Meurtres à Malte

I think that putting this movie under the Disney label even with controversy surrounding it was a good move. That is just what the studio needed at a time when people were straying away from the usual cutsie "Disney" movies, like "The Rescuers"(1977), or even "petes Dragon"(1977) for that matter. This is more of an adult centered film, and that is what makes it special. Parents will enjoy this film more than their kids. But any children watching this film under about the age of 12 or 13, SHOULD have parental guidance, because the film does have some suggestive content. Over all, I gave it 8/10, mostly for the story line and character situations. It was GOOD!!!

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.

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.

Mickey Raynond (Margot Kidder) is a court stenographer who aspires to be a writer of detective fiction who travels to Malta to research her book "Malta Wants Me Dead". During Mickey's tour of Malta, she inadvertently picks up an article belonging to a shady man (Leopoldo Trieste) which starts a series of misadventures that befall her beginning with a stolen handbag before they crescendo in Maltese Inspector Stagnos (David Suchet) coming to believe Mickey may be involved in an international drug deal and her stories of pickpockets and assassins are just the workings of an author's imagination. With the help of a smooth talking jewelry salesman, Terry Leonard (Robert Hays), Mickey Raymond sets out to clear her name as she finds herself living the adventure she'd set to write about.

Trenchcoat was the project of noted TV producer Jerry Leider who'd transitioned from his long tenure in TV to feature films with the 1980 remake of The Jazz Singer. Initially setup at EMI, the project was describe as a comedic thriller under the initial title Malta Wants Me Dead. After Leider ended his association with EMI, the project went into turnaround with Leider taking the film to the Walt Disney Company who at the time were interested in working with independent producers. The project was greenlit by Disney and the $8 million international co-production began with an intended 1983 release. Margot Kidder research the lead role by reading multiple detective novels and watching various film-noirs in preparation for the part and the film was also the first credited work of screenwriters Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman who would later write another more well known noir themed comedy in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. Upon release, the movie was a box office and critical failure making only $4 million against its reported $8 million budget and critical reception wasn't much better with Siskel and Ebert disliking the movie and even putting it on their "worst of" list in their Stinkers of 83 episode of their TV show. Since it's initial release, Trenchcoat has been largely forgotten with the only legacy tied to it being Disney's formation of their Touchstone label so they could tackle more adult skewing material free of the Disney brand. Trenchcoat has a nugget of a good idea, but it's the execution that keeps things from firing on all cylinders.

I will say that Margot Kidder is certainly giving her all as Mickey Raymond and she uses that same acerbic delivery she brought to her Lois Lane character from the Superman movies to good effect here playing an innocent character wrongfully accused while trying to unravel the web she finds herself trapped in. While I like Kidder just fine in the leading role, the movie narratively and comedically lets Kidder's performance down as everyone she meets overplays their role to an obnoxious degree or is let down by the fact they are cogs in an "idiot plot" where even the usually reliable David Suchet is forced to spout some really stupid justification for not believing Mickey's story in a scene that feels like it's trying to be funny but the way the scene is delivered and edited with very standard workman like direction by Michael Tuchner makes the pacing too slow for any of the humor to have punch and the editing is surprisingly sloppy with key plot points such as Mickey Raymond picking up the object that gets her involved in the plot or her handbag being stolen either happening off camera or in a non-descript way that made me feel like I was missing key details and had to rewind to make sure I didn't miss anything.

Trenchcoat kind of plays like a rough (very rough) first draft of films like Romancing the Stone or American Dreamer that took very similar plots to Trenchcoat but played them with tighter direction and more surehanded craft to give those films some sense of urgency, style, or comic punch. You can see the bones of a potentially decent comic thriller, but the "meat" on those bones is flavorless and a chore to chew through. Kidder does what she can in the lead role, but everything else from the writing to the direction to even the bland dreary cinematography of Malta not giving Kidder anything solid to play her performance off against. Maybe if you're morbidly curious about what Disney did with adult skewing films prior to Touchstone it might be worth a one time look, but even then stuff like Dragonslayer, Watcher in the Woods, or Something Wicked This Way Comes have much more style, energy, and passion to them.

I can't understand why this movie has such a low User Rating. I enjoyed it thoroughly the first time I saw it and have seen it again several times with no loss of pleasure. Perhaps some viewers failed to realize that this is not a serious thriller but a tongue-in-cheek romantic comedy in disguise. Taken on these terms it's a lot of fun.