Harper is a 1966 film written by William Goldman

William Goldman

William Goldman is an American novelist, playwright, and Academy Award-winning screenwriter.-Early life and education:...

 from a novel by Ross Macdonald

Ross Macdonald

Not to be confused with John D. MacDonaldRoss Macdonald is the pseudonym of the American-Canadian writer of crime fiction Kenneth Millar...

. The movie starred Paul Newman

Paul Newman

Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...

 as the eponymous Lew Harper (Lew Archer in the novel). The original music score was composed by Johnny Mandel

Johnny Mandel

Johnny Mandel is an American composer and arranger of popular songs, film music and jazz. Among the musicians he has worked with are Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Anita O'Day, Barbra Streisand, and Shirley Horn.-Life:...

. Goldman received a 1967 Edgar Award

Edgar Award

The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...

 for Best Motion Picture Screenplay. Shelley Winters

Shelley Winters

Shelley Winters was an American actress who appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television; her career spanned over 50 years until her death in 2006...

 played the once-gorgeous former starlet Fay Estabrook, who is now an alcoholic.

The film was released in the UK as The Moving Target

The Moving Target

The Moving Target is a 1949 mystery novel, written by Ross Macdonald.This is the first Ross Macdonald novel to feature the character of Lew Archer, who would define the author's career. Lew Archer is hired by the dispassionate wife of an eccentric oil tycoon who has gone missing...

, which is the title of the novel. Newman reprised the role in The Drowning Pool

The Drowning Pool (film)

The Drowning Pool is a 1975 American thriller film directed by Stuart Rosenberg, and based upon Ross Macdonald's novel The Drowning Pool. The film stars Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, and Anthony Franciosa, and is a sequel to Harper...

, made in 1975.

The film captures elements of the traditional "buddy" film. The film also pays homage to the Humphrey Bogart films by bringing Bogart's wife Lauren Bacall into the story. Bacall plays the role of the wounded and woeful wife, the person most concerned with a missing husband. Her role is similar to the character General Sternwood in the Bogart and Bacall 1946 movie The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep (1946 film)

The Big Sleep is a 1946 film noir directed by Howard Hawks, the first film version of Raymond Chandler's 1939 novel of the same name. The movie stars Humphrey Bogart as detective Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as the female lead in a film about the "process of a criminal investigation, not its...

.

Main cast

Actor	Role
Paul Newman Paul Newman Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...	Lew Harper
Lauren Bacall Lauren Bacall Lauren Bacall is an American film and stage actress and model, known for her distinctive husky voice and sultry looks.She first emerged as leading lady in the Humphrey Bogart film To Have And Have Not and continued on in the film noir genre, with appearances in The Big Sleep and Dark Passage ,...	Elaine Sampson
Julie Harris Julie Harris Julia Ann "Julie" Harris is an American stage, screen, and television actress. She has won five Tony Awards, three Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award, and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1994, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. She is a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame...	Betty Fraley
Arthur Hill Arthur Hill (actor) Arthur Edward Spence Hill was a Canadian actor best known for appearances in British and American theater, movies and television...	Albert Graves
Janet Leigh Janet Leigh Janet Leigh , born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress. She was the wife of actor Tony Curtis from June 1951 to September 1962 and the mother of Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis....	Susan Harper
Pamela Tiffin	Miranda Sampson
Robert Wagner Robert Wagner Robert John Wagner is an American actor of stage, screen, and television.A veteran of many films in the 1950s and 1960s, Wagner gained prominence in three American television series that spanned three decades: It Takes a Thief , Switch , and Hart to Hart...	Allan Taggert
Robert Webber Robert Webber Robert L. Webber was an American actor who starred as Juror #12 in the 1957 film 12 Angry Men.Webber was born in Santa Ana, California, the son of Alice and Robert Webber, who was a merchant seaman. He was a U.S. Marine during World War II serving on Guam and Okinawa...	Dwight Troy
Shelley Winters Shelley Winters Shelley Winters was an American actress who appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television; her career spanned over 50 years until her death in 2006...	Fay Estabrook
Harold Gould Harold Gould Harold V. Goldstein , best known by his stage name Harold Gould, was an American actor best known for playing Martin Morgenstern in the 1970s sitcoms Rhoda and The Mary Tyler Moore Show and as Miles Webber in The Golden Girls...	Sheriff Spanner
Roy Jenson Roy Jenson Roy Jenson was a Canadian-born actor.Born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he moved to Los Angeles with his family as a child. He joined the U.S. Navy and then graduated from UCLA...	Puddler
Strother Martin Strother Martin Strother Martin was an American actor in numerous films and television programs. Martin is perhaps best known as the prison "captain" in the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke, where he uttered the line, "What we've got here is...failure to communicate."-Early life:Strother Martin Jr. was born in Kokomo,...	Claude