Improbability rises to the sky in the crime movie, Pendulum (1969), but I find it fascinating for its honesty about civil libertarian trends, criminals, and male-female relationships.  Police captain Frank Matthews (George Peppard) arrested a murderer-rapist named Sanderson only to see him turned loose—ultimately by the Supreme Court—but still impenitent.  Subsequently Matthews, rightly believing his wife Adele (Jean Seberg) to be an adulterer, is arrested for the crime of slaying her and her lover.  But Matthews gets away from his fellow police, for he strongly suspects the (vengeful) killing was done by Sanderson and he intends to hunt him down.

Stanley Niss‘s plot grows feeble because the authorities would have suspected crazy Sanderson as much as Matthews does, but they don’t.  More interesting than good, Pendulum, directed by George Schaefer, does yield a message or two, one of which is about the fundamental inadequacy of circumstantial evidence.  This may keep you watching the film, but probably not as much as the solid acting of Richard Kiley and Madeleine Sherwood and the first-rate looks of Jean Seberg.  Or the first-rate looks of George Peppard.

The flick can be seen on YouTube.