ThiefHott Too much of everything

GazerRise Fantastic!

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Jonathon Dabell 99 And 44/100% Dead couldn't get off to a better start. Henry Mancini's catchy score blasts out over pop art-inspired credits. A body wearing concrete boots is dumped into the river and, as it sinks to the bottom, we see hundreds more concrete booted corpses dotted around the underwater landscape. Then in a comically sardonic voice-over by Richard Harris, we are introduced to the off-kilter characters and settings of this absurdist gangster comedy-thriller. In its opening five minutes, 99 And 44/100% Dead promises to be yet another box of delights from director John Frankenheimer. Alas, there are 92 minutes still to go… and the film runs out of ideas and inspiration faster than you can utter the title. All potential for a quirky black comedy quickly vanishes, replaced by a tedious and confusing mess that seems to go out of its way to embarrass its cast.Gangster Frank Kelly (Edmond O'Brien) controls the underworld of a city. That is until rival mobster Big Eddie (Bradford Dillman) declares open war against him. The city ain't big enough for the two of them, and pretty soon the streets become lawless killing fields where assassinations, gunfights and ambushes are part of daily life. Frank hires Harry Crown (Richard Harris), a tough and resourceful hit man, to help him to re-establish control. Harry finds himself waging war on Big Eddie's minions – including his old one-handed nemesis "The Claw" Zuckerman (Chuck Connors), who can fix various deadly weapons to the stump of his missing hand.Intended as a black comedy, 99 And 44/100% Dead simply isn't very funny. The title - which mocks a famous American soap commercial of the day – is every bit as haphazard and clumsy as the rest of the film. Harris has precious little to work with as the hero of the piece, but at least he does what he can. Bradford Dillman only features in a couple of scenes as Big Eddie, but in these scenes he manages to embarrass himself quite hideously in one of the decade's worst exhibitions of self-indulgence (second only to Peter Boyle's jaw-dropping display in Swashbuckler). Robert Dillman's script darts all over the place, paying little heed to character or logic. While the occasional bursts of action are competently staged, they don't fit around the rest of the narrative to create a coherent whole. Even a director of Frankenheimer's pedigree cannot sculpt the unwieldy mess into something solid and workable. In the final analysis, 99 And 44/100% Dead is a thorough let down from talents capable of much better.

nickmansell The Spiegelman-esquire comic book artwork that promotes this film really enticed my curiosity, but the film overall didn't turn out to be as "far out" as the many reviews I read for it. It's good--Harry's cool, and the characters were fun, but the plot points are cliché and only the soundtrack really makes this a tongue-in-cheek satire of movie violence (it's Harry Mancini ala Pee Wee Herman). So, if you're looking for a really strange, arty, Mod satire watch Modesty Blaise, They Call Her One Eye, or A Clockwork Orange. Or, if you want amputees with strange devices watch Deadfall or any Alejandro Jodorowsky movie. The effort to track down and pay for a copy of this will perhaps disappoint.

gingerfish Excellent close-ups, lots of black humor, great music, classical gangster scenario. A movie one can review a lot of times. Harris is one of my favorite actors. Others also show great acting. Very good in showing America in 1970's Even murder scenes appear to be somehow "easy-watching", which is rare, especially in recent times. Scenes showing mafia appear to be a little bit funny, but at the same time resembling some movies like Godfather. Excellent nervous scene when Harris is disarming the chair bomb at school. Spooky but also somewhat funny episodes showing underwater cemetery. Connors hook-hand is very amusing, especially when he mounts some "flowers-kit" on it. Real classic!

StSparky The title refers to the now very old Ivory Soap claim of 99 and 64/100% Pure - and there is another "old" meaning for 'pure' that would be known to Frankenheimer and Dillon. It's another word for the material tanners would use in browning leather - dog turds. This should have been a clue to the humor to follow.This is an interesting and odd film.