Clay Pigeon (film)

Plot

A Vietnam War veteran (Stern) has been using illegal drugs, but eventually decides that he wants to escape that life. But before he can leave it behind, an FBI narcotics agent (Savalas) recruits him to go undercover in Los Angeles to help expose other ex-soldiers who involved in drug dealing and drug kingpin Neilson (Vaughn).

Cast

Critical response

Roger Greenspun of The New York Times wrote in his review: "Clay Pigeon also makes no sense. But its directors, Tom Stern and Lane Slate, have a certain willingness to take each moment as it comes, and its absurdities more often seem the products of a super-active exuberance than of a failed imagination. In its particular field—sex and violence—"Clay Pigeon" just falls short of being very good. Its hero is a Vietnam war veteran turned peaceful Los Angeles hippie (played by Mr. Stern) whom a diabolical Federal agent (Telly Savalas) picks as a decoy to lure an anonymous mastermind of the heroin trade out into the open. The plan works spectacularly—though there is no indication of why it should work at all—and before it is finished, many are the corpses spread over the Hollywood hills. Mr. Stern and Mr. Slate have previously directed one terrible bike movie ("Hell's Angels '69"), redeemed only by the presence of Conny Van Dyke, a pleasant and unusual actress. In Clay Pigeon they have wisely included three pleasant and unusual actresses — most notably Marilyn Akin, as a topless go-go dancer who is also the hero's estranged wife. Miss Akin—this is her film debut—really isn't such a great actress yet, which doesn't matter because she is the kind of girl you see in the movies not to admire but to fall in love with, and to have found just this kind of rather vulnerable personality for such a role is a small but lovely casting achievement. She is joined by Marlene Clark and Belinda Palmer, and none of them, alas, manage to live through the movie.

Release

Clay Pigeon was released in theatres in August 1971. The film was released on DVD on April 27, 1999 and later on July 6, 2010 by PolyGram Filmed Entertainment.