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Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues (film)

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Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues
Warner Archive DVD-R cover
Directed byPaul Williams
Screenplay byDavid Odell
Paul Williams
Based onDealing: or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues by Michael Crichton and Douglas Crichton
Produced byEdward R. Pressman
StarringRobert F. Lyons
Barbara Hershey
John Lithgow
Charles Durning
Joy Bang
Ellen Barber
Paul Sorvino
CinematographyEd Brown
Edited bySidney M. Katz
Music byMichael Small
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • February 25, 1972 (1972-02-25)
Running time
88 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues is a 1972 film based on the 1970 novel of the same name by Michael Crichton and Douglas Crichton, published under the pseudonym Michael Douglas.

It was American independent film directed by Paul Williams and starred Robert F. Lyons and John Lithgow in his film debut in the supporting role of John, the campus drug dealer. Barbara Hershey appears in the role of the novice drug courier, Susan, who loses the bag of bricks on a cross-country flight from Berkeley to Boston.

Plot

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Peter is a cocky Harvard law student, who is tired of being square, so his best friend and theater director John gets him into the drug business. Peter loves the excitement of the gig and agrees to transport a suitcase full of pot from his suppliers to him. As a fan of the Rolling Stones' song Sympathy for the Devil, he picks Lucifer as his street name.

At the drug dealers' hideout, Peter meets Susan and falls for her hard, since she is the complete opposite of his somewhat prudish and stuck up square girlfriend Annie. Susan likes him too and agrees to take him to a train station to hide the dope in one of the lockers there. They hit it off quickly. When they arrive at the station they notice a military officer, who is overseeing a funeral transport for what seems to be a casket of a dead soldier from the Vietnam War. This sight gives the two cold feet, so they leave to spend a night together at one of her musician friends' place.

Peter then completes the job but soon asks John for another gig, since he really wants to see Susan again. However, the gig goes sour this time and the girl is busted with forty bricks (or kilos) of marijuana by police sergeant Murphy, who happens to be a dirty cop in bed with Cortez, a dangerous Cuban gangster. John wants his dope back and Peter wants to save Susan, so they come up with a risky plan that eventually involves a round metal casing full of red heroin which everyone wants and is glad to kill for.

Cast

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Production

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Film rights were bought in 1970.[1] Filming took place in San Francisco and Boston.[2]

Reception

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The Washington Post called it "a rather feckless attempt at a hip thriller".[3]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Martin, Betty (Sep 5, 1970). "MOVIE CALL SHEET: Kennedy, Stewart Signed". Los Angeles Times. p. a7.
  2. ^ "A Fistful of Moves for Clint Eastwood". Los Angeles Times. May 6, 1971. p. g19. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
  3. ^ Gary Arnold. (Feb 26, 1972). "'Tediously Low Key': Film". The Washington Post. p. E7.
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