P.J. (1968)

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This is an excellent PI film of the late 60's. George Peppard is perfect in the lead as the classic Private Eye, world weary but basically honest. A Korean War vet who describes that conflict as World War II&1/2. He takes on a job for a ruthless tycoon played by Raymond Burr to protect his truly gorgeous mistress, the ravishing Gayle Hunnicutt, and of course the plot thickens. Great scenes of the old somewhat seedy New York that I grew up in. I loved the description of Red Hook, "by the river, in the river if you're not careful" Nice contrast with the Caribbean locales later on. Well cast with a tight yet witty script and no nonsense direction. I'm surprised that there were no sequels or TV spinoffs. Maybe not so good as the classic " Maddigan" , which deals with New York around the same time, but well worth a look.

I would like to see P.J. again. I need one more time to make sense of the ending. I saw it twice when it first came out. The second of these two times was on a U.S. Navy ship, and the gay leather bar scene had been removed, presumably to protect sensitive sailors; in the edited version P. J. suddenly appeared beaten up with no explanation. (The irony is that a gay leather bar is a very subdued place, where the only fights are non-physical disagreements over china patterns and over recipes.)What I remember forty years later are several scenes: the bad guy dragged by the departing subway train; the gay bar scene, of course; and P.J.'s paying hubcap thieves to protect his car. Yes, I'd call it gritty.

This Private Eye drama, set mostly in New York City in 1968, is an above-average film which is largely (and unfortunately) passed over by both network television and the movie rental industry. The low-key acting by Mr. Peppard is superb; indeed, he is probably at his best in this gritty PI flick which takes one from the dark subway stations of 1968 New York, to the glamour of a Carribean island, and back again. All the while, there is fantastic music, from the opening score to the recurring theme of "P.J." Raymond Burr is interesting and convincing as William Orbison, a rich, arrogant, scheming tycoon who hires P.J. Detweiler (Peppard) to protect his mistress Maureen Preble (Gayle Hunnicutt), but whom we always suspect of having other, darker motives. Coleen Grey, in a somewhat lesser role, is excellent as Orbison's bitter, scornful wife. Overall a very good, well acted drama, with plot twists, catchy music, and of course, a bit of Peppard's trademark dry humour.

If you've only seen PJ on Television, you haven't really seen it. In the late 60s, censorship was temporarily relaxed: Ratings were "G" for Nothing Offensive, and "M" in case there was anything objectionable. With the wisdom of their breed, Studio execs quickly realized they should try to get away with as much as possible, and films like GUNN, DEADLIER THAN THE MALE and NIGHT OF THE FOLLOWING DAY were filled with raunchy (for those days) sex and violence. However, with an eye to TV showing, the studio execs also had alternate scenes shot for these films and the resulting Tv showings were tepid at best. The movie version of PJ has a seamy, tasteless feel totally appropriate to a cheap Private Eye film.