THE HARD WAY (LA MANIÈRE FORTE, FRANCE 2)

[Spoiler-free review] Major Chevalier, an old-school cop known for his brutal style, is brought out of retirement because of a murder bearing the signature of a serial killer he put behind bars. 

 

He's placed under the orders of Captain Kabongo, a clever and progressive detective who epitomizes everything he hates about French contemporary society.

 

The bottom line: Le dernier Flic.

 

From Stéphane Drouet and Lionel Olenga, the makers of Chérif (2013-2019), Double Je (2019) and Le Code (2021-2023), comes La Manière forte. This brilliant 90-minute crime drama pilot was written by Lionel Olenga and helmed by actor, scriptwriter and director Vincent Primault (Section de recherches, Chérif, In America). La Manière forte stars the masterful Grégoire Bonnet (Scènes de ménages, Le Code) as Major Thierry Chevalier and the excellent Clarisse Lhoni-Botte (Codename: Annika) as Captain Wendy Kabongo. 

 

A young woman is found dead by a group of paintballers. She was stabbed and the killer engraved a 7 in Roman numerals on one of her thighs. Captain Kabongo, of the Angoulème police, is called on the crime scene. Her hierarchy is troubled by the similarity of the MO with a case of serial murders for which controversial supercop Major Chevalier sent Gabriel Laporte to jail after extorting his confession. Laporte awaits for his trial while Chevalier is on early retirement. Kabongo meets the latter, who's quickly imposed on the investigation by the préfet. 

 

Neither are thrilled by this collaboration. Wendy Kabongo is feminist, ecologist and vegan. Thierry Chevalier is misogynistic, conservative, racist and homophobic. His ex-colleagues say the word "dinosaur" was invented for this biker always in a leather jacket. Chevalier's homophobia even cost him his relationship with his gay son, who happens to be the deputy public prosecutor. The wealthy  Caroline Laporte, Gabriel's mother, wants her son out of prison. She also wants to make Chevalier pay for his imprisonment. Another victim is found in a vineyard. 

 

Amongst the gazillion of crime and mystery dramas on French TV, La Manière forte is very refreshing. Major Thierry Chevalier is an antihero character in the mold of Harry Callahan (Dirty Harry), Andy Sipowicz (NYPD. Blue), Gene Hunt (Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes) or Mick Brisgau (Der letzte Bulle). His only (redeeming?) qualities are a huge sense of justice and a formidable instinct. Hopefully we'll see more of the duo Chevalier-Kabongo after this celebration of the crime/cop genre including great dialogues and a well dosed touch of cynical humour.

 

With Isabel Otero (Caroline), Cyril Descours (Deputy public prosecutor Albertini) Théo Frilet (Gabriel), Arthur Beaudoire (Jérémy), Jeanne Bournaud (Charline Huygues), etc. A co-production Making Prod (a Mediawan company), L.O. Productions and France Télévisions with the support of Magelis and Département de la Charente and the participation of RTS Radio Télévision Suisse. Produced by Stéphane Drouet and Lionel Olenga. Sophie Barrat exec produces. Claude Azoulay is the production manager.

 

Music by Michael Tordjman and Maxime Desprez. Cinematography by Samuel Dravet. Editing by Emmanuel Douce. Filmed in Angoulème and Reims during summer 2024. Distributed by Mediawan Rights (The Hard Way is the international title). La Manière forte will be aired today by France 2 and it's available on france.tv.

 

https://www.france.tv/series-et-fictions/films-tv/7190429-la-maniere-forte.html 

https://www.sudouest.fr/culture/programmes-tv/la-maniere-forte-gregoire-bonnet-visage-populaire-de-scenes-de-menages-comme-on-ne-l-a-jamais-vu-24428363.php

 

See also: 

 

https://tattard2.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-code-le-code-series-1-episodes-1-2.html

https://tattard2.blogspot.com/2019/05/double-je-series-1-episode-1-le-systeme.html

T.R. SLOANE/DEATH RAY 2000 (NBC, 1979)

T.R. Sloane is a 90-minute TV movie shot in 1979 but aired in 1981 and starring Robert Logan. It's a pilot for the short-lived NBC 1979 action/adventure series A man called Sloane, with Robert Conrad (of The Wild Wild West fame) in the title role.

