Excellent, a Must See

Boring

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I am so glad to actually own a copy of this great movie, starring the late great David Janssen. Allen Garfield and Stephanie Powers are also superb in this believable (perhaps based on truth?) adaptation of Charles Einstein's novel, The Blackjack Hijack. The movie is much better than the book,much better ending in the film version. Usually I enjoy the book better than the movie, not the case this time.I loved everything about this movie. I was always a big fan of David Janssen, this is probably my favorite movie that he starred in, shortly before his very untimely and tragic death.They don't make movies of this quality any more it seems, good from start to finish!Do take the time to view this one, should it show up on your late night TV lineup.

David Janssen seems about the best choice for playing Harry Adams, a lonely, but brilliant structural engineer in a loveless marriage. It might be possible to accumulate $500,000 in high-stakes black jack playing, being able to do it in 15 years or less. In fact, a BJ card counting team went into Resorts International Casino, around 1978, in Atlantic City and won $145,000 in a period of ~8-9 days and was barred.The only thing is, I don't think any BJ player would be allowed to bring a notepad to a BJ table. This might be construed as a form of card-counting, yet was necessary for the plot.When Herbie, the Private Investigator, needed $10,000 to pay off his gambling debts, why didn't Harry (Janssen) simply remove the $10,000 from the nearly $500,000 in BJ winnings that he had already amassed, instead of getting involved in a rather dangerous, high-stakes, back room poker game? Much simpler. To me, $490,000 would be close enough.

I saw this film in Australia when I was working with Frankie Vaughan in the mid seventies and have not seen or heard of it since. I'm not a fan of David Jansen, I feel he takes 'taciturn' way past it's sell by date, but in my opinion he did a great job on this. I was blown away by the audacity of the plot. Frank and I and the rest of the team ALL agreed the story was superb. The twists and turns kept me / us on the edge of our collective seat. The ending was SPECTACULAR. After all the "will he - won't he" our whole crew was cheering as the credits rolled. To help with a happy retirement I need to get a copy of this film at any reasonable price. Please - can anybody help me ? ken h.

This was a television movie from late in Janssen's career. His character, Harry, is an unhappy man stuck in a loveless marriage. His wife is cheating on him and he is rather indifferent towards her. He does not hate her--he just wants out but she doesn't want to let him go too easily. So, Harry slowly creates a complicated plan by which he will fake his death and go to Vegas for a big score (as he's created a nearly foolproof technique that should pay off big).Along the way, he meets and falls for Stephanie Powers and befriends the hapless Herbie Stoltz (played by Alan Garfield)--Herbie BEFORE he arranged his fake death and Stephanie AFTER. In fact, Herbie is broken up by Harry's apparent death and is sure Harry's wife did it--until he accidentally stumbles on Harry in his new life! What happens next and the tense build up until the "big score" make this an unexpectedly good film.