HIGHPOINT

Canada, 1979, 86 minutes, Colour.
Richard Harris, Christopher Plummer, Beverley D'Angelo, Kate Reid, Saul Rubinek, Robin Gammel, Peter Donat.
Directed by Peter Carter.

Highpoint is one of numerous American- Canadian co-productions, made because of tax advantages in Canada. These films, while very popular entertainment -at the widest level, have done little credit for the Canadian film industry. These films are generally routine entertainments decked out with international stars, often Canadian citizens like Christopher Plummer.

This film was directed by Peter Carter, a Canadian director of a number of films (Klondike Fever with Angie Dickinson and Rod Steiger). It has Los Angeles locations as well as Quebec and Toronto settings.

The film is a tongue-in-cheek private eye style thriller. It is meant to be humorous (with jokes about the universal jurisdiction of the CIA). However, it comes across as corny rather than as genuinely humorous. It is a convoluted chase thriller about American money, the CIA, Mafia types and a playboy criminal pursued by a would-be accountant with a Cockney accent and the criminal's attractive sister and mother. There are also some comic criminals. There are chases, spectacular stunts, shoot-outs. The culmination is a literal kind of cliff-hanger with villain Christopher Plummer hanging from a highpoint tower in Toronto.

Richard Harris seems to enjoy himself with the voice-over technique of the private eye thriller and the involvement of an accountant in international money dealings and espionage. Beverley D'Angelo is decorative as the sister. Christopher Plummer does one of his callous villains - almost without trying. Kate Reid has some moments as his mother. Comedian Saul Rubinek is one of the two comic criminals.

The film is little more than an episode of a television series - international crime, callous criminals, romantic adventurers.

It adds little to the careers of its stars - but is indicative of a number of films made by Canada during the '70s and '80s.