The Black Marble (1980)

Far and away the best of the Joseph Wambaugh adaptations,"The Black Marble" is full of schadenfreunde,compassion,humour,love and all the emotions that make it worthwhile being alive. Mr R.Foxworth,Miss P.Prentiss and Mr H.D. Stanton are hardly "A" - List Hollywood celebrities,but they keep this movie punching far above its weight at all levels. Burn - out L.A. cop of Russian extraction Mr Foxworth is in a cycle of drinking and despair after a particularly distressing case.In the last chance saloon he is buddied up with equally screwed up Miss P.Prentiss.He becomes involved in a blackmail case set in the bizarre world of Dog Shows where embittered trainer Mr Stanton kidnaps one of his charges and attempts to ransom it. The dog's owner - Miss B.Babstock(spelling?) - is as bruised and abused as the two cops and she and Mr Foxworth soon enter a physical relationship based entirely on mutual need. Mr Stanton has the hots for one of his teenage dog walkers and is thus not thinking straight when he evolves his plan to demand big bucks for the return of Miss Babstock's beloved schnauzer. From this rather slight storyline "The Black Marble" somehow evolves into a serio - comic masterpiece with its dual centres of L.A.'s Russian Emigree community and the American Dog Show circuit. In a reversal of roles Mr Foxworth is the sentimental and sensitive partner,Miss Prentiss the knowing and pragmatic. It doesn't matter that you can guess the ending,this is a movie where the pleasure is in the minutiae and the performances.You can watch it again and again with no diminution of pleasure. Undoubtedly along with "Mad Max 2" one of the great neglected movies of the 1980s.

I have this movie on VHS and haven't watched it in quite awhile, but I wanted to leave a quick comment. I found this movie to be quite funny and to be appreciated for the great performances by Robert Foxworth, Paula Prentiss and Harry Dean Stanton. It's a quirky movie to be sure but full of small moments of laughter and sadness. It has just the right pace although some might find it a little slow at moments. If you enjoy a movie that relies on good acting and not special effects, this could be just the movie for scrunching up on the sofa with a bowl of popcorn and relaxing. Also the surprise appearance by a young James Woods supplies just the right amount of comic relief....Enjoy!

The Black Marble was adapted from Wambaugh's novel, which was clever, fresh, funny and compelling. The movie contained none of the above. Harry Dean Stanton's acting was the only saving grace to this movie that went absolutely nowhere from start to finish. Poor acting and painfully slow dialog made this "B movie" appear to last six hours. A true yawn-fest from start to finish. No need to add spoilers to this review as everything that took place was both corny and predictable. Considering Wambaugh was responsible for classics such as the Onion Field and The New Centurions, The Black Marble will be remembered as Wambaugh's Black Plague.

It's hard to figure out what went wrong with this adaptation of Joseph Wambaugh's fine romantic comedy/cop drama. Wambaugh himself wrote the script from his novel. Harold Becker, who previously directed another Wambaugh book, "The Onion Field," is back at the helm. The cast, including leads Robert Foxworth and Paula Prentiss (not to mention the outstanding Harry Dean Stanton)are all very good. But for some reason, the movie seems muted and unexciting, missing much of the book's humor and attention to detail. Not a terrible film, but definitely a case where the book was better.