Private detective and former football player Harry Moseby gets hired on to what seems a standard missing person case - a former Hollywood actress wants Moseby to find and return her daughter. Harry travels to Florida to find her, but he begins to see a connection between the runaway girl, the world of Hollywood stuntmen, and a suspicious mechanic when an unsolved murder comes to light.
Acting
Hackman's simmering defeat in every scene.
Direction
Penn lets silences do the screaming.
Cinematography
Water as mirror, threat, and grave.
Director
Arthur Penn
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The underwater stunt sequence was shot with real stuntmen in the actual Keys, no tank.
Penn called this his 'last truly personal film'—the Harry Moseby character was his own midlife reckoning in detective drag.
US
