User Reviews

I sometimes refer to the 60's as a forgotten decade movie-wise and here is another good example you won't have heard of, with stars that may not be familiar. It is a straightforward, strictly private eye genre film that PI genre fans will enjoy.

Jock Mahoney was an old-style cool hunk. Check him out ladies, he was very tall with former-movie-Tarzan/stuntman/athlete-fit good looks. Does his own stunts here including being kicked head first down a flight of stairs which he handles with effortless athleticism. Not an actor's actor who "emoted" but the kind of cool dude that wears well for 2 hours and sauntered through Hollywood in those days.

Jesse White gives a clinic on how to be a character actor and works well with Mahoney. Anthony Dexter is perfect as the oily, sleazy gigolo bartender type that populated TV and movies of the era.

Former Miss Denmark Greta Thyssen effectively steams up the screen bombshell/Jayne Mansfield style. She was also a competent actress (see a Perry Mason episode she did) and possibly could have been more of a star under different circumstances.

Despite its lightweight nature this film has some unique little touches such as a glam babe playing piano in the restaurant (I mean really playing it, not fake). You will also note the endless parade of Buicks (why? deal with General Motors?). These Buicks are dinosaurs now but were considered flashy and swank back then.

Catch this film to view an era of Los Angeles and film making that is gone forever and should be remembered, back when a large chunk of the movie business was lightweight and made for entertainment.

Jock Mahoney plays the lead in one of those b&w B movies which the cop and lawyer shows on TV were rapidly replacing. Jock travels from New York to L.A. to investigate the disappearance of a fellow insurance investigator and, as a result, quickly becomes acquainted with the three blondes of the title. The "mystery" which confronts him fails to adequately intrigue the viewer and the blondes with whom he interacts lack the hoped-for fascination. The final product of all Jock's efforts is a bare-bones time-killer which evokes its era -- beginning with the title song accompanying the opening credits -- without giving one the slightest urge to re-visit it.

Those looking for a point of interest in this material might consider how it presents Jock Mahoney. Despite his "hunk" status, usually emphasized by frequent "beefcake" scenes, he's shown here in virtually every scene wearing a suit and tie, and he seems to have no sexual interaction with any of the blondes. (They're interested; he's not.) This state of affairs makes the movie seem more like a product of the early 1950s rather than the early 1960s. Jock does have two bare-chest scenes, but they're curiously staged. In the first, he's shown lying belly-down in bed, shirtless, and the only glimpse you get of his chest is an oblique one as he reaches out to answer a telephone. In the second, Jock unbuttons and removes his shirt but you don't see him directly but rather watch his image as reflected in a mirror. It's almost as if Jock's physique is so striking a sight that it must be shown to the viewer only in rationed and carefully-controlled circumstances.

Three Blondes In His Life features Jock Mahoney as an insurance investigator who is working a missing persons case. One of is fellow investigators has taken a powder and the file is incomplete.

What we do learn about this guy he wasn't one of God's better creatures. Yet he's missing and e he was a colleague and the rules say you're supposed to do something about it

Elements of The Maltese Falcon and Double Indemnity are in Three Blondes In His Life. It's reasonably good detective but not hardly as good as the cited films.

I watched this on DVD on an evening when I was in a bad mood, having had a hard day at work. This movie put me in a great mood after having watched it. I really enjoyed the film on many levels. This would appeal to fans of the late 40's to mid 50's crime films featuring B movie detectives. I originally bought this DVD because of Greta Thyssen and a true love for B movie detective films. I have to say that the movie was pretty good and it exceeded my expectations. One of my favorite B movie detectives is Hugh Beaumont, who aside from appearing in many classic crime films like "Railroaded", was the star of PRC series detective Mike Shayne and Lippert films Denny O'Brien (which was a filmed version of the great radio show "Pat Novak for Hire"). I bought this DVD because of the sexy Greta Thyssen and a cover featuring a picture of Jock Mahoney looking slightly similar to my favorite Hugh Beaumont. I would have to say that Jock plays the role of the detective very much like the way Hugh Beaumont played Mike Shayne in the PRC films. Jock is laid back and stylish. He is a smooth operator was is not brash and confrontational like Lloyd Nolan in the Fox Films Mike Shayne series. One scene has actor Jessie White telling Jock that he could be arrested for what his is thinking as Jock eyes up the body of their secretary.

The premise of the film has Jock playing Duke Mitchell, an insurance detective investigator, looking for another insurance detective from his company who is missing. Jock traces the missing mans last movements and finds out that he had recently spent time with 3 beautiful blonde women. All the women are very attractive including the brunette secretary at the insurance company. It is interesting to see how the body types of glamour girls have changed from the past 50 years. The glamour girls of the late 50's had lots of curves unlike the skinny models of today. The women in this movie all resemble the girls of the late 50's pinup magazines. Greta Thyssen is most remembered today as one of the top pinup stars of that era, a rival of Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren. Greta has a body type similar to Jayne Mansfield, not as busty but better looking (in my opinion).

