Crime And Punishment, U.S.A.

It says a lot about George Hamilton's acting skills that his first credited performance was this starring -- and very demanding -- role. He shines as Robert Cole, a troubled young man with a troubling belief: Exceptional people shouldn't have to pay for their crimes. After blacking out near the scene of a murder, Cole captures the attention of the police and proceeds to play a deadly cat-and-mouse game with a tenacious cop, a beautiful stranger and a family foe. 1950s Southern California is as far from 19th-century Moscow as you can get or is it? By radically changing the setting of Dostoevski's Crime and Punishment, this moody thriller makes the dusty classic new, fresh and dangerous once again. Literary fans will be impressed, and film fans will delight in being reunited with this unique, sun-drenched, jazz-tinged noir opus.