P.J.

Peppard plays PJ Detweiler, down-at-heel shamus, in this unmemorable addition to the largely unmemorable private eye cycle of the late '60s. Hired (after undergoing a toughness test) by tycoon Raymond Burr - you know he's up to no good because he hoards his cigar butts - PJ gets to go to a murkily exotic island in the Bahamas as bodyguard to the tycoon's mistress (Hunnicutt) because someone has been trying to kill her. Beatings-up, attempted murders and red herrings proliferate before he solves the case. Gracelessly directed with a huge close-up to underline every plot point, it goes through the routine motions, offering very little apart from the odd wisecrack and a lot of thick-ear violence.