Themes: Redemption, Heroic Mission, Drug Addiction
Main Cast: Alan Arkin, Vanessa Redgrave, Robert Duvall, Nicol Williamson, Laurence Olivier
Release Year: 1976
Country: UK
Run Time: 113 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Nicholas Meyer based his screenplay for the "retro" Sherlock Holmes adventure The Seven Percent Solution on his own best-selling novel. As any Baker Street Irregular will tell you, the title refers to the dosage of cocaine taken by Sherlock Holmes (Nicol Williamson). The Great Detective's friend and chronicler Doctor Watson (Robert Duvall), concerned that Holmes' drug dependency is getting out of hand, suggests a cure under the auspices of Viennese psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (top-billed Alan Arkin). While undergoing treatment, Holmes comes to the realization that his archival Professor Moriarty (Laurence Olivier) is not the Napoleon of Crime, but instead a somewhat pathetic philanderer. Not yet completely cured, Holmes recharges his deductive batteries by undertaking a tricky conspiracy case involving another ex-addict, beautiful actress Lola Devereaux (Vanessa Redgrave). The traditional Holmesian sleuthing and split-second rescues of the film's second half are not as innovative as the Holmes-Freud scenes at the beginning of The Seven Percent Solution, but they provide this largely cerebral effort with a rousing climax. A success with both critics and filmgoers, The Seven Percent Solution opened the floodgates for subsequent TV and movie "reprises" of Conan Doyle's immortal literary figure. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Drugs hook Sherlock Holmes in this 1976 Herbert Ross film that reveals the human side of the super sleuth, and throws in a real-life psychiatric legend for good measure. Under the influence of his "seven percent solution," the cocaine mixture he concocts to ease his mental anguish, Holmes goes a bit bonkers and makes a bloody nuisance of himself. Nicol Williamson brilliantly plays the vulnerable Holmes, a role that many critics believe should have won him an Oscar. Williamson receives strong support from Robert Duvall as Dr. Watson and Alan Arkin as Freud. The period atmosphere and costumes are first rate, as is Nicholas Meyer's screen adaptation of his own novel. The plot moves briskly along, and despite the focus on the heady stuff of psychiatry and criminology, includes plenty of good, old-fashioned physical derring-do, including a sword fight atop a moving train. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide
Joel Grey - Lowenstein; Charles Gray - Mycroft Holmes; Jeremy Kemp - Baron Von Leinsdorf; Georgia Brown - Mrs. Freud; Regine - Madame; John Bird - Berger; Michael Blagdon - Young Holmes; Erik Chitty - Butler; Samantha Eggar - Mary Watson; Leon Greene - Squire Holmes; Frederick Jaeger - Marker; Gertan Klauber - The Pasha; Alison Leggatt - Mrs. Hudson; Jack May - Dr. Schultz; Anna Quayle - Freda; Jill Townsend - Mrs. Holmes; John Hill - Train Engineer; Sheila Shand Gibbs - Nun; Erich Padalewski - Station Master
