Sunburn, coup de soleil

A rich old man has a suspicious fatal car accident in Acapulco, and his widow wants his insurance company to pony up $5 million. What can they do? "Get me Jake Decker!" barks company bigwig Keenan Wynn. OK, they get hotshot investigator Decker to check it out, but he's played by Charles Grodin, whose self-consciously dry brand of comedy needs a script tailored to his style (like MIDNIGHT RUN, REAL LIFE, or 11 HARROWHOUSE, which he co-wrote, which explains a lot...but I digress... :-), which the routine insurance fraud plot of SUNBURN doesn't provide. What can the filmmakers do? Get Farrah Fawcett(-Majors, as she was then billed) at her most charming and dazzling, Art Carney in fine form, and a good supporting cast including Joan Collins (hilarious as a sex-crazy glamorpuss), Alejandro Rey, Seymour Cassel, John Hillerman, and brief bits by Eleanor Parker and the aforementioned Wynn. Put them in Acapulco's most beautiful locations, sprinkle in a few background tunes by 10 CC, and voila! You've made a blah crime caper into a lively, unassuming bit of fun for a lazy afternoon (or a snowy one, like the kind we've been having this week). Best sight gag: Farrah's insanely huge load of luggage (reminded me of trips with my mom). Cute seemingly off-the-cuff bit: Grodin mistaking the portrait of Collins' father for one of Lee Van Cleef. Farrah and Carney also get into a pretty good car chase that ends up in a bullring. If you stumble across this on cable and you have nothing better to do, this SUNBURN isn't painful at all!

In 1979's strangely toned "Sunburn" insurance investigator Charles Grodin hires Farrah Fawcett to pose as his wife while he probes a dodgy death in Acapulco. There they're drawn into a bland plot involving blackmail & the mob with the likes of Joan Collins, Art Carney & Seymour Cassel. Director Richard C Sarafian and writers John Daly, Stephen Oliver & James Booth may have thought they had the best of both the mystery thriller & jaunty rom-com genres - but ended up falling between the two as neither funny nor tense: just pretty lame & pointless. What it DOES having going for it in retrospect though is its nostalgic Seventies feel - but that's not enough. Disappointing fare.

After capturing the hearts and minds of most teen boys in America, Farrah Fawcett branched out into posters and films. Leaving behind "Charlie's Angels" and fame and fortune, Farrah embarked on her "S" trilogy. The middle installment in the trilogy was aptly titled "Sunburn"(the other two movies were called "Somebody Killed Her Husband" and "Saturn 3") and involved Miss Farrah's teaming with Charles Grodin and their ability to portray themselves as husband and wife. The reason for the elaborate ruse is to clean up a phony suicide claim. Insurance fraud has never seemed more exciting as it does here, where you can walk outside into the streets of Acapulco or slip into a million dollar chateau for a cocktail party. Speaking of posters this film has one of the best: Farrah in a one-piece that defies gravity, Grodin with a sidearm and Art Carney parachuting in on a pair of sunglasses with the ocean in the background. Oh, well, maybe you should purchase the poster instead. But if you don't wish to watch three straight Farrah Fawcett films on a summer' afternoon, pair this one up with the Mexican-set, Neo-Noir classic, "Against All Odds."

Charles Grodin plays a insurance investigator and Farrah Fawcett poses as his wife to solve murder. Art Carney is added for comedic relief to keep the movie rolling. Grodin is little serious as the usual roles that play in other movies. This is not Fawcett best role, but will show her acting ability in later movies as The Burning Bed and Extermities. Its not the best movie, but I like for the adventurous plot.

Based on Stanley Ellin's not-bad mystery novel "The Bind", "Sunburn" became Farrah Fawcett's second attempt to resurrect her TV golden-touch at the movies (it drove her back to television after one more try, the sci-fi bomb "Saturn 3"). It has amusing fashions and disco music, a pleasant ambiance at the outset, lots of sand and sunshine, but a script that becomes murky early on. There are too many sub-plots and incidental characters here (such as Joan Collins in an indescribable bit). The central relationship between insurance investigator Charles Grodin and model Fawcett (posing as his wife) is curious but unsatisfying, and Art Carney has very little to do as a gumshoe. Not a disaster by any means, and '70s aficionados will soak up the clichés, but it's easy to see why "Sunburn" never attained much of a following: it's a commercial for Acapulco--not a movie. * from ****