When producers Arnold Kopelson and Pierre David first got the idea for Dirty Tricks, they had only one lady in mind for star: Kate Jackson. Apart from Kate, three more international performers Elliott Gould, Rich Little and Arthur Hill star in Dirty Tricks. This was the second of three major films that were produced in 1979 by Filmplan International Inc., a romantic comedy-thriller, that had a budget of $5,2 million, making it the highest budget Canadian film that was shot in Montréal until 1979.

In this comedy-suspense-romance, Elliott Gould plays an idealistic Harvard professor fed up with cynicism, corruption and indifference he sees all around. When one of his students is murdered outside his office and he comes into possession of a letter supposedly branding George Washington as a traitor, he finds that criminals are after the valuable document as well and his quiet life is suddenly invaded by a number of agents and hoodlums. One of the nicest pests in Gould's life is a beautiful, hard-nosed reporter named Polly, played by Kate Jackson.  But soon the two become intricately involved in the murder mystery, only to discover their own lives are threatened. That's when the chaotic fun begins in Dirty Tricks. Dirty Tricks is available only on VHS. It hasn't been yet released on DVD. It is considered one of the hard-to-find videos today.

Despite the efforts of a willing and able cast, Dirty Tricks flounders as a would-be chase comedy, done in by lame writing and misjudged direction. Word of mouth is likely to be poor.

With wit and verbal humor lacking, the stars eke out pic's few laughs with physical bits and gags. Director Alvin Rakoff makes a fatal error in staging the story's frequent violence with convincing realism, a ploy which does not match the cartoonish villains (twin karate nuts, raffishly-attired he-she gangster duo, bumbling FBI snoops). When the baddies and even Gould start beating up Jackson near the end of the film, its not only unfunny but actually repellant.

Distracting from the main plot is pic's Canadian origins, jarring at times with the Boston-Cambridge locale (token location footage) and the USA patriotic story premise. Gould is an ingratiating lead, but script oddly has him doing self-homages, with scenes echoing "Getting Straight", "Mash" and "Move" among his decade ago films. Kate Jackson is excellent in her role and makes a feisty heroine and Rich Little has a couple of good innings as Gould's best friend, but Arthur Hill's dean/villain is underwritten. Tech credits are okay.