I decided to watch this film because I like Robert Mitchum--and he's very good here. Unfortunately, the story itself has issues...mostly because it looks as if the writer saw the film and then just decided to rearranged the plot here and there to make an all-new movie. So many plot elements are the same--such as it being set around San Francisco, the out of work and emotionally damaged cop who's inexplicably hired by a husband and the same witnessing the lady falling to her death!
When the film begins, you learn that ex-cop Harold Shillman (Mitchum) is a mess. He just was forced off the force after trying to kill himself and he tends to drink heavily. So why would anyone want to hire this mess of a person to do a private investigation-- particularly when he's NOT a private dick?! A tough mobster type (Mel Ferrer) wants him to find his runaway wife. Amazingly, he finds her with no trouble at all and she says her hubby knows EXACTLY where she is!! So why hire Shillman?! Perhaps it's because as he's leaving the apartment building where the wife is, he sees her falling to her death!
Along for the ride, inexplicably, is a lady played by Angie Dickenson. She really just seems to be there for titillation and she and Mitchum get nekkid together quite a bit through the course of the movie. You don't really see anything (in Mitchum's case, this isn't a bad thing considering his age).
So is it any good despite too many similarities to "Vertigo"? Well, I did enjoy seeing the world-weary performance by Mitchum. Also, the story differs from "Vertigo" in enough ways that there are plenty of surprises. A decent but certainly not outstanding made for TV film.
