Bloodline

Plot synopsis:
Sam Roffe, President of Roffe & Sons Pharmaceuticals, dies in what appears to be a climbing accident, leaving his daughter Elizabeth (Audrey Hepburn) a billion-dollar empire. Roffe's board members see an opportunity to settle old scores, jockey for higher position, and reap lucrative profits. However, an investigation into Sam's death discloses that it was a murder and that a power struggle is going on within the company.
Lead investigator Max Hornung (Gert Fröbe) informs Elizabeth of his list of suspects, which includes her closest advisers and financially strapped family members. During this time, she marries CEO Rhys Williams (Ben Gazzara), but he, too, is identified by Hornung as a suspect. As president, Elizabeth follows her father's wishes and refuses to let shares of Roffe & Sons sell on the world market. Her choice prevents the board members from selling their shares as the company's by-laws prohibit it until all board members agree; on the other hand, her death would allow for a unanimous decision.
After several attempts on her life, an international chase across Europe ensues. Hornung is able to connect these murder attempts to a series of homicides of prostitutes, which have been recorded on snuff films using Roffe film stock with a witness in a black Gucci leather coat (several suspects are linked to this coat).
Elizabeth returns to her father's villa in Sardinia during a scirocco for protection from the unseen murderer, who sets her house on fire after she begins destroying objects and shouting, "Now try to make it look like an accident!" Williams and one of the shareholders, Sir Alec Nichols (James Mason), both show up to save her, but Hornung figures out that Nichols is the killer and shoots him before he can murder Elizabeth in a symbolic snuff film.

Tags: murder

Review:
"Bloodline", based on a novel by "I Dream of Jeannie" creator Sidney Sheldon, probably qualifies as one of Audrey Hepburn's lesser movies.
I didn't find it a terrible movie, but Hepburn obviously starred in much better films (much of the movie seems like a rehash of her earlier movie "Charade").
She and co-star Ben Gazzara later co-starred in Peter Bogdanovich's bizarre "They All Laughed".Director Terence Young is probably best known for "Dr. No" and "From Russia with Love".
Usually I would say that there would be an incentive to remake it to try and do it right, but I actually don't like the idea of remaking an Audrey Hepburn movie.
"Bloodline" is still a pretty enjoyable movie, if not a masterpiece.Also starring James Mason, Claudia Mori, Irene Papas, Michelle Phillips, Maurice Ronet, Romy Schneider, Omar Sharif, Beatrice Straight, Gert Frobe, Marcel Bozzuffi, Pinkas Braun, Ivan Desny, Vadim Glowna, Walter Kohut and Wolfgang Preiss..
The real crime against cinema is the fact that the name of Audrey Hepburn is associated with this repugnant film, a monstrosity so putrid, one wishes every single copy of it would magically disappear..
Audrey Hepburn, Ben Gazzara and a stellar cast!!!.
Any time Audrey Hepburn graced the screen was an occasion and for her to be paired with Ben Gazzara made this movie extra special for me.
For any True Audrey Hepburn fan, this movie should make you sick..
It was said that midway through shooting "Bloodline" Audrey Hepburn finally realized what a horrible and degrading movie this was going to be and desperately wanted to get out of it, but she was under contract and had no choice.When you see this movie you will realize exactly why she felt so bad about making it.
The absolute only reason to watch "Bloodline" is to see how Audrey Hepburn aged like fine wine..
This movie is not a good one but a very special movie to me is not only the mature Audrey Hepburn in this one but is the very beautiful and fantastic Romy Schneider any movie with a cast like this should be better but doesnot matter you will love it , plus is Maurice Ronet a major international star he too die young, Romy at this time was a big international super star and one of the most beautiful women in this planet i am sorry for Audrey but i love Romy much more sadly she die young and have a tragic life, Romy was mainly an European star at this point but what surprise me the most is that many of the people written a review doesn't mention her name please she was as beautiful and important as Audrey Hepburn was.
Seeing these great international actors together -- Romy "Shrew in Silk" Schneider and Irene "Show me your back!" Papas, for example -- gave me a great shot of what it must be like to tread life's waters in Gucci and Bulgari (back when Gucci didn't seem so silly (watch out!
is Chanel next?)) This film, about the Roffe Pharmaceutical heiress (Audrey Hepburn)tagged for murder because she won't go public with the stock market, has a great soundtrack, with lovely resolution, and if you can get the album or CD you'll catch a funky tune not used in the film.
