Bloodline (1979)

Very well executed

Best movie ever!

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Sam Roffe of Roffe & Sons Pharmaceuticals dies.His daughter Elizabeth takes over the business.The cause of her father's death turns out to be a murder, and Elizabeth's life is also in danger.Bloodline (1979) is directed by Terence Young.It's based on Sidney Sheldon's 1977 novel.The movie has pretty handsome cast list, which should be a guarantee for a better movie.There's Audrey Hepburn in the lead playing Elizabeth Roffe.This is actually the only R-rated movie she ever starred.Recently deceased Ben Gazzara plays Rhys Williams.James Mason portrays Sir Alec Nichols.Claudia Mori is Donatella.Irene Papas is Simonetta Palazzi.Michelle Phillips plays Vivian Nichols.Romy Schneider plays Helene Martin.Omar Sharif, who turned 80 this month, plays Ivo Palazzi.Gert Fröbe portrays Inspector Max Hornung.Ennio Morricone is behind the music.The movie doesn't have anything too memorable.The moments at the villa in the end are pretty suspenseful, but it's too little too late.

Sidney Sheldon's 'Bloodline' is an unmitigated turkey with a cast including the late beloved Audrey Hepburn, Ben Gazzara James Mason, Omar Sharif Irene Pappas and Gert(Goldfinger) Frobe, with a cast like this you would think you would be watching a top notch international classic, sadly this is not to be.The film has Audrey Hepburn who is the daugbter of a wealthy pharmaceuticals magnate who is mysteriously murdered, Hepburn then becomes heir to the family's fortune with all of her estranged siblings who try to get a piece of the family fortune. the plot sounds good well not really you are reasonably entertained for ninety minutes. 'Bloodline' is a mess most notably thanks to Omar Sharifs rather inept performance as a playboy who has a string of sons and daughters this stupid subplot seems edited from another film, Poor Audrey Hepburn has little to do but look terrified and at the same time look really stunning in her collective fashions from Givenchy. all in all if your looking for a time waster please feel free to watch the newly released DVD with no extra's whatsover the DVD back cover clearly has a scene not included it is that of a wedding scene with Mason and Hepburn.

Regarding "Sidney Sheldon's Bloodline", I'd like to correspond to Paramount and inquire why not re-edit the film (remaster), and create a SPECIAL EDITION, maybe with deleted scenes (with Ursula Buchfellner and Eleonore Melzer, which were cut), and commentary. I read parts of the book, and like the book, but the movie, when I watched it in the theater back in 1979, it made no sense, and was confusing, particularly with the Snuff films. The book lets you know WHY these films are created, as with the movie, you wonder why?! OR: remake the movie the way the book is! Great cast, but overall, movie STINKS! Anyway, anybody know the address to write to Sidney Sheldon so I can ask him?! Thank you.

I had the good fortune as a teenager to sit through "Bloodline" each day or night for the week it ran in Freeport, Illinois. Later, when I ran away to NYC, I watched it again on my first little screen in a tiny, sloped theater-in-a-complex. I scoured Central Park for one of the scenes shot there against a graffiti-dusted bridge. Ahh... It was my last fix for a while on what chic is, what perseverance, trust and fabulous Parisian locales can do for a lost soul... Then I ran away to France. It would a few more years before I made it to Paris, but when I did I searched out Hotel de Crillion, Maxim's, Notre Dame. The Sydney Sheldon book was a bore compared to the film. Seeing these great international actors together -- Romy "Shrew in Silk" Schneider and Irene "Show me your back!" Papas, for example -- gave me a great shot of what it must be like to tread life's waters in Gucci and Bulgari (back when Gucci didn't seem so silly (watch out! is Chanel next?)) This film, about the Roffe Pharmaceutical heiress (Audrey Hepburn)tagged for murder because she won't go public with the stock market, has a great soundtrack, with lovely resolution, and if you can get the album or CD you'll catch a funky tune not used in the film. All those bits of different languages, different people: "Kennst du dieser Mann?" "They make cheese!" "Poland? This time of year?". What about that tacky snuff-murder sidebar (Roffe's film stock is being used to discredit the company)? You have to admit that that bald man is a hotty. I am in a whirl of support for this little picture and I'd see it again and again. Sometimes the best teachers in life are lurking in the cinema. It's not just about art! Look at Audrey's friendship with her Dad's aide, Beatrice Straight. What about that "senseless" death when Audrey goes back to get earrings? The cool unfolding opening credits and shocking change in music? And I could write a book on all that absolutely fabulous Givenchy clothing!!! The velvet applique and crystal-studded gown she wears to meet Gazzara (another hotty) at the "Guess who?" restaurant? How about the OD green wool cape as she meets about a new formula that can save Roffe? How about her chic sweater and cords as she crawls across the imbricated roof of that villa in Sardinia? Reprising the Jewish ghetto in Crakow? Horses and syringes? The ubiquitous tied-up silk robe Audrey wears? Count me in! This was one of her best "adult" roles. She got a million bucks to do it, it gave her family even more security, and I say she infused the project with inestimable elan. It is a satisfying and slightly sickening love story. Long live Audrey Hepburn! (May she rest in peace.)