Post Description

Gewezen rechercheur Archer uit Ross Macdonalds misdaadroman 'The Moving Target' (1949) werd voor de filmadaptatie Harper. Terwijl het huwelijk van de met ethiek behepte privédetective op scheiding staat, vraagt de welgestelde Elaine Sampson (Bacall) hem om haar verdwenen wederhelft op te sporen. Aldus werkt Harper, hardgekookte private eye in de traditie van Hammetts Sam Spade en Chandlers Philip Marlowe, zich volgens het noir-boekje fiks in de Californische nesten. Minus: Harpers echtelijke trubbels zijn een nodeloos verzinsel van scenarist William Goldman. Bonus: kien gekaderde 'Scope-fotografie van Conrad L. Hall (1926-2003). Newmans tweede, kwalitatief inferieure Harper-avontuur The Drowning Pool (1975) flopte.

Harper (released in the UK as The Moving Target) is a 1966 Technicolor film based on Ross Macdonald's novel The Moving Target in Panavision and adapted for the screen by novelist William Goldman,[2] who admired MacDonald's writings.[3] The film stars Paul Newman as the eponymous Lew Harper (Lew Archer in the novel). It is directed by Jack Smight, with an ensemble cast that includes Robert Wagner, Julie Harris, Janet Leigh, Shelley Winters and Arthur Hill.

Goldman received a 1967 Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay.

The film pays homage to Humphrey Bogart's portrayals of Sam Spade, and Phillip Marlowe by featuring Bogart's widow, Lauren Bacall, who plays a wounded wife searching for her missing husband, a role similar to General Sternwood in the 1946 Bogart-and-Bacall film, The Big Sleep.

In 1975, Newman reprised the role in The Drowning Pool.