The Art of Crime

Wow! What a travesty! Even by the standards of 70's TV movies, this one is spectacularly bad.

The worst part of this production was casting Ron Leibman as Roman Grey: a truly incomprehensible choice. I'm not saying Ron Leibman is a bad actor— just totally wrong for that part. His Roman Grey is too lightweight, too fey, and too "New York Jewish." Roman needs to have more substance, more power, more inner strength; he even needs to seem a bit dangerous. Without a good Roman Grey, this movie just falls apart.

I'd love to see a first class adaptation of "Canto for a Gypsy," Martin Cruz Smith's second (and, so far, last) Roman Grey novel. It's an excellent thriller and would make a much better movie than "Gypsy in Amber," with the right actor playing Roman Grey, an excellent supporting cast, a first class screen adaptation and the right director.