Harper (1966)

Movie"Harper takes a case - and the payoff is murder."
Audience Score
67
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NR 2 hr 1 minMar 30th, 1966Mystery, Thriller, CrimeLew Harper Collection PosterPart of Lew Harper Collection
Harper is a cynical private eye in the best tradition of Bogart. He even has Bogie's Baby hiring him to find her missing husband, getting involved along the way with an assortment of unsavory characters and an illegal-alien smuggling ring.
StarringPaul NewmanLauren BacallJulie Harris
DirectorJack Smight

Movie Details

Theatrical Release:March 30th, 1966
Movie Budget:$3,500,000
Movie Box Office Gross:$12,000,000 (Worldwide)
Original Language:English
Production Companies:Gershwin-Kastner, Warner Bros. Pictures
Movie Tags:
based on novel or bookmurderkidnappinglos angeles, californiahusband wife relationshipinvestigationdivorceadulterynightclubmissing person

Lew Harper Collection

Harper (released in the UK as The Moving Target) is a 1966 American mystery film based on Ross Macdonald's 1949 novel The Moving Target and adapted for the screen by novelist William Goldman, who admired MacDonald's writings. The film stars Paul Newman as Lew Harper (Lew Archer in the novel). It is directed by Jack Smight, with an ensemble cast that includes Robert Wagner, Julie Harris, Janet Leigh, Shelley Winters and Arthur Hill. The film pays homage to Humphrey Bogart's portrayals of Sam Spade and Phillip Marlowe by featuring Bogart's widow, Lauren Bacall, who plays a wounded wife searching for her missing husband, a role similar to General Sternwood in the 1946 Bogart-and-Bacall film, The Big Sleep. In 1975, Newman reprised the role in The Drowning Pool.