Swindle plot brings madcap twists

Press, 13 January 1987, Page 24

Swindle plot brings madcap twists

Get set for “Big Trouble” — and double indemnity — when Peter Falk and Alan Arkin (“The In-Laws”) reunite as a wacky pair of insurance swindlers in this Mrated movie released on video by RCA-Columbia-Hoyts.

The trouble and the laughs start' when an insurance man, Leonard Hoffman .(Arkin), decides to send his three sons to Yale. To raise the cash, Leonard gets drawn into a bizarre scheme by Steve Rickey (Falk) and his screwball wife, Blanche (D’Angelo). But their plot to collect on an “accidental” death policy gets side-tracked by a series of hilariously unforeseen twists.

Can these unlikely allies pull off the sting before they get stung? Falk and Arkin pile up big laughs as they get deeper and deeper into “Big Trouble.”

Peter Falk is perhaps best known for his part as the television detective, Columbo — the scruffy, bumbling, apparently idiotic policeman who always, irritatingly, managed to outsmart the villain.

His early career seemed to have something of a planned disorganisation that the Columbo character used to such good effect Between gaining a BA in political science, an MA in public administration, Falk also found time to be a cook in the Merchant Navy and to complete a tour of Europe.

His interest in acting that had started at college finally took over. He made his Broadway debut in “Saint Joan” opposite Siobhan McKennan. Other film roles followed and he established his career with an excellent performance as the killer in “Murder Inc.” He worked successfully in television, film and theatre and has had an excellent working relationship with the director of “Big Trouble,” John Cassavetes.

With Cassavetes, he has made such films as “Husbands” and “A Woman Under the. Influence.”

Like Peter Falk, Alan Arkin also had a planned disorganisation in his life, although his ambition was always to be an actor. In the mid-50s, he gave it up for singing in a folk group called The Tarriers. He returned to the stage in a number of American cities and was involved in several on and off Broadway hits.

In 1966 he won an Oscar nomination for his

role as a Russian submarine officer washed up on the coast of America in “The Russians are Coming, The Russians are

Coming.” This set the Scene for his subsequent work, in comedy — whether as the zany cop in “Freebie and the Bean”

(1974) or as the subtly anarachic, Yassarian in “Catch 22” (1970). Folksinging and Hollywood comedy aside, Arkin is a man of many other talents — author of children’s books, a director “Little Murders” (1971), “Fire Sale” (1977) and composer, and a talented serious actor. He won a New York Film Critics Award for “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” and “Hearts of the West.” Beverly D’Angelo excels in off-beat characters and her role in “Big Trouble” is just that From cartooning at Hanna Barbera to Hollywood, D’Angelo exudes a unique quality on screen. This can be seen in her roles in such films as “Annie Hall,” “Every Which Way But Loose," "Hair,” “Coal Miners Daughter” and “Honky Tonk Freeway.” "Big Trouble” displays John Cassavetes’ forte in directing all of his films are heavily dependent on the inter-relationships of the actors rather than the intricate plot structures. Cassavetes alternates between acting in other people’s films and directing (and sometimes appearing) in his own, and surrounding himself with family and friends including his pal, Peter Falk.