart 4122". She's a wealthy widow in Santa Barbara who has just met a new beau through a dating service. The catch is: he might just be the Lonelyhearts Killer the police are searching for--and she might not be a wealthy widow! TV comedy veteran Jay Sandrich directed from a teleplay by A. J. Russell, both of whom give Rosalind and costar Douglas Fairbanks, Jr a good deal of room to chat, laugh, and outsmart each other. It's minor, made-for-TV fare, but rather enjoyable (it's also Miss Russell's farewell performance). Ross Martin gives his role as a police sergeant a little bounce, and the supporting cast includes Michael Murphy, Maureen O'Sullivan, Dick Van Patten, and Penny Marshall as a waitress who maybe makes out better than anybody--provided that $20 bill she's been given by Roz is legit. ** from ****