By Richard Harland Smith
Counterplot
Brief Synopsis
While hiding in Puerto Rico, a man framed for murder dodges the police, his girlfriend and the real killer.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Kurt Neumann
Director
Forrest Tucker
Brock Miller
Allison Hayes
Connie
Gerald Milton
Fritz Bergmann
Jackie Wayne
Manuel
Richard Verney
Ben Murdock
Film Details
Genre
Crime
Drama
Release Date
Oct
1959
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
J. Harold Odell Productions, Inc.
Distribution Company
United Artists Corp.
Country
United States
Location
San Juan, Puerto Rico, United States; San Juan, Puerto Rico, United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 16m
Synopsis
Brock Miller is hiding out near San Juan, Puerto Rico, as he has been framed for the murder of New York importer and gambler David Nibley. Manuel, a local shoeshine boy, is helping Brock by bringing food to the abandoned beach house where he is hiding, but displays an unhealthy interest in Brock's gun. When Connie, Brock's girl friend, arrives in San Juan from New York, Manuel is hostile toward her, as he thinks of himself as Brock's best friend and feels she is destroying their relationship. Connie, who has an engagement as a singer at a local club, asks a waiter for information on Brock's whereabouts. Manuel has deliberately failed to tell Brock that Connie is in town, but Brock finds out when he hears her on a radio broadcast from the club. Fritz Bergmann, a crooked lawyer, learns that Brock is on the island and arranges to have Connie meet Brock at his house. Brock then proposes a plan to Bergmann, which he claims would benefit them both. Brock phones Steve MacGregor, an insurance agent with the company that insured Nibley, whose partner, Ben Murdock, had insured him for $200,000. The insurance company will not pay off on the policy until Brock is convicted and he is determined to prove his innocence. After convincing MacGregor to advance him some money in order to trap the real killer, Brock asks Bergmann to phone Murdock to say that he knows something about Nibley's death and he should therefore come to San Juan. When Murdock arrives, Bergmann tells him that Brock is there and determined to prove that Murdock is the guilty party. Murdock then takes Bergmann into his confidence and tells him about the night of the murder while Bergmann secretly records his statement: Brock attempts to recover a $3,000 gambling debt from Nibley and, in a fight witnessed by a maid, knocks him out, then leaves. When Nibley wakes up, Murdock kills him by pounding his head into the floor. Back in the present, Murdock tells Bergmann that he wants to kill Brock before the police find him, whereupon Bergmann demands $100,000 in cash from Murdock in exchange for Brock's location. Meanwhile, Brock attempts to leave for South America by boat and has to tell Manuel that he is going alone and may never return. Brock then asks the boy to fetch Connie so that they can say goodbye, but Manuel does not give her the message and Brock waits in vain. The police are tipped off and race to the dock but Brock manages to elude them. When a messenger arrives from New York with the cash, Murdock gives the money to Bergmann in exchange for the information. However, after Murdock leaves, Bergmann phones MacGregor and tells him that he has recorded Murdock's confession and has no intention of giving Murdock accurate information about Brock. Murdock then returns to Bergmann's house, draws a gun on the lawyer and reveals that Bergmann's assistant, Spargo, has told him where Brock really is. After Murdock leaves to kill Brock, Bergmann and Spargo fight, and although Spargo throws a knife into his back, Bergmann shoots and kills him. Fatally wounded, Bergmann phones MacGregor, tells him where the tape is and warns him that Murdock is on his way to Brock's house. When Connie then learns of the developments, she tells Brock that he is no longer a wanted man. Murdock shows up, followed by the police, but Manuel saves Brock's life when he shoots Murdock with Brock's gun. Manuel collapses against Connie and it appears that the three will become a family.