It seems best to consider Richard Lester's lovely "Robin and Marian" Audrey Hepburn's swansong."Bloodline " is the most distressingly mediocre movie she ever made.Terence Young had already directed the actress in the excellent thriller "wait until dark" ,a film which compares favorably with Hitchcock's "rear window" .So it was only natural that they teamed up again .The screenplay is a mess,a disaster ,and it's more complicated than complex.Full of plot holes,of implausibilities (the fabulously rich heiress ,after several murder attempts does not even think of hiring a bodyguard!),and see how Young even copies himself for the last sequence where Hepburn is alone in the house ,of course in the dark,like in the 1967 highly superior effort.An absurd international cast gives the coup de grâce to the movie: Americans (Ben Gazzara),English (James Mason),Germans (Romy Schneider,Gert Froebe),French (Maurice Ronet) ,Greeks (Irene Pappas),Egyptians (Omar Sharif).All are given lousy parts .They are supposed to be the suspects of a whodunit..
Regarding "Sidney Sheldon's Bloodline", I'd like to correspond to Paramount and inquire why not re-edit the film (remaster), and create a SPECIAL EDITION, maybe with deleted scenes (with Ursula Buchfellner and Eleonore Melzer, which were cut), and commentary.
I read parts of the book, and like the book, but the movie, when I watched it in the theater back in 1979, it made no sense, and was confusing, particularly with the Snuff films.
The book lets you know WHY these films are created, as with the movie, you wonder why?!
It seems to be that with the amount of talent that was wasted in this film, that somewhere something good could have come about it.
But the dialogue was so laughable, and poor Audrey Hepburn looking very foolish.
The end of the film is lifted (in bad taste) right from another Hepburn film called Charade.
It is probably assumed this is the worse movie Audrey Hepburn ever appeared in and I am sorry that it was a contractual obligation for her that she did not want to fulfill..
Very disappointing.Nobody expects film based on Sidney Sheldon's book to be come art-house masterpiece but at least it could be made into enjoyable crime movie like Death on Nile.
Despite the rather famous director (Young is not Fellini of course but most his previous films were enjoyable eye-feasts; would that be a spy adventure (2 Bond movies), eurowestern (Red Sun) or costume drama (Mayerling)) and all-star cast  the film is very weak.The plot is inconsistent and empty the idea to equip the Agatha Christy-like crime puzzle with subplots from other genres may seem not bad idea but it doesn't work at allSubplot 1- (WWII -Jewish Tragedy with absolutely aimless trip to Poland) and Subplot 2 (French one - Schneider/Ronet story ) seem to be taken from the absolutely different film as well as the type-cast Shariff's lineActually this all-star cast is the only reason to watch it, but its is painful to watch so much talent wasted.
especially annoying to see superb dramatic actresses like Papas and Schneider wasting their talent in this turkey..
Audrey Hepburn stars in another thriller, where three men are out to get her, and she has to unsuspectingly save herself and her fortune.
This one isn't as good, though, but if you like to see an older Audrey defending herself, you can put the kids to bed and watch this one.
Well, with two veteran villains among the suspects, it's a toss-up between Ben and James, so you'll be on the edge of your seat until the end.Omar Sharif serves at the much-needed comic relief, believe it or not, and his scenes were my favorites in the movie.
Unless you like seeing how everyone aged, though, you might want to just rent movies where they're younger.
Bloodline opens with the billionaire founder and president of an international drug conglomerate being shot off an Alp. It goes further downhill from that.The deceased's daughter is Audrey Hepburn who now is in charge of the family owned business and she is being pressed by other family members to have the corporation go public.
Making the film somewhat bearable in his scenes is Omar Sharif, one of the cousins and board members whose philandering ways have made him a legend of sorts.
Audrey Hepburn wearing two dresses in the same scene and three scenes depicting the making of SNUFF films that have absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the film.
Audrey Hepburn returned to Hollywood in the late 1970s to much fanfare...but once her return movie, "Robin and Marian", was finished, Hollywood didn't know what to do with her.
Throwing money her way to get the Audrey Hepburn name on a film product seemed to be the industry's answer, and Hepburn collected a $1,000,000 paycheck (plus profits, though I doubt there were any) for this adaptation of Sidney Sheldon's bestselling novel.
