Detective Barney Caine (George C. Scott) gets involved in an increasingly twist-laden plot that begins when an old friend of his is found murdered. As it progresses, he travels to Germany, speaks to a variety of characters, and hooks up with a grieving young woman (Marthe Keller). The story actually began back at the end of World War II and involves the creation of a synthetic fuel which, naturally, certain interests want to stifle no matter what has to be done.<br /><br />It's the actors that really make it worthwhile. The film itself, I thought, had a reasonably engrossing plot. I enjoyed the twists and turns that it took, even if not that many of them were actually surprising. The foreign locale certainly doesn't hurt. The film begins well, and moves slowly - some might feel too slowly for a film without truly effective revelations - towards a rather low-key showdown between the two adversaries.<br /><br />Scott and co-star Marlon Brando, in a typically amusing performance as an oil magnate, don't appear together very often in the film, but their scenes are very effective. Keller is alluring as Lisa, the young woman who knows more than she's letting on. G.D. Spradlin, Richard Lynch, John Van Dreelen, Calvin Jung, Alan North, David Byrd, and Ferdy Mayne all do fine work in supporting roles; John Gielgud has only one scene but is superb in it. However, Beatrice Straight is wasted in a very minor role. Ike Eisenmann (from the Disney "Witch Mountain" films of the '70's) and Craig T. Nelson also turn up briefly.<br /><br />Giving this film some sense of relevance of course is its premise, as the film explores subjects still very much on people's minds. It's entertaining enough if not particularly memorable, but works as a meditation on corruption and greed and the machinations of people in certain positions of power.<br /><br />7/10