Appointment with Death (1988)

*Get the film on Amazon here*

Peter Ustinov's mixed run as Agatha Christie's Belgian detective Hercule Poirot comes to a close with this dull, lackluster mystery.

Poirot is in Israel, traveling in the same circles as battle axe family matriarch Emily (Piper Laurie, the best thing here) and her sullen adult stepchildren. Emily has just blackmailed family lawyer Cope (David Soul) to burn her late husband's will and decides to keep control of the family finances, and her embittered stepchildren, under her thumb. Of course, someone doesn't take to kindly to her and kills her, prompting Poirot to investigate.

Director Winner's films before this included the first three "Death Wish" films, starring Charles Bronson. This film could have used a small injection of exploitation to the static camerawork and bored looking cast. While all the Christie tropes are here, the screenplay is a patchwork of scenes better suited to a CliffNotes version of a film. Winner doesn't seem to know where to place his camera, at all. These aren't well-written characters, just a name cast playing dress-up in an exotic locale. I lost track of who were Emily's children and who were her stepchildren, the two younger women in her brood look alike. A few characters could have been combined (the two daughters, or stepdaughters?) and a couple could have been trimmed altogether (John Gielgud's Carbury and Hayley Mills' Miss Quinton), and maybe that could have streamlined the plot. The sound is full of post-production recording, on at least two occasions I heard dialogue while the actors performing weren't moving their lips. I saw this back when it came out, I was reading a ton of Christie, but I could not remember who did the killing nor did I care. The Cannon Group production has an award-heavy cast, but sticks them in a cheap looking film that quickly bores. Poirot becomes a bumbling clown who tosses accusations out, unable to back them up but insisting he knows who the killer is. His inability to stop the murder is a little shocking, as a clue to an earlier attempted poisoning of Emily goes unfollowed.

"Appointment with Death" misses the lavishness of "Murder on the Orient Express" and "Death on the Nile," and the catty humor of "Evil Under the Sun." Cancel this appointment, no rescheduling required.

Stats:
(1988) 102 min. (* 1/2) out of five stars
-Directed by Michael Winner
-Screenplay by Anthony Shaffer & Peter Buckman and Michael Winner based on the novel by Agatha Christie
-Cast: Peter Ustinov, Lauren Bacall, Carrie Fisher, John Gielgud, Piper Laurie, Hayley Mills, Jenny Seagrove, David Soul, Nicholas Guest, John Terlesky, Valerie Richards, Amber Bezer, Douglas Sheldon
(PG)- contains mild physical violence, mild gun violence, mild gore, mild profanity, some adult situations, alcohol and tobacco use