Boring mystery is 'spiced up' with a snuff-film subplot involving the killer, a bald, naked strangler and some unfortunate prostitutes (and which, like many of the story threads, is never resolved; this movie doesn't end, it just stops).
Ben Gazzara, James Mason, Omar Sharif, Gert Fröbe, Romy Schneider, Irene Papas and Beatrice Straight are all wasted.
Sidney Sheldon's 'Bloodline' is an unmitigated turkey with a cast including the late beloved Audrey Hepburn, Ben Gazzara James Mason, Omar Sharif Irene Pappas and Gert(Goldfinger) Frobe, with a cast like this you would think you would be watching a top notch international classic, sadly this is not to be.The film has Audrey Hepburn who is the daugbter of a wealthy pharmaceuticals magnate who is mysteriously murdered, Hepburn then becomes heir to the family's fortune with all of her estranged siblings who try to get a piece of the family fortune.
'Bloodline' is a mess most notably thanks to Omar Sharifs rather inept performance as a playboy who has a string of sons and daughters this stupid subplot seems edited from another film, Poor Audrey Hepburn has little to do but look terrified and at the same time look really stunning in her collective fashions from Givenchy.
all in all if your looking for a time waster please feel free to watch the newly released DVD with no extra's whatsover the DVD back cover clearly has a scene not included it is that of a wedding scene with Mason and Hepburn..
Audrey Hepburn goes R-rated.
Sam Roffe of Roffe & Sons Pharmaceuticals dies.His daughter Elizabeth takes over the business.The cause of her father's death turns out to be a murder, and Elizabeth's life is also in danger.Bloodline (1979) is directed by Terence Young.It's based on Sidney Sheldon's 1977 novel.The movie has pretty handsome cast list, which should be a guarantee for a better movie.There's Audrey Hepburn in the lead playing Elizabeth Roffe.This is actually the only R-rated movie she ever starred.Recently deceased Ben Gazzara plays Rhys Williams.James Mason portrays Sir Alec Nichols.Claudia Mori is Donatella.Irene Papas is Simonetta Palazzi.Michelle Phillips plays Vivian Nichols.Romy Schneider plays Helene Martin.Omar Sharif, who turned 80 this month, plays Ivo Palazzi.Gert Fröbe portrays Inspector Max Hornung.Ennio Morricone is behind the music.The movie doesn't have anything too memorable.The moments at the villa in the end are pretty suspenseful, but it's too little too late..
Following the release of Wait Until Dark (1967) and the break-up of her marriage to Mel Ferrer, Audrey Hepburn retired from the screen.
It may also account for the fact that her choice of material was so ill-judged.Bloodline (1979) was Hepburn's second 'comeback' movie and appeared three years after the underrated 'Robin and Marian'.
Both movies were poorly received and both have enduringly awful critical reputations.So is Bloodline that bad?
The movie opens fairly well with the murder of pharmaceutical magnate Sam Roffe and the inheritance by his daughter Elizabeth (Hepburn) of his Zurich-based empire.
We are then introduced to Elizabeth's cousins (Sharif, Schneider, Mason) all of whom, we later find out, have reasons for wanting her dead.
Scenes become increasingly disjointed  at one point, following the murder of one of the company's research scientists, Hepburn yells "I want them out!", a statement which makes no sense whatsoever unless you've read the book, in which case you'll know she's referring to the security personnel who've failed to protect the murdered man.
Even if this footage were to be restored for a DVD release, it is doubtful given the quality of that which remains, that Bloodline would suddenly turn into a masterpiece.For a movie with a fairly reasonable budget (Hepburn's Givenchy-designed wardrobe reportedly cost $100,000, and she does look great) it looks remarkably shoddy in places (witness the back projection during the Le Mans sequence) and with a couple of exceptions (Hepburn  and Schneider, who is delicious as a Contessa de Sade-type) the performances are strictly one-dimensional.
Looking back one can see that an era of old movie making was coming to an end and a new era was starting!
In Europe with the downfall of European cinema, and especially Italian movie making at Cinecitta, movie producers were forced to make movies with actors from different countries as it was in this case like Romy Schneider and Gert Fröbe for Germany, Audrey Hepburn and Ben Gazarra for US, Omar Sharif and Irene Papas for Greece and Egypt,...
Classic stories are those of for example Rock Hudson, Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn, Liz Taylor, Richard Burton,...
