A Morte Ronda a Pantera

A rich old man has a suspicious fatal car accident in Acapulco, and his widow wants his insurance company to pony up $5 million. What can they do? "Get me Jake Decker!" barks company bigwig Keenan Wynn. OK, they get hotshot investigator Decker to check it out, but he's played by Charles Grodin, whose self-consciously dry brand of comedy needs a script tailored to his style (like MIDNIGHT RUN, REAL LIFE, or 11 HARROWHOUSE, which he co-wrote, which explains a lot...but I digress... :-), which the routine insurance fraud plot of SUNBURN doesn't provide. What can the filmmakers do? Get Farrah Fawcett(-Majors, as she was then billed) at her most charming and dazzling, Art Carney in fine form, and a good supporting cast including Joan Collins (hilarious as a sex-crazy glamorpuss), Alejandro Rey, Seymour Cassel, John Hillerman, and brief bits by Eleanor Parker and the aforementioned Wynn. Put them in Acapulco's most beautiful locations, sprinkle in a few background tunes by 10 CC, and voila! You've made a blah crime caper into a lively, unassuming bit of fun for a lazy afternoon (or a snowy one, like the kind we've been having this week). Best sight gag: Farrah's insanely huge load of luggage (reminded me of trips with my mom). Cute seemingly off-the-cuff bit: Grodin mistaking the portrait of Collins' father for one of Lee Van Cleef. Farrah and Carney also get into a pretty good car chase that ends up in a bullring. If you stumble across this on cable and you have nothing better to do, this SUNBURN isn't painful at all!

A forgettable easygoing romp in the rich tourist section of Mexico, this movie was hamstrung from the beginning with its insurance scam plot - not an exciting prospect. Grodin is the maverick investigator whom the head of the insurance company wants on the job even though he caused them some problems in the past. Grodin plays this sort of slack jawed throughout, to the point of annoyance. Farrah joins up as his make believe wife. This was Farrah in her prime, just post the silly Angels TV show and before she got into serious actress mode. It's her middle film in the 'S' trio - all of which bombed. She & Grodin are incompatible, in more ways than one, and the fact she does end up in bed with him feeds the fantasies of many a middle-aged males. Art Carney's a private eye employed by Grodin; he brings in the usual feisty old man humor. Joan Collins shows up as a rich, horny wife. A lot of the scenes are plain stupid, such as Grodin dressing up in a night prowler outfit for no reason, other than to appear stupid. But, since all of this takes place in hot weather, Farrah usually wears something skimpy. There's also a fairly exciting car chase in the last third, including a run-in with a bull - some of those shots looked very realistic, to the detriment of the bull.

Charles Grodin plays a insurance investigator and Farrah Fawcett poses as his wife to solve murder. Art Carney is added for comedic relief to keep the movie rolling. Grodin is little serious as the usual roles that play in other movies. This is not Fawcett best role, but will show her acting ability in later movies as The Burning Bed and Extermities. Its not the best movie, but I like for the adventurous plot.

Based on Stanley Ellin's not-bad mystery novel "The Bind", "Sunburn" became Farrah Fawcett's second attempt to resurrect her TV golden-touch at the movies (it drove her back to television after one more try, the sci-fi bomb "Saturn 3"). It has amusing fashions and disco music, a pleasant ambiance at the outset, lots of sand and sunshine, but a script that becomes murky early on. There are too many sub-plots and incidental characters here (such as Joan Collins in an indescribable bit). The central relationship between insurance investigator Charles Grodin and model Fawcett (posing as his wife) is curious but unsatisfying, and Art Carney has very little to do as a gumshoe. Not a disaster by any means, and '70s aficionados will soak up the clichés, but it's easy to see why "Sunburn" never attained much of a following: it's a commercial for Acapulco--not a movie. * from ****

In 1979's strangely toned "Sunburn" insurance investigator Charles Grodin hires Farrah Fawcett to pose as his wife while he probes a dodgy death in Acapulco. There they're drawn into a bland plot involving blackmail & the mob with the likes of Joan Collins, Art Carney & Seymour Cassel. Director Richard C Sarafian and writers John Daly, Stephen Oliver & James Booth may have thought they had the best of both the mystery thriller & jaunty rom-com genres - but ended up falling between the two as neither funny nor tense: just pretty lame & pointless. What it DOES having going for it in retrospect though is its nostalgic Seventies feel - but that's not enough. Disappointing fare.