Liveliest looking corpus I ever saw. Oh, and very delicti, if I may say so.

The Avengers

3.2: Brief for Murder

Now, this is much more like it. Brief for Murder comes courtesy of the reliable duo of writer Brian Clemens and director Peter Hammond. John Laurie, in the second of four Avengers appearances, is on inimitable form as one half of the Lakin brothers, a legal duo who have met with spectacular court room success after years of obscurity. It seems the only thing previously stopping them was their approach; I had half-expected some diabolical mastermind or intricate device bolstering them. But no, they’ve simply hatched the idea of defending those for whom they have planned crimes in advance, thus anticipating and undermining the prosecution’s case when it comes before the jury.

Steed: I want to commit a murder.

Miles Lakin: (offering him tea) One lump or two, Mr Steed?

Laurie’s Jasper Lakin is complemented by Harold Scott as distinctly non-Scottish Miles. They typify the loveable rogue types of Avengers-land, whose deviously deadly activities fail to prevent them from being wickedly likeable really. Indeed, it’s a joy to hear them treating their imminent prosecution as a challenge (“There is a precedent for this sort of thing…”)

Miles Lakin: (apologising for having Steed searched) Tape recorders, you know. They make them devilishly small these days, heh, heh, make everything smaller.

Steed: Except lawyers’ fees, maybe.

Miles Lakin: Oh. Ho-ho. Very good.

As is not infrequently the case, one or other of our avenging duo appears to be operating on the wrong side of the law, and also looks to be intent on killing the other. There’s some flair to the ruse here, with a winning opening reveal that Steed, or Jonno (“I wonder if there really was a man called Jonno”), got the accused off.

When Cathy finds out, Steed calls on the Lakins to facilitate her murder and ensure an innocent verdict in the subsequent trial (thanks in part to an oversized bowler hat); with no hat, no gun, and no body, he is scot-free. Well played this, as even though it’s pretty much a cert that they’re knowingly working together, Macnee and Blackman create sustained tension.

Cathy then calls on the Lakins (possibly careless of them not to know what their client’s victim looks like, but we’ll let that go) to aid and abet her in a fraud and business conspiracy, whereby she wishes to emerge exonerated while her two associates are implicated (“Why didn’t we think of this before? We could get anyone we wish disbarred. We could manipulate the whole courts system”).

Perhaps the means of getting one over on the Lakins isn’t quite as elegant as their own handiwork – they’re so diligent elsewhere that they shouldn’t fall for an elementary subterfuge – but Brief for Murder is pretty much a blast from start to finish. Which includes Steed visiting a yoga establishment where he is asked by principle Miss Prinn (Alice Fraser) if he believes in purity (Steed: A couple of baths a day, good soap”; Miss Prinn: I was referring to the spirit”; Steed: “I’m not so up in the spirit. A little sullied”).

Agree? Disagree? Mildly or vehemently? Let me know in the comments below.

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We live in a twilight world.

Tenet (2020)
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Zootropolis (2016)
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Django Unchained (2012)
(MINOR SPOILERS) Since the painful misstep of Grindhouse/Death Proof, Quentin Tarantino has regained the higher ground like never before. Pulp Fiction, his previous commercial and critical peak, has been at very least equalled by the back-to-back hits of Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained. Having been underwhelmed by his post Pulp Fiction efforts (albeit, I admired his technical advances as a director in Kill Bill), I was pleasantly surprised by Inglourious Basterds. It was no work of genius (so not Pulp Fiction) by any means, but there was a gleeful irreverence in its treatment of history and even to the nominal heroic status of its titular protagonists. Tonally, it was a good fit for the director’s “cool” aesthetic. As a purveyor of postmodern pastiche, where the surface level is the subtext, in some ways he was operating at his zenith. Django Unchained is a retreat from that position, the director caught in the tug between his all-important aesthetic pr…

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Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
(1982)
(SPOILERS) I don’t love Star Trek, but I do love Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. That probably isn’t just me, but a common refrain of many a non-devotee of the series. Although, it used to apply to The Voyage Home (the funny one, with the whales, the Star Trek even the target audience for Three Men and a Baby could enjoy). Unfortunately, its high regard has also become the desperate, self-destructive, song-and-verse, be-all-and-end-all of the overlords of the franchise itself, in whichever iteration, it seems. This is understandable to an extent, as Khan is that rare movie sequel made to transcendent effect on almost every level, and one that stands the test of time every bit as well (better, even) as when it was first unveiled.

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Small Soldiers (1998)
An off-peak Joe Dante movie is still one chock-a-block full of satirical nuggets and comic inspiration, far beyond the facility of most filmmakers. Small Soldiers finds him back after a six-year big screen absence, taking delirious swipes at the veneration of the military, war movies, the toy industry, conglomerates and privatised defence forces. Dante’s take is so gleefully skewed, he even has big business win! The only problem with the picture (aside from an indistinct lead, surprising from a director with a strong track record for casting juveniles) is that this is all very familiar.

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Now In Full Color, with a Happier Ending

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