Crossplot (film)

Crossplot is a 1969 British neo noir crime film directed by Alvin Rakoff and starring Roger Moore and Claudie Lange (in her largest English-speaking role.^[1][2] It was written by Leigh Vance and John Kruse and is a loose remake of North by Northwest.^[3][4][5]

Crossplot
Directed by	Alvin Rakoff
Written by	Leigh Vance John Kruse
Produced by	Robert S. Baker
Starring	Roger Moore Claudie Lange Alexis Kanner
Cinematography	Brendan J. Stafford
Edited by	Burt Rule
Music by	Stanley Black
Production companies	Television Reporters International Tribune Productions
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	25 November 1969 (1969-11-25)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Plot

Gary Fenn is an advertising executive for a London agency who finds the perfect target and calculates the events which mean that only one girl will be good enough for his boss, Hungarian Marla Kugash. He finds her among the anti-war movement in the bohemian depths of Swinging London. She is in the company of a young man, Tarquin, who is extremely protective of her and overtly aggressive to Fenn.

The young Hungarian, an illegal refugee from her native homeland, accompanies Fenn to a photoshoot. However, she admits she is in fear of her life, and seems disturbed by the presence of her aunt. When she is nearly killed, the girl drops out of sight and Fenn has to go on the run himself, suspected of a separate murder. He locates her to a country house, which turns out to be the home of Tarquin, an aristocrat in spite of his anti-war sentiments.

It is revealed that Marla's aunt is part of a shadowy organisation trying to destabilise the existing world order so they can take over themselves. They will go to any length to try and shut Fenn and Marla up, including sending a helicopter after them. Fenn and his friend manage to escape to London, where they realise that the shadowy movement are planning to assassinate a visiting African head of state in Hyde Park. They manage to foil the plot.

Cast

• Roger Moore as Gary Fenn
• Claudie Lange as Marla Kugash
• Martha Hyer as Jo Grinling
• Alexis Kanner as Tarquin
• Derek Francis as Sir Charles Moberley
• Ursula Howells as Maggi Thwaites
• Bernard Lee as Chilmore
• Francis Matthews as Ruddock
• Dudley Sutton as Warren
• Mona Bruce as Myrna
• Veronica Carlson as Dinah
• Michael Culver as Jim
• Gabrielle Drake as Celia
• Tim Preece as Sebastian
• Norman Eshley as Athol
• Michael Robbins as garage attendant
• John Barrard as wedding guest
• David Prowse as best man
• Les Conrad as tugboat captain
• Derek Benfield as man in cafe

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "A feeble attempt to refurbish the familiar story of the innocent booby frustrating the assassination of a V.I.P. at a state ceremony, already well-used when Hitchcock first filmed it some thirty-five years ago. Indeed, virtually the only room for manoeuvre lies in the final showdown, which coincides here with the occasion of the birthday salute in Hyde Park, with the chief assassin trampled to death beneath the thundering hoofs and limbers of the Royal Horse Artillery. Otherwise it is the old mixture as before, with uninspired direction, a hero singuarly devoid of charm, and a plot nearly incomprehensible in its perfunctoriness. After an interesting start, the film settles down to an apparently determined mediocrity and a bedroom ending of almost incredible archness."^[6]

Variety wrote: "Leigh Vance, with added scenes by John Kruse, has written a thriller into which he has dropped a few good jokes, red herrings, a few quick genuine thrills, chases, sex and some mystery. It doesn't jell because the mystery is too cloudy. Motivation of most characters is indecisive and some are badly undeveloped (notably Martha Hyer, Bernard Lee and Alexis Kanner). ... Tighter direction by Alvin Rakoff would have been a plus. ... Moore plays amiably and tosses off some wisecracks brightly enough, but is not wholly eonvincing as a man of action. Claudie Lange tags along as the model and provides Moore with some provocative teasing. Miss Hyer, thanks to a poorly written part as a TV executive mixed up with the anarchists as a head girl, is a non-event, while Alexis Kanner as a peer on the side of Marchers for Peace gets what he ean out of a shadowy part."^[7]