Main Cast: Tom Selleck, Jane Seymour, Lauren Hutton, Bob Hoskins, Joe Regalbuto
Release Year: 1984
Country: US
Run Time: 100 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
This feature-length story about the heist of $10 million in Nazi diamonds primarily rides on star Tom Selleck's popularity as TV's Magnum, P.I., (a 1980s show), since the plot turnarounds, slighted character development, and stock situations are not that engaging on their own. The setting is 1934 and Nick Lassiter (Selleck) has been strong-armed by the Yank and Brit governments into stealing the diamonds from a German agent (Lauren Hutton) -- if he can track the gems to their hiding place. Along the way, he travels through London of the 1930s -- marketplaces, warehouses, and watering holes that lend an atmosphere to his search. His lady love Sara (Jane Seymour) more or less stands around to lend support while the suavely suited-up Lassiter battles a crooked cop (Bob Hoskins), his real arch enemy. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
Ed Lauter - Smoke; Edward Peel - Allyce; Paul Antrim - Askew; Jurgen Andersen - German Guard; Fanny Carby - Old Lady; Warren Clarke - Max Hofer; Brian Coburn - Bruno Gunz; Barrie Houghton - Eddie Lee; Tristram Jellinek - Phipps; Bill Leadbitter - German Guard; Christopher Malcolm - Quaid; George Malpas - Old Man; Belinda Mayne - Helen Boardman; Dinny Powell - Referee; Richard Ridings - German Guard; Morgan Sheppard - Sweeny; Peter Skellern - Pianist; Harry Towb - Roger Boardman; David Warbeck - Agent; Eleanor Fazan - Choregrapher; Scott Johnson - Becker's Son; Jane Wood - Mary Becker; Peter McNamara - German Guard; Rose Tobias Shaw; Clive Curtis - Boxer; Michael Howarth - Commander; Terence Mountain - Cop; George Cooper - Boxer
Credit
Brian Ackland-Snow - Art Director, Alan Tomkins - Art Director, Frederick Muller - Associate Producer, Rose Tobias Shaw - Casting, Eleanor Fazan - Choreography, Barbara Lane - Costume Designer, Roger Young - Director, Allan Jacobs - Editor, Benjamin A. Weissman - Editor, Raymond Chow - Executive Producer, Andre Morgan - Executive Producer, Ken Thorne - Composer (Music Score), Lon Bentley - Makeup, Graham Freeborn - Makeup, Peter Taylor - Camera Operator, Peter Mullins - Production Designer, Gilbert Taylor - Cinematographer, Albert S. Ruddy - Producer, Jack Stephens - Set Designer, Dave Beavis - Special Effects, George Stephenson - Sound/Sound Designer, Marc Boyle - Stunts, Barbara Turner - Screenwriter, David Taylor - Screenwriter
Lassiter is a 1984 adventure film part-caper and part-espionage, set in 1930s London, starring Tom Selleck and Jane Seymour that was made to cash in on Selleck's popularity as the character Thomas Magnum in the show Magnum, P.I. but failed to ignite the box-office on its release. The Magnum, P.I. connection is perhaps most clearly seen by the movie poster tagline The Magnum Man Hits the Big Screen with a Vengeance.
Nick Lassiter (Tom Selleck) is a gentleman jewel thief in 1934 London, England. He is arrested by the police after breaking into a London mansion and, after being a member of a phony lineup in which he is positively identified by a law enforcement plant, British law enforcement and the FBI blackmail Lassiter to break into the German Embassy and steal $10 million in Nazi diamonds from a German spy (Lauren Hutton), but first he must locate their hiding place. The gems are en route from South America and will be sold to help finance Hitler's military buildup.
Lassiter is the only movie in which Jane Seymour is seen nude, from the rear and side.
Selleck was already under contract to star in the television series Magnum, P.I. when he was offered the role of Indiana Jones in the 1981 movie Raiders of the Lost Ark by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Selleck decided the honorable option was to honor his contract and stay with the television series. As it turned out "Magnum, P.I." was delayed for several months and Selleck could have made the movie but the role had already been filled by Harrison Ford. Selleck's 1984 movie "Lassiter" is seen as an attempt by Selleck (along with the movie High Road to China) to star in a vehicle that borrows heavily from the Indiana Jones character, and in this case also James Bond.
