Harper 1966

Private investigator Lew Harper (Paul Newman) makes a calculated detour from the divorce papers when summoned by multi-millionaire Ralph Sampson’s enigmatic wife Elaine. Sampson himself has vanished into thin air after touching down in Los Angeles, leaving behind a trail of intrigue and a nagging sense of uncertainty. Elaine, confined to her wheelchair, is desperate to ensure that her husband’s vast fortune isn’t being squandered or mismanaged, and thus sets Harper on the case. The gumshoe’s initial investigation leads him to Allan Taggert (Robert Fuller), Sampson’s trusted private pilot, and his alluring daughter Miranda.

A vintage snapshot of a bygone Hollywood starlet discovered in Sampson’s bungalow sends Harper hot on the heels of Fay Estabrook (Shelley Winters), an aging actress now reduced to her wits and whiskey. Under the guise of a harmless chat, Harper manages to get Fay sufficiently soused to uncover any potential connection she might have to Sampson’s disappearance. As she stumbles into unconsciousness, Harper finds himself face-to-face with Dwight Troy (Victor French), Fay’s husband and an armed enthusiast who buys Harper’s cover story about being a lovesick fan of the long-forgotten star.

Harper’s keen instincts lead him to intercept a phone call at Fay’s, which in turn yields Betty Fraley (Kim Darby), a sultry lounge singer. When he queries her about Sampson’s whereabouts, she recognizes his voice and promptly dispatches Puddler, the bouncer, to administer a beating in a secluded alleyway. However, Allan Taggert arrives just in time to take down Puddler with a swift punch, allowing Harper to rejoin him as they make their way back to Troy’s abode to investigate the suspicious truck that had been warned off by phone. Leaving Taggert on watch outside, Harper inspects the premises and discovers that the truck, though long gone, has left behind a distinctive trail of tire marks in the dust.

As Elaine receives a cryptic message from her missing husband, requesting she cash in $500,000 worth of bonds, Harper’s gut tells him that Sampson is indeed being held captive. He sets his sights on a secluded mountaintop property once donated by Sampson to Claude, a charismatic cult leader, and finds himself navigating a series of deliberate distractions designed to throw him off the scent. Amidst the chaos, Harper uncovers a massive kettle of beans simmering away, as well as the unmistakable tire tracks that confirm his suspicions: Ralph Sampson has been kidnapped, and Harper is hot on his trail.

As Harper delves deeper into the mysterious kidnapping of Sampson, he receives a chilling ransom demand at the estate, instructing him to leave a substantial sum outside town that very night. With Taggert and Albert Graves, Sampson’s attorney, tasked with delivering the cash while Harper provides surveillance cover, the stage is set for a tense and potentially deadly exchange. However, when the man collecting the money is brutally shot down and the ransom spirited away by someone in a gleaming white convertible, Harper’s attention shifts to unraveling the tangled threads of this sinister plot.

A crucial clue emerges from the crime scene: a matchbook found on Eddie’s lifeless body leads Harper to The Corner, a seedy bar where he charms the enigmatic barmaid into revealing that Eddie was a regular patron who had made a fateful long-distance call three nights prior. Outside, Harper’s sharp eyes spot Puddler at the wheel of the truck that had earlier eluded him, prompting a high-stakes chase back to Claude’s temple. There, Harper stumbles upon an illegal immigrant smuggling operation run by Troy, which raises more questions than answers.

As Harper is taken into custody and grilled by Troy, he discovers that this cunning operator knows nothing about Sampson’s disappearance or Eddie’s involvement but recognizes the white convertible as belonging to none other than Betty Fraley. When Puddler later takes Harper to a dockside location, the detective seizes his chance for escape, taking down Puddler in a brutal struggle before suspecting that Taggert, Betty, and her brother Eddie might be behind Sampson’s kidnapping.

Taggert’s sudden drawdown on Harper prompts Graves’ timely arrival, resulting in the attorney shooting down Taggert. With this revelation, Harper sets out to confront Betty at her cottage, only to find herself being mercilessly tormented by Troy, Claude, and Fay. Harper bursts into the scene, taking down Troy and rendering Claude unconscious before securing Fay in a closet and helping Betty escape.

However, when he reveals to Betty that Taggert, her secret lover, has met his demise, she discloses that Sampson is being held captive on an abandoned oil tanker. Harper dispatches Graves to meet them at the location but, as he searches the ship, he’s struck from behind and left unconscious. Later, revived by Graves, they discover that Sampson’s tragic fate has been sealed. Meanwhile, Betty has pilfered Harper’s car, leading to a desperate pursuit along a winding hillside road that ultimately claims her life when she loses control of the vehicle.

As the sun dips below the horizon, casting a warm orange glow over the cityscape, Harper and Graves embark on the arduous journey back to reality. The weight of their shared secret - the retrieved loot - hangs precariously between them like an unspoken threat. In the confines of the vehicle, Harper’s revelations spill forth like a verbal tidal wave, as he accuses Graves of being the elusive partner in crime and Sampson’s untimely demise. With a heavy heart, Harper warns his companion that their partnership has reached its impasse, and that Graves will be forced to take aim at him in order to prevent the truth from spilling out. Yet, as they draw closer to Harper’s humble abode, an unsettling silence settles over the duo like a shroud. It is here, beneath the soft illumination of the front porch lights, that Harper stands tall, his arms raised in defeat, while Graves remains frozen, unable to muster the resolve to end his friend’s life.