Seven fake nuns and a giant black man with a metal hand attack the Gideon Peak Observatory. They steal the invention of Professor Gregory, a cannon shooting a powerful dehydrating ray. The Director of UNIT, an intelligence agency accountable only to the President, sends T.R. Sloane to Gideon Peak. Thomas R. Sloane III is an art historian and antique dealer but most of all he's the Director's best agent. Sloane meets Professor Gregory's niece Chrissy Randall and the scientist's assistant Sabina Dorffman. Millionaire Erik Clawson and the organization KARTEL are behind the observatory raid. They want to eliminate the attendants of a peace conference in Switzerland.

In 1978, U.S. television network NBC looked for a series a la James Bond and they discussed the idea with Quinn Martin, the boss of QM Productions. Martin built his reputation with crime drama hits The Fugitive (1963-1967), The F.B.I. (1965-1974), Cannon (1971-1976), The Streets of San Francisco (1972-1977) and Barnaby Jones (1973-1980). His style was recognizable, from the opening credits read by an announcer (Hank Simms or Dick Wesson) to the four acts and the epilogue of each episode all labelled on-screen. Beyond cops and detectives, Quinn Martin ventured into the military genre (12 O'Clock High, 1964-1967), sci-fi (The Invaders, 1967-1968) and even horror (Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected, 1977).

QM Productions had something for NBC: Sloane, a scenario written in 1975 by screenwriter and producer Cliff Gould (Cade's County, The Streets of San Francisco) for  ABC although not produced (1). During Autumn 1978, Quinn Martin sold his 18-year old independent company to two of its executives in order to produce feature films and kept only a consultant position. In turn, both investors sold QM Productions to Taft Broadcasting soon after. Writer and producer Philip Saltzman, a longtime associate of Quinn Martin, founded Woodruff Productions the same year. Woodruff co-produced the last two seasons of Barnaby Jones with QM. Saltzman got involved with Sloane in December 1978 (2) as the executive producer. 

Cliff Gould was called to rewrite and produce the pilot, retitled T.R. Sloane. The role of superspy Thomas Remington Sloane III went to Robert Logan. Noticed in the 1960s for his parts in 77 Sunset Strip and Daniel Boone, he preferred sailing and travelling to acting. In 1968, Robert Logan was in Czechoslovakia for The Bridge at Remagen, where he played a soldier, when the country was invaded by the Soviet Union. While the actors and the crew left for Austria, Logan stayed to film the invasion and make photos. His career was relaunched by The Adventures of the Wilderness Family (1976). This low-budget family movie  spawned two sequels, The Further Adventures of the Wilderness Family (1978) and Mountain Family Robinson (1979). 

Veteran actor Dan O'Herlihy was cast as The Director. He joined the Mercury Theatre of Orson Welles in 1948 and played alongside Welles in the stage and movie versions of Macbeth. O'Herlihy got an Oscar nomination for the title role in Luis Buñuel's film The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (Robinson Crusoe, 1954). He was a regular in The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (1963-1964) and The Long, Hot Summer (in 1966), and guest starred in many TV series. The Director never leaves his Kentucky farm and communicates with Sloane via voicemails. He interacts with Effie 3000, an unseen computer (voiced by Michele Carey). The only UNIT agent who has a direct contact with Thomas is his assistant Miss Blessing (Penelope Windust).

New Zealand-born stage, cinema and television actor Clive Revill (3) brought his talent and a bit of irony to the evil Erik Clawson, a character with a penchant for a cheese-loving spider and poisonous snakes. Torque, his henchman played by the impressive Ji-Tu Cumbuka (4), has a multi-function right hand in stainless steel. After stage work with the Performing Arts Society Workshop in Los Angeles, 6'5'' (1.96 m) Cumbuka made his film debut in Uptight (1968) under the direction of Jules Dassin. He participated to several TV series (including three from QM Productions), the miniseries Roots (1977) and the unsold pilot Mandrake the Magician (1979). 

The first major role of actress and former model Ann Turkel (Sabina) was in the 1974 film 99 and 44/100% Dead, where she met its star Richard Harris. They married and worked together in The Cassandra Crossing (1976), Golden Rendezvous (1977) and Ravagers (1979) (5). Before T.R. Sloane, Maggie Cooper (Chrissy) co-starred in the live-action saturday morning series Space Academy (1977). Lee H. Katzin was chosen to helm T.R. Sloane. For television he directed series, pilots such as Hondo (1967) and The Mod Squad (1968), the premiere of Space: 1999 (1975), the first Man from Atlantis TV movie (1977) and the miniseries The Bastard (1978). 

