'70s Class: Scalpel (1977)

 A Tennessee Williams Play...just with slightly more murder.  This is Scalpel, a 1977 Thriller that isn't quite what you think it will be.  With a name like that, you picture a crazy Serial Killer Doctor, no?  That's actually The Last Slumber Party- psych!  Remember, this is from 1977, not 1987.  Instead, we get all sorts of nuance, intrigue and people going slowly insane.  The Plot involves an injured woman, a crazy Doctor and $5 million.  You can't see it, but I did the Austin Powers thing just now with my hand.  Robert Lansing is our Lead here and he's...ooh, he's bad.  There's a nice, subtle evil to his presence here that I love.  Curiously, the Director- Robert Grissmer- only made one other Film: Blood Rage.  That Film also involves a pair of doubles (see later) and murder.  There's probably a story- likely a bad one- as to why he made 2 Films ten years apart.  Instead of looking that up, let's read on instead...

A Plastic Surgeon- Lansing- buries his Father-in-Law and has to deal with the Estate.

The problem- he's getting nothing.  Who is?

His Daughter (aka the guy's Grand-Daughter).

The problem- she ran away after seeing him definitely murder her boyfriend.

Lansing and his friend just happen to run across a woman who's face was beaten to a pulp.

This gives him a really, really bad idea.

He fakes the woman's discharge and takes her to his House.  He transforms her face into that of his Daughter's and trains her over a period of time to act/talk like her.

He plays tapes of her talking that she left for him...as you do.

After some amount of time (not stated), the surgeries have worked and she's ready to pretend to be the Daughter for long enough to inherit the money.

Why does this guy on the right seem suspicious?

Lansing's friend shows up after the fake Daughter and him start bonding, showing his suspicion over the former not knowing how to play the Piano.

He has a Plot Convenience Heart Attack, which Lansing ignores for a bit.

This is actually the SECOND time we've seen something like that from him, but that's a Poor Bastards of Cinema induction on its own.

At his Funeral, a big wrinkle comes up in the plan- the real Daughter shows up!

So now we have some real conflict as Fake Daughter (aka Jane Doe) is jealous of the real (earned) connection that the Father has with his Daughter.

On the other hand, the real Daughter is upset since her Dad, is well, trying to bang her identical twin!

Did this inspire the American Dad Episode where Haley dates the Body Double of her CIA Father?
Probably not.

With $5 million in sight (and a split incoming), Lansing must decide who he loves more- his Daughter or the woman he mostly-forced to pretend to be her?

Even those this Film is over 40 years old, no (more) SPOILERs (for a change).

A slow, but steady tale of intrigue and betrayal.  As I said at the beginning, I expected something different from a Film with this Title.  This is one of many Films that I'd been given long ago to watch and knew nothing about.  Going in blind sometimes works well for Films!  The Plot is nice and nuanced, even if you have to accept certain things like him making the woman straight-up disappear.  To be fair, most of the questions are answered though, so you only have to consider the fact that the Nurse could ruin his plan and move on.  Lansing does a great job with this character, making him seem heartless and emotional at alternating times.  You don't know enough about the Grandfather to know whether or not he was good, making it harder to hate Lansing.  For all we know, the guy was an asshole.  He did hate Lansing for a better reason than he thought- the guy did kill his Daughter!  The Family aspect is a key thing here and it works really well.  The real Daughter and Lansing have a real bond, which makes his betrayals all the worse.  The twists and turns come quite well in the latter half of the Film.  The Film has a mixed reputation as far as that goes, but I'm in the 'it was good' camp.  It doesn't seem like this Film is all that well-known and that's kind of a shame.  For me, the positives outweigh the negatives here.  For instance, Lansing is evil...but he's got a nice garden.

Next time, I go back to my DVD Pile to cover the first of 2 Films in a Series.  I somehow reviewed the Sequel back in 2009, but I skipped this one.  Stay tuned...