So in this light the movie Bloodline is a prime example of a movie at the end of the golden era of Hollywood with classic actors like Hepburn, Mason, Schneider, Sharif, Papas, Fröbe....
Exactly what anyone was thinking during the making of this movie isn't actually clear as the movie has no idea what it's trying to be, or the audience it's trying to attract.The list of well known actors coupled with the story line of inheriting a multi-million dollar company (ie.
instant wealth) read like a trashy $2 novel, which is what I'm assuming this whole thing was based on, but then they thrown in a snuff-movie sub plot with splashes of nudity.
At the start of the movie they actually tried to provide some flow to the story, but by about a third of the way through no attempt to portray any sort of time scale or transition between scene's is provided.Audrey Hepburn, the main draw card for the movie, is treated almost like a child actor in this.
The film tries to re-live scene's she's played out in older movies when she was much younger: eg.
This might have worked if the film was a light hearted music love story like the films which made her famous, but this was meant to be during a dramatic and dangerous scene, so it just ends up looking extremely staged and comical (bordering on silly).
Not exactly star studded cinema here.The biggest gripe I have with ANY of the acting in this movie is how no one actually says anything to anyone.
.. I'll tell you later.For people who are fearing for their lives they certainly seem to have more important things to do then actually work out what the hell is going on around them.
'I'm sorry I'm too rich to die now, please kill me later on when it's more dramatic'.Then we come to the movies snuff-p0rn sub-plot.
They contain NONE of the major actors and so look like they were tacked onto the movie in the editing stage, and seem to happen only through-out the course of the movie to keep some sort of 'threat' level present since the actors are so busy worrying about minor things that the audience might forget that DEATH AND MURDER is actually occurring.The whole point of the snuff-movie sub-plot it seems is to show that one person is, in fact, the killer.
Please feel free to shoot anyone else you think could possibly have maybe done something.'If you really feel it warranted that you MUST watch this movie, please look out for the following highlights of cinematic and acting glory : 1.
Audrey Hepburn sitting on a bouncy seat in a studio while a car crash scene plays out behind her (hilarity on a grand scale) 2.
The 'building burning' scene which looks like a photo with a match under it.7.
The fact that the entire building looks like it has exploded and burnt down the previous scene / photo ..
The snuff-movie sub plot which makes no sense and seems to be the movies only real talking point (both for it's strange inclusion and for the way it sticks out like a sore thumb compared to everything else that's going on).9.
which just sort of 'happen' to a back ground of Audrey walking around an old castle looking confused (I was looking confused after watching that scene as well though).10.
The 'over this way there's much the same' comment from Ben Gazzara during Audrey's tour of the drug factory (The actor summed up a pointless scene even before the audience had a chance too)..
Audrey Hepburn inherits control of a pharmaceutical company after her father dies and the firm's board members (her cousins) close in and try to convince her to go public, thus making them all rich.
Unless Hepburn's family is some sort of creepy version of the UN General Assembly, this is a very oddly cast group of characters...James Mason (British) is married to degenerate gambler Michelle Phillips (American), Omar Sharif (Egyptian, playing an Italian) has a wife and mistress as well as two sets of children.
Phillips' role seems to have been left largely on the cutting room floor and Sharif appears to be playing the film for laughs.
Ben Gazzara plays Hepburn's husband/business partner and he emerges unscathed.
Hepburn is given a minimal amount of inane dialog, but the poor editing makes some of her scenes seem really silly.
Taking a look at IMDb's Classic Film board,I noticed that a fellow poster was talking about a very interesting sounding title that was Audrey Hepburn only R-Rated film!
Getting to the end of the review,I spotted a mention to a 150 minute TV cut of the movie.Tracking down the uncut version of the film online,I soon got set to discover where the bloodline runs to.The plot:With her dad having recently died in a skiing accident, Elizabeth Roffe finds out that she has been appointed as the head of her dad's major pharmaceutical company.
Audrey Hepburn's Mistake.
I've always had a special place in my heart for Audrey Hepburn and I admire her work.
However, this cast turns the movie into one big "Who's Who" of WASHED-UP actors: Omar Sharif, Romy Schneider, Maurice Ronet, Irene Papas, AND unfortunately Hepburn herself.I hate to say that.
Bloodline was the final nail in the coffin.We love you, Audrey, but someone must have lied to you.