Mastermind | |
Director: | Alex March |
Producer: | Malcolm Stuart |
Screenplay: | William Peter Blatty (as Terence Clyne) Ian McLellan Hunter (as Samuel B. West) |
Story: | William Peter Blatty (as Terence Clyne) |
Starring: | Zero Mostel Keiko Kishi Gawn Grainger |
Music: | Fred Karlin |
Cinematography: | Gerald Hirschfeld |
Editing: | John C. Howard |
Color Process: | Metrocolor |
Studio: | ABC Pictures Master Associates |
Distributor: | Goldstone Film Enterprises |
Runtime: | 86 minutes |
Country: | Japan United States |
Language: | English |
Budget: | $2.5 million[1] |
Mastermind is a 1976 Japanese-American comedy thriller film directed by Alex March and starring Zero Mostel, Keiko Kishi and Gawn Grainger. Filmed in 1969, it sat on the shelf for seven years before receiving a limited theatrical release in 1976. It has developed a cult following since its release on home video.
The second of producer Malcolm Stuart's two-picture deal with screenwriter, William Peter Blatty, the project was inspired by the success of the 1964 Peter Sellers comedy A Shot in the Dark which Blatty had co-written with producer/director Blake Edwards. Blatty's script was drastically revised by Ian McLellan Hunter prior to production, and the disgruntled screenwriter chose the pseudonym Terence Clyne for his screen credit.[2] By 1973 it had recorded a loss of $2.9 million.[1] Blatty's original screenplay was published as part of a limited edition collection by Lonely Road Books in 2013 as Five Lost Screenplays by William Peter Blatty.
Zero Mostel plays an inspector on the trail of criminals who have captured a robot called Schatzi played by Felix Sillas. The inspector has delusions thathe is a great Samurai warrior and the film flashes back and forth between present day and ancient times.