The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun (1970 film)
| The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun | |
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.jpg) Film poster | |
| Directed by | Anatole Litvak |
| Produced by | Raymond Danon and Anatole Litvak |
| Screenplay by | Richard Harris and Eleanor Perry |
| Based on |
La Dame dans l'auto avec des lunettes et un fusil by Sébastien Japrisot |
| Starring |
Samantha Eggar Oliver Reed John McEnery |
| Music by | Michel Legrand |
| Cinematography | Claude Renoir |
| Edited by | Peter Thornton |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun (French: La Dame dans l'auto avec des lunettes et un fusil) is a 1970 psychological thriller film directed by Anatole Litvak starring Samantha Eggar, Oliver Reed and John McEnery. It is based on Sébastien Japrisot's 1966 novel La Dame dans l'auto avec des lunettes et un fusil.[1] The film was remade in 2015.
Plot
Just before the Bastille Day holiday weekend English secretary Danielle 'Dany' Lang (Samantha Eggar) types up a document for her advertising agency boss, Michael Caldwell (Oliver Reed), to take on a business trip to Geneva. On the way to drop off her boss and his wife, Anita (Stéphane Audran) (a former room-mate), at the airport, her boss gives her a pay envelope.
After dropping them off Dany impulsively decides to drive to the Riviera for the weekend. When Dany pulls into a small café the owner tries to return a coat to her she claims she left there the day before. At a petrol station Dany is attacked in the toilet and injures her hand and she is bemused as various strangers claim to know her.
Heading further south she picks up a hitch-hiker, Philippe (John McEnery) and the pair spend the night together. The following day Philippe steals Dany's car prior to reaching the coast. She later finds Philippe in Marseilles where they find a man's body and a gun in the boot of the car.
After Philippe disappears again, Dany visits the home of the dead man in Avignon and oddly finds both some of her clothes and also nude pictures of herself. Returning to the café to reclaim the coat she finds a copy of her pay envelope in one of the coat's pockets. Dany is now completely perplexed by the situation and returns to the dead man's home where her boss, Michael, is waiting for her. He tells Dany that the dead man was one of Anita's lovers, whom she murdered at his home. To frame Dany, they planted evidence and set up various incidents to establish her guilt: the attack in the toilet was committed by Michael, who injured her hand so Anita could wear a bandage and be mistaken for the secretary; and the nude photos had been taken by Anita when they were room-mates.
When Michael tells Dany he plans to murder her and make it look like a suicide she tells him he won't succeed as she has already posted both pay envelopes to the police.
Cast
- Samantha Eggar as Danielle 'Dany' Lang
- Oliver Reed as Michael Caldwell
- John McEnery as Yves-Marie aka Philippe
- Stéphane Audran as Anita Caldwell
- Billie Dixon as Tall girl
- Bernard Fresson as Jean Yvain
- Marcel Bozzuffi as Manuel
- Philippe Nicaud as Highway policeman
Soundtrack
The film's score was written by Michel Legrand and the title music was On the Road sung by Petula Clark.
Track listing:
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