Lee H. Katzin also directed films like Le Mans (1971) or The Salzburg Connection (1972). Health issues almost prevented him to be hired on T.R. Sloane because of difficulties with the production insurance company (6) but the shooting took place between February and March 1979. The Swiss portion of the script was filmed in Colorado at Sunlight Ski Area, Glenwood Springs and Snowmass Village. Glenwood Springs and Snowmass previously doubled as Switzerland in Intertect (1973), a pilot written and produced by Philip Saltzman for QM. Robert Logan had a ranch in Aspen and was an accomplished skier. The rest of T.R. Sloane was done in California.

T.R. Sloane was previewed by NBC programming boss Fred Silverman in April 1979 (7). He decided that Robert Logan wasn't right for the role and that Ji-Tu Cumbuka's Torque should be the sidekick of Sloane. NBC agreed to order a series if QM could find the right replacement to Logan. Stephen Collins and Armand Assante were considered (8), then Silverman told the production to get Robert Conrad. For the network, Conrad starred in Baa Baa Black Sheep/Black Sheep Squadron (1976-1978), played a trapper in Centennial (1978-1979) and was the NBC team captain in six episodes of Battle of the Network Stars (on ABC) between 1976 and 1979. Except Robert Conrad was now an ex-boxer turned detective in The Duke, launched by NBC in April 1979 to the satisfaction of the actor, who expected it to return in Autumn.

Fred Silverman convinced him to give up The Duke after only four episodes and star in A Man called Sloane for $100.000 per hour-length show (9). Meanwhile, the quite similar 007 copycat pilot Billion Dollar Threat was presented by ABC on April 15, 1979. Dan O'Herlihy and Michele Carey stayed for A Man called Sloane but UNIT left Kentucky for a Californian store called The Toy Boutique and a young woman named Kelly (Karen Purcill) was now in charge of Sloane's gadgets. Thomas' car, a 1979 Di Napoli Coupe, was changed for a Samco Cord Warrior. Gerald Sanford (Barnaby Jones) replaced Cliff Gould as the producer for the series. Peter Allan Fields (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) was appointed executive story consultant. 

Despite a budget estimated to $2.5 million (10), T.R. Sloane was still on the shelf when A Man called Sloane started on September 22, 1979. Some footage of the pilot was edited for the series promotion, an interview of Ji-Tu Cumbuka and the main title sequence of A Man called Sloane. Unlike the soundtrack of the series, composed mainly by Patrick Williams (The Streets of San Francisco), T.R. Sloane has no original music. Music editor Ken Wilhoit chose pieces from the KPM library. For instance, Fugitive by Johnny Pearson (opening credits), Agressive Jazz Theme by Keith Mansfield (Cuban mission) or Dave Gold's Big City (A) (ski scene). A Man called Sloane did well in the ratings until it faced ABC's Fantasy Island. NBC aired its 12th and final episode in December 22, 1979.   

T.R. Sloane was finally shown by the network on March 5, 1981 under the title Death Ray 2000. The pilot recovered its initial title for reruns on USA Network. A Man called Sloane arrived in France on TF1 in 1981 as Sloane, agent spécial. T.R. Sloane, titled Le maître de l'eau in French, aired on the same channel in August 1983 with a dubbing adaptation which erased all the names used in the series (Sloane was called "Stone"). Robert Logan wrote the script of the Canadian movie Kelly (1981) and starred in it. He quit acting in 1997 to pursue a life of travels and sports (polo, cycling...) Ji-Tu Cumbuka guest starred in numerous TV series and appeared in Brewster's Millions (1985) and Harlem Nights (1997). His extraordinary presence in A Man called Sloane is fondly remembered. 

Dan O'Herlihy is part of pop culture history for his roles in Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), The Last Starfighter (1984), RoboCop (1987) and RoboCop II (1990). Maggie Cooper became a television reporter in 1989. Robert Conrad returned to his signature role of James West (The Wild Wild West, 1965-1969) in The Wild Wild West Revisited (1979) and More Wild Wild West (1980), two made-for-TV movies for CBS. Though he never had a hit series again, Robert Conrad continued to enjoy his TV legend status. A Man called Sloane was one of the rare QM series without the elements which popularized the style of its founder and it was the last series produced by the company.

