Harper has a great meaning for me,because l was sixteen years old when l watched this picture,never forget Harper making coffee in early morning but don't find nothing in tin can,so he looked at garbage can and get back a used coffee again,after take a coffee he made a gesture which seemingly the taste wasn't good enough,so on the picture is a delight and pleasant entertainment...Harper has to faces all kind of dangers and odd people who came around and in the ending allowed us an enigmatic end point!!! Resume: First watch: 1978 / How many: 4 / Source: TV-Cable TV-DVD / Rating: 8.25

When this movie came out in 1966, it was 10 years since Paul Newman's hit role in "Somebody Up There Likes Me." He was now a major Hollywood star. Newman was a versatile actor who could play well in any number of genres. In this action-crime thriller, he plays Lew Harper, a private eye. "Harper" is a complex mystery drama with a huge cast of prominent screen and stage names. Lauren Bacall plays Mrs. Sampson, Julie Harris is Betty Fraley, Janet Leigh is Susan Harper, Pamela Tiffin is Miranda Sampson and Shelley Winters if Fay Estabrook. On the male side, along with Newman, are Arthur Hill as Albert Graves, Robert Wagner as Allan Taggert, Robert Webber as Dwight Troy, Harold Gould as the sheriff and Strother Martin as Claude. All do very well in their roles.The movie is based on a 1949 novel by Kenneth Millar under his pen name, Ross Macdonald. The book title, "The Moving Target," is a good description of the film and the character of Harper. Macdonald's Harper is similar to the hard-boiled Sam Spade of Dashiell Hammett's "Maltese Falcon." But, Macdonald introduces a psychological twist in this story. And the script is peppered with short witticisms and sardonic comments by Harper.Here are some samples, beginning with my favorite exchange in the film. Miranda, "What do you do this kind of crummy work for anyway?" Harper, "What, are you trying to be funny? I do it because I believe in the United Nations, and Southeast Asia, and think it's funny if your life depends on what goes through the Panama Canal. What about the English pound? Tell you something, baby, so long as there's a Siberia, you'll find Lew Harper on the job." Miranda, "Are you putting me on?" Harper, "Geez, I didn't think so." (He looks away to hide his smile and keep from laughing.)Harper, "I used to be a sheriff until I passed my literacy test." Sheriff, "If I wanted to be ugly …" Harper, You are ugly." This is a first-rate detective mystery with plenty of action and intrigue. It's all the better because it isn't loaded down with gratuitous sex scenes that detract from the engaging story.

Released in 1966, "Harper" attempts to replicate the tone and style of early gum-shoe noirs. Predating the first wave of coloured neo-noirs ("Chandler", "Marlowe", "Chinatown" and "The Long Goodbye"), the film stars Paul Newman as a down-on-his-luck private detective. Lauren Bacall co-stars, her presence recalling the classic Bogart/Bacall pairings of the 1940s and 50s.Filled with the genre's usual assortment of villains, millionaires, femme fatales, lost lovers, kidnappings and ransoms, "Harper's" plot is entirely conventional. Its attempts to capture the tempo of the 1960s are also unintentionally funny, the film more camp than cool. Compared to the more radical noirs of the 1960s and early 70s ("The Spy Who Came In From The Cold", "Blow Up", late Hitchcock, early Pakula etc), "Harper's" positively archaic.6/10 – Worth one viewing. See "Cutter's Way", "Out of the Past" , "To Have and Have Not" and "Young Man With a Horn".

for atmosphere, performance of Paul Newman and Lauren Bacall nuances of character. for music - testimony about a period taste -, for humor and for the smart solutions to do a thriller very different by classic recipes. it is a special film for the courage to be smart one. and for the large dose of fresh air in a genre who seems have steel rules. a special film for its actors and director science of detail/nuances. and for the rare complex image of hero - short apparitions of Janet Leigh as inspired spice for story. a film who preserves flavor of old fashion of crime and few brilliant innovations who gives to it charm, color and role of precious memories seed.