Director
Kurt Neumann
Director
Cast
Forrest Tucker
Brock Miller
Allison Hayes
Connie
Gerald Milton
Fritz Bergmann
Jackie Wayne
Manuel
Richard Verney
Ben Murdock
Miguel Angel álvarez
Spargo
Rita Tanno
Girl
Ulysses Brenes
David Nibley
Edmundo Rivera álvarez
Alfredo
Guardo Albani
Police chief
Charlie Gibbs
Steve MacGregor
Yvonne Peck
Maid
Art Bedard
Dugan
Raul Dávila
Messenger
Ted Smith
Bartender
Crew
Richard Blake
Writer
Victor Carrady
Associate Producer
Jodie Copelan
Film Editor
Richard Diaz
Assistant Director
Henry Hartman
Assistant Director
Hector Moll
Sound
Kurt Neumann
Producer
David Odell
Executive Producer
J. Harold Odell
Company
Jack H. Odell
Executive Producer
José Raúl Ramírez
Sound
Lawrence Rapport
Executive Producer
Lydia Rodriquez
Makeup
Paul Sawtell
Music
Bert Shefter
Music
Karl Struss
Director of Photography
Howard Warren
Sound
Nate Watt
Assistant Director
Harold Winston
Production Manager
Film Details
Genre
Crime
Drama
Release Date
Oct
1959
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
J. Harold Odell Productions, Inc.
Distribution Company
United Artists Corp.
Country
United States
Location
San Juan, Puerto Rico, United States; San Juan, Puerto Rico, United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 16m
Articles
Counterplot (1959) -
Workhorse director Kurt Neumann was so accustomed to surpassing the expectations of the studios, filmmakers, and independent producers who hired him that even after his death, which fell suddenly between the premiere and general release of The Fly (1958), he still had two more pictures in the can. His last, Counterplot (1959), was made for Eros Films and J. Harold Odell, who had production facilities and all the proper permits for shooting in and around scenic San Juan, Puerto Rico. Odell and Neumann had already made Machete on location there with Albert Dekker and Lee Van Cleef, and Odell would later partner with actor-cum-director Bruce Bennett for The Fiend of Dope Island (1961). Employing an old script by Richard Blake (who died in 1954, shortly after working on the science fiction classic Invaders from Mars), Counterplot stars Forrest Tucker (then making more pictures abroad than at home in Hollywood) as a fugitive from justice loved by both a cabaret chanteuse (Allison Hayes) and a local youth (child actor Jack Salvatore, billed as Jackie Wayne) who idolizes the surly Yank and attempts without success to shield him from the authorities. The nearly thirty-year collaboration of Neumann and cinematographer Karl Struss ended here; the four-time Academy Award nominated director of photography (who won an Oscar in 1929 for shooting F. W. Murnau's Sunrise) would retire after making Counterplot and devote the remainder of his often brilliant career to shooting TV commercials.
By Richard Harland Smith
By Richard Harland Smith
Counterplot (1959) -
Workhorse director Kurt Neumann was so accustomed to surpassing the expectations of the studios, filmmakers, and independent producers who hired him that even after his death, which fell suddenly between the premiere and general release of The Fly (1958), he still had two more pictures in the can. His last, Counterplot (1959), was made for Eros Films and J. Harold Odell, who had production facilities and all the proper permits for shooting in and around scenic San Juan, Puerto Rico. Odell and Neumann had already made Machete on location there with Albert Dekker and Lee Van Cleef, and Odell would later partner with actor-cum-director Bruce Bennett for The Fiend of Dope Island (1961). Employing an old script by Richard Blake (who died in 1954, shortly after working on the science fiction classic Invaders from Mars), Counterplot stars Forrest Tucker (then making more pictures abroad than at home in Hollywood) as a fugitive from justice loved by both a cabaret chanteuse (Allison Hayes) and a local youth (child actor Jack Salvatore, billed as Jackie Wayne) who idolizes the surly Yank and attempts without success to shield him from the authorities. The nearly thirty-year collaboration of Neumann and cinematographer Karl Struss ended here; the four-time Academy Award nominated director of photography (who won an Oscar in 1929 for shooting F. W. Murnau's Sunrise) would retire after making Counterplot and devote the remainder of his often brilliant career to shooting TV commercials.
By Richard Harland Smith
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Portions of Counterplot were shot on location in and around San Juan, Puerto Rico. A Hollywood Reporter production chart lists Nate Watt as assistant director, although Henry Hartman and Richard Diaz are credited onscreen. Although there was a 1958 copyright statement in the opening credits for the film, Counterplot was actually copyrighted on October 15, 1959.
