detective barney caine ( george c. scott ) get involve in an increasingly twist laden plot that begin when an old friend of his be find murdered . a it progress and he travel to germany and speak to a variety of character and and hook up with a grieving young woman ( marthe keller ) . the story actually begin back at the end of world war ii and involve the creation of a synthetic fuel which and naturally and certain interest want to stifle no matter what have to be do . it the actor that really make it worthwhile . the film itself and i thought and have a reasonably engross plot . i enjoy the twist and turn that it take and even if not that many of them be actually surprising . the foreign locale certainly doesn not hurt . the film begin well and and move slowly some might feel too slowly for a film without truly effective revelation towards a rather low key showdown between the two adversary . scott and co star marlon brando and in a typically amusing performance a an oil magnate and do not appear together very often in the film and but their scene be very effective . keller be allure a lisa and the young woman who know more than she let on . g. d. spradlin and richard lynch and john van dreelen and calvin jung and alan north and david byrd and and ferdy mayne all do fine work in support role while john gielgud have only one scene but be superb in it . however and beatrice straight be waste in a very minor role . ike eisenmann ( from the disney witch mountain film of the 70 ) and craig t. nelson also turn up briefly . give this film some sense of relevance of course be it premise and a the film explore subject still very much on people mind . it entertain enough if not particularly memorable and but work a a meditation on corruption and greed and the machination of people in certain position of power . positive .