EPIC THRILLER LEAVES NOTHING TO BE DESIRED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01365R000300250005-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 27, 2004
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: March 9, 1971
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2Q O.5 .a1/1 :: CJ *RDP88-0136t5R00 3.0U25O.005 51
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),y JUDY )hACJ . C:OI
If you like your presidents
eking like college professors
.or Richard Vfidrnark), your
s n'lors . flamboyant and
~outhcrn and your mysteries
cat, can'pl:ct and political,
L,C/\V'1tAL-TV's mantrnotli
-Vanished'' leaves nothing to
desired.
They say it is based on
,letcher Knebel's novel, but:
Lis, this reviewer has read
'letcher Knebcl's novel, or at
ast as hutch of it as site
-0uld get thryu.;;h before an
nearthly mlgraine possessed
zor, and it bears only a story-
rte resethmbI rote to the ors i-
aC
If ;we can go by -last night's
_rspense[ul. opener.-the sec-
-id and last segment airs to-
-igl!t--"Vanished" is one of
o:se superpolitical thrillers
gat borrows from the same
nuse. as "Advise and Con-
cnt" (the book, not tire mov-
c) or "Seven Days In May"
ditto). It is slier;, It is highly
tuprobable, it forces the view-
r to suspend his sense of hu-
cor and it'is wonderful fun in
no way that only American
irillers.can be wonderful fun.
Very, Very Seriously
The British are always mak-
ig fun of themselves in their
vvio,us mysteries, but the
Illerican.s take. everything
very, very seriously. "Van-
islhcd," true to form, has only
superheroes and villaninous
type,., The superheroes fall
into two categories: the Rich-
ard WidmarI, I-Am-`1'he-Presi-
dent-With-The -,Grayi rgr - Tem-
ples category and the James
Fal'l'^tino-young-brash-idealist
category.
The villains, by far the most
endearing, are either stuffy
philosophers who happen to he
CIA directors (B. G. Mar-
shall) or the perennially use-
ful flamboyant Southern sera-
for (Robert Young, surprising-
ly enough):
"Vanished," predictably
enough, takes its ' title from
,what happens an awful lot
throt!g hout the film. Everyone
has the cep':nraabie habit of ei-
ther turning up decd (which is
sort of vanishing in a way, I
suppose) or disappearing.
First a 'Red Chinese sailor's
body is found on the beach
outside President W-Yidmark's
summer mansion and next the.
president's top adviser and
close friend (played by Arthur
hill) disappears.
This is a little disconcerting
because the top adviser had
access to a lot of nuclear se-
crets and anyv;ay, who wants
to lose a close frienc!d? The
flamboyant Southern senator,
portrayed with astonishing
RICHARD WIDNlARK
clan by the normally goody-
goody Robert Young. is posi-
tively gleeful at the prospect
of deriving political mileage
out of the event.
Press Secretary
Gossip tears throu`gh' _ the
capital at a fast clip and a lot
of naughty reporters plague
the president's press secre-
tary (I'arentino) to confirm or
deny some naughty rumors.
And for a v;hiic, things don't
look too good. For one thing,
the top adviser and close
friend, although he may have
looked to you and to me like
the kind of guy with uutirn-
pcachable credentials for
'graying temple-doni, turns out
to be 'a homosexual who tales
off from hi lush of a wife to
rendezvous with a math pro-
fessor in e. motel room.
. And for anetl;er, rite presi
dent , doesn't seem exactly
Ira tie to rursae flit chorea
bouts of Lis friend. Iic asgt s
the c;is_ to the Y BI, but f:+_hids the CIA to in-
vestiga~tc. ham. G. Marshall isn't
his bosom brr:idly , but this
scents is t: c:.rrying in fi id
log a little far.
And that's the news right up
to the present, as they say. At
the !zlon.ent, L. G. is acting
very self-righteous and ex-
trealcly peeved. Robert Young
is gel;avlr: perfectly vicious
in a very delightful, niagno
lia-tree l:i:ld of way. The vaul-
ished friend's wife (Eleanor
Parker) has just- tried to do
herself in. And the polls look
grins for.l';idmark.
The movie has flaws, of
course (I 'ow you didn't expect
a completely glowing review,
did you?). Richard Widmark
doesn't seem quite as con-
cerned as he should be, what
with his campaign contribu-
tions dropping off and the
elections coming up in Novem-
ber-gad that should give us
all an unhealthy clue into
what tomorrow portends. And
Approved For Release 2005/01/13 :'CIA-RDP88-01365R000300250005-5
there are certain uninteatio
ally hilarious and ludicroih.
mom-cnts. E. G. Marshall cal'
an intelligence meeting, for i;
stance, and addresses all h
colleagues not by,their? Chri:
than' urines, but as "FPI,'
"Air Force Intelligence,
"ARC," F-tc. (as in "Nation.
Security A ency, wha's do y think?").
But so ttihat? This is a
srii,histieated add intricate [:,
tic thriller; an epic conceive,
in glamour and executed wit
some taste and intelligent,
The aching is uniformly dece