(1) (2) (7) (10) Priming for Prime Time (The New York Times, September 9, 1979).
(3) Clive Revill died last month, aged 94. He's best known as the original voice of Emperor Palpatine in The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
(4) His name was given by his grandmother. Ji-Tu means "Giant" and Cumbuka means "To Remember" in Swahili.

(5) Ann Turkel and Richard Harris divorced in 1982. The same year, Ann Turkel played in the unsold pilot Modesty Blaise. She guest starred in several TV series from the 1980s-1990s.
(6) (8) Quinn Martin, Producer: A Behind-the-Scenes History of QM Productions and Its Founder by Jonathan Etter (McFarland, 2003).

(9) Encyclopedia of Early Television Crime Fighters by Everett Aaker (McFarland, 2006).

OUR MAN FLINT - DEAD ON TARGET (ABC, 1976)

Derek Flint, a former secret agent turned private eye, works on a kidnapping case. 

Created by American screenwriter Hal Fimberg (The Big Store), Derek Flint first appeared on the big screen as a superspy played by James Coburn in the 20th Century Fox James Bond spoof Our Man Flint (1966) and its sequel In Like Flint (1967). In 1972, author and scriptwriter Harlan Ellison (The Outer Limits, Star Trek) wrote an unproduced pilot for a proposed Our Man Flint series. The Flint property resurfaced on television in 1975 when U.S. network ABC decided to make it part of its Wide World of Entertainment.

ABC's Wide World of Entertainment (1973-1976) was a late night block of programmes composed of variety or comedy specials, talk shows, mystery/suspense made-for-TV movies (some under the Wide World Mystery banner) and documentaries. Fictions of the Wide World of Entertainment/Wide World Mystery included Thriller (1973-1976), a British anthology by scriptwriter and producer Brian Clemens (The Avengers). During spring 1975, ABC announced that "multipart suspense concepts with continuing characters as in The Quiller Memorandum and Our Man Flint" (1) would be added to its late night line-up. 

The network ordered two TV movies, Our Man Flint - Dead on Target and Our Man Flint - Ultimatum, due to be made back-to-back in Vancouver, Canada by Canawest Film Productions for 20th Century Fox. 11 days of shooting on 16mm film in October 1975 were scheduled for each movie. Founded in 1963, Canawest initially produced animated and live commercials. In 1967, the studio got a subcontract with Hollywood animation giant Hanna-Barbera. Canawest Film Productions made documentaries and industrial films too. In 1973-1974, Canawest worked on a 35mm film pilot project for Four Star Entertainment titled The X Factor (starring William Shatner).

New York state-born Stanley L. Colbert, an ex-journalist and literary agent turned producer, exec produced the Flint TV movies for the Toronto subsidiary of 20th Century Fox while Canawest vice president R.H. "Andy" Anderson produced. Before Dead on Target, Colbert produced the film Private Property (1960) (2). As the head of production of Ivan Tors Studios, he oversaw Flipper (1964-1967) and the film Gentle Giant (1967) amongst others. He was a consultant on Salty, a 1974 Canadian series syndicated by 20th Century Fox Television. The 77-minute Dead on Target was penned by Canadian scriptwriter Norman Klenman (story by Jim McGinn).

Norman Klenman previously wrote for U.S. series The Felony Squad (1966-1969) and Harold Robbins' The Survivors (1969). In 1973, he was hired to be the story consultant of The Starlost, a Canadian sci-fi series created by Harlan Ellison (credited "Cordwainer Bird") and distributed by 20th Century Fox Television. Joseph L. Scanlan (Salty, The Starlost), an American director living in Toronto, was chosen by Stanley Colbert to helm Dead on Target and Ultimatum. American actor Ray Danton was cast as "Our Man Flint" (3). This familiar face to viewers and moviegoers played secret agents in Eurospy films such as Super Agent Super Dragon (New York chiama Superdrago, 1966) or Lucky, the Inscrutable (Lucky, el intrepido, 1967).

