Television Reviews : Robert Loggia Adds Grit to Predictable ‘Intrigue’

“Intrigue” (Sunday at 9 p.m. on CBS Channels 2 and 8) sounds like a generic movie, to be followed by “Comedy,” “Romance” and “Mystery.”

It isn’t quite as bland as all that. Robert Loggia’s scruffy presence as an American defector who wants to return home adds grit to the film. The most tantalizing aspect of the plot is that both sides want this guy, dead or alive, and he can’t figure out what he knows that’s so important to them.

The CIA sends his former protege (Scott Glenn) undercover to retrieve the defector back to America. They say the turncoat might know something that would help the Americans in the ongoing strategic arms talks. But when it looks as if the mission is almost accomplished, Glenn receives contrary orders: Kill the old man (who’s dying of natural causes anyway).

Glenn is rather stiff as the hero of the piece, though Eastwood or Norris fans may feel otherwise. Writers Jeff Melvoin and Robert Collins attempt to loosen him up by showing us how this guy associates the Chicago Cubs with love of country and devotion to his job.

This sentimental device might have worked better if I hadn’t just seen the cross-channels competition, “Shooter,” in which a Viet Cong terrorist expresses similar affection for the New York Mets.

“Intrigue” is efficient enough as a genre film, but nothing in it intrigues beyond the predictable surfaces. David Drury directed for producer Nick Gillott.

--DON SHIRLEY