Il piccione d'argilla

Low-budget thriller features Tom Stern as Vietnam war hero, of late a hippy in L.A. He's set up as the bait by cop Telly Savalas to lure drug lord Robert Vaughn into a trap. Amateurishly directed, despite a talented cast- including Burgess Meredith, John Marley, Ivan Dixon and a (wisely)unbilled Peter Lawford. Director Stern manages to make all of these thespians appear at their worst. The script features endless "hip" dialogue that has dated badly and the production values have all the merit of a porno film. Only the finale staged in the Hollywood Bowl has even a modicum of style and suspense. Vaughn, whose character inexplicably wears a variety of goofy hats, was allegedly paid the (then) sizable sum of $500,000 for his role. This probably exhausted the remaining production budget. There are endless, poorly edited sequences involving dune buggy chases, though the audience might be stirred from their slumber by the frequent nudity. Not out on video in the U.S, but available in the U.K. as "Trip to Kill"