Tank Malling ** (1989, Ray Winstone, Jason Connery, Amanda Donohoe, Glen Murphy, Marsha A Hunt, Peter Wyngarde) – Classic Movie Review 6589

Ray Winstone stars in Tank Malling as investigative reporter John ‘Tank’ Malling, who is approached by a classy hooker called Helen (Amanda Donohoe) with the low-down on a politician, Sir Robert Knight (Peter Wyngarde), and then investigates political corruption, despite warnings from on high. The 26-year-old Jason Connery (the son of Sean Connery and Diane Cilento) plays Sir Robert’s lethal lawyer, Dunboyne.

James Marcus’s slightly sloppy direction and rather careless-seeming writing mar his otherwise enjoyable, very low-budget 1989 British murder action thriller.

Tank Malling has a promising cast that hams it up in what would have been deemed a Z-grade slice of thriller hokum in America in the Fifties. The action sequences are quite acceptable, but the dialogue is fairly abysmal and, whenever the characters open their mouths, the movie slows down to a snail’s pace.

Winstone is good and solid, but the real star of this thriller is Donohoe who, as usual, is far better than her material, playing the prostitute with the same magnetic campness that made her performance in The Lair of the White Worm (1988) such a tour de force.

Also in the cast are Glen Murphy, Marsha A Hunt, John Conteh, Terry Marsh, Nick Berry, Jamie Foreman, John Bett, Maria Whittaker and Don Henderson.

It is written by James Marcus and Mick Southworth, shot by Jason Lehel, produced by Glen Murphy and Jamie Foreman, and scored by Rick Fenn and Nick Mason.

The peculiar title Tank Malling doesn’t help and they thought twice about it. It was released in the US as Double Cross and in Canada as Double Intrigue and  re-released in the UK as Beyond Soho after being re-edited.

The soundtrack was written and performed by 10cc’s Rick Fenn and Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason in their final album together. It had a hit single, ‘See You in Paradise’, featuring Maggie Reilly.

Peter Wyngarde as TV’s Jason King (1971-72).

It is the last film of Peter Wyngarde (23 August 1927 – 15 January 2018).

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6589

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