THE MARCHAND WOMAN

This revenge thriller by the author of the vivid Fear in a Handful of Dust (1978) again substitutes sheer slam-bang physicality for originality or real style. An anti-Castro Cuban gang kidnaps an American ambassador and the son of filmmaker Carole Marchand, asking for ransom money to help finance the very faltering invasion plans of an old guerrilla leader. The ransom goes through, the guerrillas make off through the Puerto Rican jungles with their cash, but Carole's son is murdered anyway--his body is found abandoned in Mexico City. So Carole, determined to see the kidnappers strung up, hires mercenary Harry Crobey to help her, also getting support from Glenn Anders, a CIA agent whose Latin girlfriend-secretary Rosalia will be killed by the same guerilla hothead who shot Carole's son. And when Crobey is captured and taken to the jungle hideout where the rebels have been stockpiling weapons, it is up to Carole to save him and at the same time achieve her revenge--a revenge which loses its tang when the rebels themselves execute the hothead and leave his body for Crobey and Carole in the deserted arsenal. . . . Tight and cynical action-adventure--with a trace of sex, a lot of sweat, and heavy weapons chattering through the jungle.