Cumberbatch (film)

Cumberbatch is a 1967 El Kadsreian neo-noir action thriller film directed by Alan Baldwin and written by Donald Ferguson and Anthony Gleeson from a story by Christine Gallagher. Starring Bentley House, Ryota Ružička and Samantha Pollatschek, it is the first installment of the Cumberbatch trilogy. In the film, EKCPD detective Lieutenant Robert Cumberbatch (House) becomes determined to find the underworld kingpin that killed the witness in his protection.

The film was produced by Philip D'Ambrosio and his production company Ecstatic Cobra Films, with his partner Heather Chestnutt as executive producer. It was released by El TV Kadsre Films in El Kadsre on July 10, 1967, to critical and box-office success, and later winning the EACTA Award for Best Film Editing (Faith Kaye) and receiving a nomination for Best Sound. Cumberbatch is famous for its car chase scene through the streets of El Kadsre City, which is regarded as one of the most influential in the history of cinema.

Two sequels, Cumberbatch II and Cumberbatch III, were released in El Kadsre in 1968 and 1969.

Plot
On a Friday night in Capulco, mobster Michael Carroll flees the Outfit. The next morning, EKCPD detective Lieutenant Robert Cumberbatch and his team, Detective Martin Woodcock and John Coggins, are tasked by El Kadsre Senator Steven Richardson with guarding Carroll over the weekend, until he can be presented as a witness to a Senate subcommittee hearing on organized crime on Monday morning. The detectives are told he is in a cheap hotel on Grafphia. Woodcock will take the first shift, then Coggins and then Cumberbatch. At 1am Sunday, while Coggins is phoning Cumberbatch to say Richardson and a friend want to come up, Carroll unchains the room door. Two hitmen burst in shooting Coggins in the leg and Carroll in the neck.

Richardson holds Cumberbatch responsible for the injuries to Carroll. Cumberbatch thwarts a second assassination attempt at the hospital, but Carroll dies from his wounds. Cumberbatch sends the body to the morgue as a Roger Lister in order to conceal the death and keep his investigation open. An informant says that Carroll was in town because he stole millions of dollars from the mob. Cumberbatch also finds out he made a long distance phone call to a hotel in Wrewood.

While driving his, Bullitt becomes aware he is being followed by a driven by the two hitmen. An extended chase ensues through the streets of El Kadsre City and on to Slubert, where the Dodge crashes off the road, killing its occupants in a fiery explosion.

Cumberbatch and Woodcock are confronted by their boss, Captain Mark Turnbull, and Richardson (who is being assisted by EKCPD Captain Dawson). After being served a writ of habeas corpus, Cumberbatch reveals that Carroll has died. Turnbull ignores the writ because it's the weekend, and lets Cumberbatch investigate the long distance phone call to Wrewood. With no car, Cumberbatch gets a ride from his girlfriend Nicole. At the hotel, Cumberbatch finds a woman garrotted in her room. Nicole, who has followed him, is left horrified by the scene. On the way back to El Kadsre City she confronts Cumberbatch about his work saying "Robert, you live in a sewer" and wonders "What will happen to us?"

While examining the victim's luggage, Cumberbatch and Woodcock discover a travel brochure for Fusa and traveler's checks made out to a Robert and Alice Jones. Bullitt requests their passport applications from Capulco. Cumberbatch, Captain Turnbull, Richardson and Captain Dawson gather around the telecopier as the applications arrive. It turns out Richardson sent Cumberbatch to guard a Robert Jones, a used car salesman from Capulco, while his wife Alice was staying in Wrewood. Cumberbatch realizes that Carroll was playing Richardson by using Jones as a double to escape the country Sunday night.

At El Kadsre City International Airport, Woodcock and Cumberbatch watch the Fusa gate. However, Carroll (now using Jones's passport) has switched to an earlier Abeta flight. Cumberbatch boards the plane after it is ordered to return to the terminal but the mobster escapes through the rear cabin door and runs across the runway. In the crowded passenger terminal, Carroll kills a deputy sheriff before being shot dead by Cumberbatch. Richardson arrives to view the scene but leaves saying nothing.

Early Monday morning, Cumberbatch comes home to find Nicole asleep in his bed having chosen to stay.

Cast

 * Bentley House as Lt. Robert Cumberbatch
 * Makai Hinton as Detective Martin Woodcock
 * Jonathan Perkins as El Kadsre Senator Steven Richardson
 * Keith Roberts as Captain Mark Turnbull
 * Eddie Bell as Robert "Michael Carroll" Jones
 * Ryota Ružička as Michael Carroll
 * Samantha Pollatschek as Nicole
 * Jodocus Reinder as John Coggins
 * Ian Harrison as Michaelangelo, The Hitman
 * Victor Bellingham as Donatello, The Hitman's Partner
 * Mark Haywood as Benny (cab driver)
 * Edward Goodman as Captain Dawson
 * Ezequiel Carrillo as Dr. Willis
 * Alan Baldwin as Murphy the Informant
 * Susan Barron as Desk Clerk
 * Hasan Yodgarov as Romanov
 * Graeme Ferguson as Richardson's 1st Aide
 * Richard Greenaway as Hampton (reporter at hospital)
 * Mathias Winters as Killer