Three Blondes in His Life

Just watched this again after about five years, and I'm still struck by the wonderful hard-boiled ambiance of the film, which perfectly captures the male-fantasy element of detective fiction. As a reader of things like Mike Shayne crime novels, I think that THREE BLONDES IN HIS LIFE captures the alcohol-soaked, blonde-loving, tough-guy feel of the typical Shayne novel better than any of the movies that featured the Shayne character. Jock Mahoney (see my review of I'VE LIVED BEFORE), always a reliable leading man with great physical charisma and macho attitude, is perfect as an insurance detective out to crack the case of a phony robbery staged to hide a jewel theft, a case that eventually involves murder. A former agent for Mahoney's company has gone missing and is implicated in the crime, and this agent had three blondes in his life. Soon, they are involved in Mahoney's life. I love the way that when Mahoney walks into a room to visit one of these women and question her, he first is offered a drink (he's a bourbon drinker), and then the woman either comes on to him, or puts up a shrewish front as a cover for the fact that she really WANTS to come on to him! The film is rather low-budget, but is shot very imaginatively. I commented to my fiancée as we watched this that it had the technical feel of a 50s syndicated TV crime show,with small but efficiently shot sets, but had excellent location photography also which helped create a nice atmospheric Los Angeles feel to it. It's also lit like a TV crime show. Imagine my surprise when I checked the IMDb credits and saw that director Leon Chooluck's only directing credit other than this is the HIGHWAY PATROL TV series! Chooluck has a long string of credits as production manager on a number of interesting b-movies, many of which I've loved, and he obviously learned how to organize an efficient production. Another interesting aspect of the film is that the production company, Cinema Associates, was a group of four people, one of whom was the legendary Haskell Wexler, of MEDIUM COOL fame. THREE BLONDES IN HIS LIFE captures the ambiance of a paperback-original detective novel better than most similar films I've ever seen. It features a strong, cool leading man in Jock Mahoney, and it deserves to be much better known. Check it out.

Jock Mahoney, a globe-trotting insurance investigator, is called back to the New York office by the head of the investigation agency because one of the detectives in the LA office has disappeared after telling his wife that he was leaving on a business trip and he wants Jock to find him. Jesse White is the apple-eating head of the LA office and works with Jock to unravel the mystery. This movie is great fun if you can endure the opening musical score. Mahoney's acting is more than a little over the top but storyline is interesting and there are a number of attractive women falling all over Jock but who also do a very good job with their parts. The plot gradually unfolds but it does require paying close attention as the missing detective was involved in suspicious investigations with two of the three blonds (The third being his wife). Recommended especially if you enjoy 60's private eye mysteries.

Jock Mahoney plays the lead in one of those b&w B movies which the cop and lawyer shows on TV were rapidly replacing. Jock travels from New York to L.A. to investigate the disappearance of a fellow insurance investigator and, as a result, quickly becomes acquainted with the three blondes of the title. The "mystery" which confronts him fails to adequately intrigue the viewer and the blondes with whom he interacts lack the hoped-for fascination. The final product of all Jock's efforts is a bare-bones time-killer which evokes its era -- beginning with the title song accompanying the opening credits -- without giving one the slightest urge to re-visit it.

Those looking for a point of interest in this material might consider how it presents Jock Mahoney. Despite his "hunk" status, usually emphasized by frequent "beefcake" scenes, he's shown here in virtually every scene wearing a suit and tie, and he seems to have no sexual interaction with any of the blondes. (They're interested; he's not.) This state of affairs makes the movie seem more like a product of the early 1950s rather than the early 1960s. Jock does have two bare-chest scenes, but they're curiously staged. In the first, he's shown lying belly-down in bed, shirtless, and the only glimpse you get of his chest is an oblique one as he reaches out to answer a telephone. In the second, Jock unbuttons and removes his shirt but you don't see him directly but rather watch his image as reflected in a mirror. It's almost as if Jock's physique is so striking a sight that it must be shown to the viewer only in rationed and carefully-controlled circumstances.

Three Blondes In His Life features Jock Mahoney as an insurance investigator who is working a missing persons case. One of is fellow investigators has taken a powder and the file is incomplete.

What we do learn about this guy he wasn't one of God's better creatures. Yet he's missing and e he was a colleague and the rules say you're supposed to do something about it

Elements of The Maltese Falcon and Double Indemnity are in Three Blondes In His Life. It's reasonably good detective but not hardly as good as the cited films.

Love this little film. It's hilarious and unintentionally tongue-in-cheek. As a mystery, it's not mysterious. Duke Wallace spends most of time making time with the "titular" blondes and ogling Jesse White's secretary who is actually the most attractive girl in the cast. I always liked White. He spends his time either being Jock's sounding board or telling him to calm down when his secretary is in his office. After being kicked headfirst down a flight of stairs (a great stunt), Jock reaches into his jacket's breast pocket for his cigarettes that miraculously weren't crushed when he belly surfed down the stairs. The closing brawl was great although the editing interrupts it with shots of Valerie Porter. Television (77 Sunset Strip, Johnny Stacatto) was doing a much better job at this kind of detective story when this was filmed.