Our Man Flint - Dead on Target starts with the kidnapping of Wendell Runsler, the president of an oil company, by a radical group called BESLA (Bar El Sol Liberation Army) and Runsler's personal assistant Sandra Carter. P.I. Derek Flint is hired to serve as an intermediary for his release. A young woman named Bonita Rogers wants to be Flint's apprentice. Similarly to Matt Helm in the eponymous ABC 1975-1976 series (4), Derek Flint switched jobs from spy to private investigator. Ray Danton's jaded detective drives a Mercedes-Benz 600 in Vancouver doubling as a big American city. The Canadian guest cast is led by actors recognizable on the U.S. side of the border.

Sharon Acker (Sandra Carter) appeared in many American series and co-starred in The New Perry Mason (1973-1974),  Executive Suite (1976) and Texas (1982). Lawrence Dane (Runsler) guest starred in The Felony Squad, Mission: Impossible, The Virginian or Mannix. In the United States Donnelly Rhodes (Lahoud) had roles in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and several series. Between 1974 and 1975 he played Phillip Chancellor II in The Young and the Restless. He was Dutch Leitner in Soap (from 1978 to 1981). In his country, Rhodes co-starred in season 2 to 4 of Sidestreet (1975-1978), starred in Danger Bay (1985-1990) and was one of the regulars of Da Vinci's Inquest (1998-2005).

Bonita Rogers is played by Gay Rowan (The Starlost). Kim Cattrall, in one of her first roles (uncredited), plays a secretary. Except for the use of an alarm system watch, a tracking device and a model plane by the main character, Dead on Target is standard 1970s cop-show fare. The title sequence is reminiscent of the first Flint feature. The music composer is not credited, only music editor Lew Lehman (as Lou Lehman). Lehman was a musician and composer but also a scriptwriter (Phobia), producer and director (The Pit). He composed library music for Score Productions Canada, which was used in Dr Simon Locke/Police Surgeon (1971-1975), The Starlost or The Swiss Family Robinson (1974-1976).

Kelly Duncan, the cinematographer of Dead on Target was Canawest's resident director of cinematography. He helmed commercials and industrial films for the company. Christopher Dew — supervising producer of the 1979 version of The Littlest Hobo — and Stan Cole edited the TV movie. Dead on Target was completed in nine days (5). The filming of Ultimatum, written by Canadian screenwriter Harry W. Junkin (The Saint), was to follow but Ray Danton couldn't continue because of a strep throat threatening his voice if he used it further. Danton went back to California, like guest stars Lloyd Bochner and Barry Morse. They were to come back after a two-week break but mid-december Danton hadn't recovered yet (6) so the production was cancelled.

In an interview for a book, director Joseph L. Scanlan declared that Ray Danton was "difficult", that he was "very disrespectful to some of his fellow actors" and made one of the actresses cry (7). Danton quit acting in 1977 to become a television director (Quincy, Tales of the Unexpected, Mike Hammer...) He passed away in 1992, aged only 60. Joseph Scanlan continued to work in both Canada and the United States, where he returned in the 1980s, directing episodes of Land of the Lost, Matt and Jenny, The Littlest Hobo, Falcon Crest, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Knots Landing, etc.

Wendy Riche, the associate producer of Dead on Target, started her career at ABC as a secretary in children's programming. Riche was quickly promoted coordinator of the network's late night programmes. She became a multi-awarded executive producer on soap operas General Hospital, Port Charles and The Bay. Our Man Flint - Dead on Target aired on ABC on March 17, 1976. It was a bonus in the 2006 Ultimate Flint Collection DVD boxset. Canawest Film Productions closed in 1977.

(1) Broadcasting (June 2, 1975). Quoted in the book A THRILLER in Every Corner by Martin Marshall (Lulu, 2020). The Quiller Memorandum mentioned by ABC was actually Quiller, the BBC 1975 series.
(2) Written and directed by Leslie Stevens, the creator of The Outer Limits (1963-1965).
(3) Credited as such in the title sequence.
(4) Based on the creation of novelist Donald Hamilton and starring Tony Franciosa. Dean Martin  played Matt Helm  in the 1960s film series.
(5) Cinema Canada #24 (December 1975-January 1976).
(6) Motion Magazine (1975).
(7) Masters of the Shoot-'Em-Up by Tadhg Taylor (McFarland, 2015).