''Special Delivery'' is a 1976

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by

Paul Wendkos Abraham Paul Wendkos (September 20, 1925 – November 12, 2009) was an American television and film director. Early life and education Wendkos was born in Philadelphia to parents Simon Wendkos and Judith Wendkos. Wendkos served in World War II ...

and starring Bo Svenson and

Cybill Shepherd Cybill Lynne Shepherd (born February 18, 1950) is an American actress and former model. Her film debut and breakthrough role came as Jacy Farrow in Peter Bogdanovich's coming-of-age drama ''The Last Picture Show'' (1971) alongside Jeff Bridges. ...

Plot

A gang of thieves plan a daring bank robbery, making their escape across the rooftops of Los Angeles. The police are quickly called in, however, and only one of the robbers, Murdock, makes a clean getaway. Unfortunately, in order to do so, he is forced to dump the stolen cash into a mailbox, which he then finds is locked until midnight, forcing him to wait until the mailman makes his late night pickup. As he waits, he discovers that his hiding place has been observed by several other people, all of whom want a share of the loot.

Cast

* Bo Svenson as Jack Murdock. *

as Mary Jane * Tom Atkins as Zabelski *

Sorrell Booke Sorrell Booke (January 4, 1930 – February 11, 1994) was an American actor who performed on stage, screen, and television. He acted in more than 100 plays and 150 television shows, and is best known for his role as corrupt politician Jefferson ...

as Hubert Zane *

Gerrit Graham Gerrit Graham (born November 27, 1949) is an American stage, television, and film actor as well as a scriptwriter and songwriter. He is best known for his appearances in multiple films by Brian De Palma as well as appearances in two '' Star Trek' ...

as Swivot *

Michael C. Gwynne Michael C. Gwynne (born October 1, 1942) is an American film, television and radio actor. His film roles include ''Payday'' (1973), ''A Cold Night's Death'' (1973), ''Harry in Your Pocket'' (1973), ''The Terminal Man'' (1974), '' Special Deliver ...

as Graff

Reception

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' was not amused: "Michael C. Gwynne has some good moments as a junkie, but neither Paul Wendkos, who directed the film, nor Don Gazzaniga, who wrote it, is very adept at melodrama and action. The film ends in a car chase of the sort that makes you realize that the screeching of tires has become the most overused and boring sound in movies today."Vincent Canby, "A Caper That Fails to Deliver Action" Jan. 13, 1977 https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B0DE2DB133FE334BC4B52DFB766838C669EDE

References

External links

* * {{Paul Wendkos 1976 films Films directed by Paul Wendkos Films scored by Lalo Schifrin 1970s crime comedy films American neo-noir films American International Pictures films American crime comedy films 1976 comedy films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films