The Black Marble

Avco Embassy. Director Harold Becker; Producer Frank Capra Jr; Screenplay Joseph Wambaugh; Camera Owen Roizman; Editor Maury Winetrobe; Music Maurice Jarre; Art Director Alfred Sweeney

Robert Foxworth
Paula Prentiss
Harry Dean Stanton
Barbara Babcock
James Woods
Christopher Lloyd

With The Black Marble, Joseph Wambaugh [adapting his own novel] at last comes close to presenting police as human, even humorous, beings, capable of balancing remorse, regret and romance without becoming total psychotics.

Transferred out of homicide after too much exposure to a string of child murders, Robert Foxworth is teamed on a burglary detail with Paula Prentiss. The crime is either terribly serious or impossibly trivial, depending on your love of animals. Barbara Babcock's showdog is kidnapped and she proves superb in the role of a lonely, sex-starved woman with her whole life wrapped up in her schnauzer.

Director Harold Becker is at his best in maneuvering carefully through the minefields of animal worship.

Much of the credit for making the picture work goes to Harry Dean Stanton as the dognapper, driven to his dirty deed by debt.

(Color) Widescreen. Available on VHS. Extract of a review from 1980. Running time: 112 MIN.

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