The movie stars Jessie White who was a long time star character actor on TV and feature films. The lead Jock Mahoney is best remembered as playing Tarzan a couple of times. I read that Jock did all his own stunts in his Tarzan films. He does the same in this film. There are 2 scenes that I was surprised that he did his own stunts in this film. One scene has him falling down a flight of stairs and another scene has him crashing through a closed door to start a fight scene. Jock plays a pretty cool character. I feel that he had a fine performance. The film is nothing special but it is definitely above average for the type of film that it is. The film has beautiful women (the 3 blondes of the title and the beautiful brunette secretary) and the running mystery of who the killer is. Is the killer one of the 3 blondes or someone else? If you are a fan of low budget series detective films, this is one to watch. The film has a nice style to it and great eye candy. Greta Thyssen is known for appearing in some of the final Three Stooges comedy shorts (with the awful Joe Bessar).

The DVD is easy to find as it was released by Alpha Video. The DVD I watched starts out fuzzy and soft focus and shortly turns into a sharp transfer. It appeared to me the the opening reel was from a dupe film print and I would love to see an original transfer of the entire movie.

Love this little film. It's hilarious and unintentionally tongue-in-cheek. As a mystery, it's not mysterious. Duke Wallace spends most of time making time with the "titular" blondes and ogling Jesse White's secretary who is actually the most attractive girl in the cast. I always liked White. He spends his time either being Jock's sounding board or telling him to calm down when his secretary is in his office. After being kicked headfirst down a flight of stairs (a great stunt), Jock reaches into his jacket's breast pocket for his cigarettes that miraculously weren't crushed when he belly surfed down the stairs. The closing brawl was great although the editing interrupts it with shots of Valerie Porter. Television (77 Sunset Strip, Johnny Stacatto) was doing a much better job at this kind of detective story when this was filmed.

Just watched this again after about five years, and I'm still struck by the wonderful hard-boiled ambiance of the film, which perfectly captures the male-fantasy element of detective fiction. As a reader of things like Mike Shayne crime novels, I think that THREE BLONDES IN HIS LIFE captures the alcohol-soaked, blonde-loving, tough-guy feel of the typical Shayne novel better than any of the movies that featured the Shayne character. Jock Mahoney (see my review of I'VE LIVED BEFORE), always a reliable leading man with great physical charisma and macho attitude, is perfect as an insurance detective out to crack the case of a phony robbery staged to hide a jewel theft, a case that eventually involves murder. A former agent for Mahoney's company has gone missing and is implicated in the crime, and this agent had three blondes in his life. Soon, they are involved in Mahoney's life. I love the way that when Mahoney walks into a room to visit one of these women and question her, he first is offered a drink (he's a bourbon drinker), and then the woman either comes on to him, or puts up a shrewish front as a cover for the fact that she really WANTS to come on to him! The film is rather low-budget, but is shot very imaginatively. I commented to my fiancée as we watched this that it had the technical feel of a 50s syndicated TV crime show,with small but efficiently shot sets, but had excellent location photography also which helped create a nice atmospheric Los Angeles feel to it. It's also lit like a TV crime show. Imagine my surprise when I checked the IMDb credits and saw that director Leon Chooluck's only directing credit other than this is the HIGHWAY PATROL TV series! Chooluck has a long string of credits as production manager on a number of interesting b-movies, many of which I've loved, and he obviously learned how to organize an efficient production. Another interesting aspect of the film is that the production company, Cinema Associates, was a group of four people, one of whom was the legendary Haskell Wexler, of MEDIUM COOL fame. THREE BLONDES IN HIS LIFE captures the ambiance of a paperback-original detective novel better than most similar films I've ever seen. It features a strong, cool leading man in Jock Mahoney, and it deserves to be much better known. Check it out.

Everything is in the title, the athletic handsome Jock Mahoney investigates about a colleague disparition and meets 3 sexy blondes who are really "thirsty". There are 2 unforgettable violent fights rarely seen with such energy. Quite fun and entertaining.

Jock Mahoney, a globe-trotting insurance investigator, is called back to the New York office by the head of the investigation agency because one of the detectives in the LA office has disappeared after telling his wife that he was leaving on a business trip and he wants Jock to find him. Jesse White is the apple-eating head of the LA office and works with Jock to unravel the mystery. This movie is great fun if you can endure the opening musical score. Mahoney's acting is more than a little over the top but storyline is interesting and there are a number of attractive women falling all over Jock but who also do a very good job with their parts. The plot gradually unfolds but it does require paying close attention as the missing detective was involved in suspicious investigations with two of the three blonds (The third being his wife). Recommended especially if you enjoy 60's private eye mysteries.