A Fine Pair (1969)

Rock Hudson and Claudia Cardinale star in this spy thrilla from the Gory 1960s. You'll also see some other familiar faces in here... Ellen Corby was Grandma on the Waltons, and Leon Askin was General Burkhalter on Hogan's Heroes. Corby seems to be Hudon's housekeeper (?). Hudson is Captain Harmon on the police force, while Cardinale is Esmerelda, a self-declared thief, fresh over from Italy. They jet off to Austria, to return the jewels Esmeralda had taken. They meet up with Roger, an old flame of Esmerelda's, and suddenly Harmon wants to leave. Jealousy, I guess. Askin is Wellman, the police chief for the town where they must try to return the jewels. There is one titillating scene as Harmon must spray Esmerelda down with champagne, when the room temperature gets too hot. Esmerelda is only wearing her under-garments, due to the high temperature, of course! Some surprises in here, which I won't give away. The sound track is so far-mismatched, that it was probably dubbed after the fact. Then we're jetting off to bella Roma, for some more trouble. more twists. Written and directed by Francesco Maselli, who appears to be still working into the 2000s, into his 80s ! Its pretty good.. Entertaining. starts slow, but picks up speed as it goes.

Once again I'm guessing that Rock Hudson signed on to make this film because of the trip to Vienna and Rome he was getting. Those fringe benefits are important especially when you know this caper film is going to be a Thanksgiving special.Rock and co-star Claudia Cardinale basically go through the motions with zero chemistry between them in A Fine Pair. Hudson did a pair of films in the Sixties with another Italian co-star Gina Lollobrigida and those two movies had a lot more going for them than this one. Hudson is ostensibly a police captain in New York who gets a visit in New York from the daughter of a colleague in Italy.Claudia's a rebellious child coming from a law enforcement family she's become a thief. But ostensibly she's had a change of heart and now wants Rock's help to return some swag she robbed over in Vienna.So Rock drops everything, career, marriage, etc., to go do a reverse caper in Vienna. Of course that's hardly all, but the film moved so slow I doubt you'll wait to find out.A Fine Pair will never be in anyone's list of top Rock Hudson films.

Miserable film with Rock Hudson going from a straight laced police officer into aiding a young woman who stole jewelry and now shows remorse to return what she has taken.The problem here is that there are constant twists of deception in the plot. Hudson goes too straight into a lover boy ready to divorce his wife for the young lady. Each literally feeds off one another and the confusion persists.The end is supposed to show us that love shall conquer all situations but by that time you can't wait for the film to be over.Hudson and Cardinale walk away as if they have fooled everyone. In reality, they have fooled only themselves.

A hard-to-find and little-seen caper movie, despite its glamorous star combo of Rock Hudson (as a by-the-book cop) and Claudia Cardinale (as a cheerful girl with a secret). Perhaps not the ultra-smooth and glossy film you'd expect from these two at the time, but that may actually be a point in its favor! It is refreshingly, but also lightly, amoral, and quite unpredictable right down to the final shot. It does slow down in the middle, but the two lively stars and the location filming in New York, Austria and Italy keep you watching even during those parts. It's a tribute to Claudia Cardinale's indescribable beauty that, although the film was shot in wintertime and she's mostly all bundled up, she's still extremely sexy! **1/2 out of 4.