rojan61

It is fun to see a 28 year old William Shatner in the role of Archie Goodwin almost a decade before he became a major icon as Kirk on Star Trek. He seems well suited for the role of the heavyweight detective's assistant and foil. A pristine copy of the pilot episode is available on YouTube.

The story is NOT from a Rex Stout book and the manner is more comical than dramatic but it is a fun quick moving half hour. I am surprised the pilot went unsold. Kurt Kasznar as Nero Wolfe does well as the Nero Wolfe title character. Fritz, Saul Panzer and other regular Stout book characters are not in the pilot. There is a scene with an orchid it but no orchid room or elevator. I expect the surrounding settings would have been improved had the pilot sold as a regular series.

I could not believe the positive high ratings for this movie. My spouse and I walked out of a theater half way through this film because it was so awful and this was before it became noted. We tried to watch it again online after it was nominated for a best film Oscar thinking we had missed something. It is even worse on a second viewing. If you hated this movie you are not alone. You are simply guilty of good taste. This movie deserves a Raspberry not an Oscar.

This is one of the worst films in cinematic history. Avoid this travesty at all cost. I cannot describe how terrible this film is. Under The Rainbow and Mr. Mike's Mondo Video are classics in comparison. Ed Wood deserves an Oscar before the director of this movie deserves one. Awful film. Avoid.

Interesting as a curio with Noel Neill of Lois Lane fame as the lead character in the story-ad. It has some interesting info in it. A 2022 follow-up ad today on the plastics industry would be worthwhile. Of course, we now know about some of the environmental problems caused by plastics. The full 39 minute film is available on YouTube.