Smile Jenny, You're Dead

David Jansen was a tremendous.talent,gone way to early!every series he was on was great to watch!

As a beach-front living private investigator with a bullet still lodged in his back, David Janssen made a terrific, hard-bitten crime-fighter of the Old School (not quite Bogie, maybe a latter-day Dana Andrews). This pilot for his very successful TV series "Harry O" is mostly memorable though for young Jodie Foster, playing a pre-teen street urchin waiting for her shoplifting mother to get out of jail (the movie opens with a beautiful shot of Foster asleep on Janssen's boat, The Answer). Foster has all the best lines in the movie, and she reads them straight--without a hint of precociousness. As a murder-mystery, the film lags a bit and as a film it certainly doesn't benefit from future-director Zalman King's unpleasant presence (he's like a second-rate Marjoe Gortner). But for Foster-philes it's a goldmine, and students of cinematography should study that amazing first shot. 'The Answer' indeed!

"Smile Jenny, You're Dead" is the second pilot movie for the eventual TV series, "Harry O". The network apparently liked much of what they saw in the first movie about a low-rent detective but also thought it could use some re-tooling and so they ordered this follow-up film.

The story begins with Jennifer (Andrea Marcovicci) having an argument with her soon to be ex-husband. He's angry and slaps her...and a psycho who is obsessed with Jennifer sees it. Apparently, she is a super model and the stalker has been secretly following her and is determined to watch out for her...and soon he confronts the husband and murders him.

Harry Orwell (David Janssen) knows the family, so he goes to Jennifer's job and informs her of the murder and her need to identify the body. However, all sorts of weird things happen...and Harry think perhaps someone is stalking her. And, when he gets Jennifer's key and checks out her apartment, the psycho is there...though he is able to escape. How? Because he shot at Harry!

Soon one of Jennifer's friends is found dead by an apparent suicide. But Harry thinks it's all too convenient...and it turns out the shot taken at Harry matched the 'suicide gun'. So now, the nut has killed two...and who knows what he's going to do next?!

In addition to this plot, there's one about a little homeless girl (Jodi Foster). Harry does his good deed by helping reunite her with her mother.

Despite the first pilot ("Such Dust As Dreams Are Made On") having a higher score on IMDB, "Smile Jenny, You're Dead" is a much better movie. It lacks the plot holes and inconsistencies of the first movie and based on this, I can see why the TV series was okayed following this film. Well made and well worth seeing, though the ending seemed a bit sensationalistic but weak.

Man, do I miss "Harry O". I used to love seeing this detective series with David Janssen's gravelly charm as a cynical PI who has to take public transit to solve mysteries! It is completely antithetical to the "Magnum PI" slick cars, slick everything that now permeates the standard TV detective format. This is partially why I love the 1970's era of cop shows. They portrayed the heroes as overworked, underpaid, world-weary, blue-collar joes who are always swimming upstream. There are no super heroics here. In fact, the Harry Orwell character pushed the detective archetype back a rung or two. He shows us that being a PI isn't so bloody marvelous.

It's been a long time since "Harry O" disappeared even from filling in a time slot on the late late show, and almost as long since this TV movie (the second pilot to the series, if you will) used to fill programming on lazy Saturday afternoons on my local bands.

This time Harry O is after an obsessive nut job photographer played by Zalman King. Since BLUE SUNSHINE is one of my favourite cult movies, I have a soft spot for this interesting actor, even though he isn't the greatest thespian the world has known. Before he went behind the camera to produce the soft core fantasies of TWO MOON JUNCTION or the "Red Shoes Diaries" series, he nonetheless had his share of weird roles. Case in point, this psycho goes around with this huge bow-tie- he more resembles Bozo the clown than a stalker, but King's "edgy" acting gives the character the danger beneath the sheep's clothing.

This TV-movie also features an early performance by Jodie Foster in her "tomboy" stage (think ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE) as an urchin who sets up home on Harry O's beach property.

In all, SMILE JENNY YOU'RE DEAD is a satisfying thriller with an unusual climax. It is another nice memory of TV-films of the day. Video, please?

Harry Orwell (David Janssen) finds Liberty Cole (Jodie Foster) hanging out on his boat. He's a former cop who lives in a beach house. His police friend's son-in-law gets murdered. It leads to the modeling daughter Jennifer English (Andrea Marcovicci) who has a crazed stalker.

This is two years before Taxi Driver. Jodie gets to be a bratty pre-teen. I wish her story would be the A story. She is the most compelling actress in the cast despite some very good veteran actors. This is the second pilot TV movie before the series. The A story has Marcovicci playing a big time model, but I don't buy it. I don't mind her. Heck! She's Chalmers in Spacehunter. She's just not a supermodel and the story doesn't require it. Any pretty girl can be stalked. This is a fine episode that gets stretched out a little.