Written by / 9/14/2023 / No comments / , , , , , , ,

WILLIAM LUCAS AND KENNETH COPE STEAL 'DATELINE DIAMONDS'

Title: DATELINE DIAMONDS Year: 1965 Rating: ***1/2

An otherwise nifty heist caper... with an agenda to promote the British band SMALL FACES... has two fitting actors, old and young, both having starred in several crime b-pictures, beginning with William Lucas, who played every incarnation of criminal... from cold-blooded to cowardly from THE BREAK to CALCULATED RISK to PAYROLL... and the intensely vulnerable Kenneth Cope from JUNGLE STREET, THE CONVICT and THE DAMNED... 

Herein, Cope is the crooked manager of the band, and Lucas has his number... an intense actor never using costumes but here he resembles Inspector Clouseau if originally cast Peter Ustinov played him more straight, and his anti-chemistry with the younger Cope works surprisingly well... yet they mostly work together by remaining apart...

William Lucas and Kenneth Cope in DATELINE DIAMONDS

One scene shows Lucas stealing the diamonds for a suspenseful ten-minutes where it seems anything can happen, especially with detective duo Conrad Phillips and George Mikell garnering more sporadic screen-time than the first-billed crooks: but what's supposed to matter is a rushed ending where the band plays a song or two, and the previous dirty work means nothing (plus the camera only sticks to a boring closeup of the lead singer's face)...

A shame since the terrifically pulpy-titled DATELINE DIAMONDS ultimately wastes a potentially good villain AND cop duo, entangled in an interesting plot... all so a music group could get a number one hit, which never panned-out: at least not because of this mostly forgotten programmer.

William Lucas and Kenneth Cope in DATELINE DIAMONDS
William Lucas and Kenneth Cope in DATELINE DIAMONDS
Conrad Phillips and George Mikell in DATELINE DIAMONDS
William Lucas and Kenneth Cope in DATELINE DIAMONDS
William Lucas and Kenneth Cope in DATELINE DIAMONDS
William Lucas and Kenneth Cope in DATELINE DIAMONDS
The Chantells in DATELINE DIAMONDSl
Conrad Phillips and George Mikell in DATELINE DIAMONDS
William Lucas and Kenneth Cope in DATELINE DIAMONDS
William Lucas and Kenneth Cope in DATELINE DIAMONDS
The Small Faces in DATELINE DIAMONDS
Kenneth Cope in DATELINE DIAMONDS
William Lucas in DATELINE DIAMONDS
William Lucas in DATELINE DIAMONDS
Credits for DATELINE DIAMONDS
Credits for DATELINE DIAMONDS
Credits for DATELINE DIAMONDS
William Lucas in DATELINE DIAMONDS
William Lucas & Kenneth Cope in 1960's Earlier British New Wave Crime Films

Share This Post :
Tags : , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

All Time Popular

Featured Post

RALPH BAKSHI BLAXPLOITATION-ANIMATION OF 'COONSKIN'

Title: COONSKIN aka STREET FIGHT Director: Ralph Bakshi Year: 1975 Rating: **1/2 After HEAVY TRAFFIC where cult director Ralph Bakshi inser...

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM
Movie Reviews, Interviews, Articles and Pop Culture from White Heat to Blue City

RIP ACTOR KEN HUTCHISON

TOTAL HITS

Popular Trending

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE
RANDOM QUOTE: "When I'm paid, I always see the job through." Lee Van Cleef in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

FILM NOIR & NEO NOIR CRIME

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)JUNGLE STREET 9)THE CROWDED SKY 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)WHITE LIGHTNING 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)THE BREAK 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)HIDDEN FEAR 20)FALLEN ANGEL 21)SHARKS' TREASURE 22)THE ASPHALT JUNGLE 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)SANDS OF THE KALAHARI 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)IMPASSE 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE FAVORITE ACTORS 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 6) CHARLES BRONSON 7)BURT REYNOLDS 8)WILLIAM LUCAS 9)TOM COURTENAY 10)GENE HACKMAN DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)JOHN CARPENTER 10)MICHAEL WINNER

BRITISH NEW WAVE CINEMA

RARITIES AND EXPLOITATION

HAMMER HORROR & THRILLER

Popular This Month

CHARLES BRONSON CINEMA

CINEMA OF DANA ANDREWS

WESTERN GENRE REVIEWS

PEAKING INTO THE SIXTIES

KICKING IN THE EIGHTIES

TALES AND REFLECTIONS

REVVING THE SEVENTIES

Most Popular Last Year