EBBTIDE is a middling straight-to-video eco-thriller that splits the difference between CHINATOWN and THE CHINA SYNDROME.
Jeff Warren (Harry Hamlin) is a cynical, ambulance-chasing attorney who inherits a long-shot personal injury suit when one of his colleagues dies under mysterious circumstances. The mother of a small boy who died of an undetermined illness blames his death on ocean dumping by a corporate monster
known as Postec Pacific Chemicals. Following a circuitous paper trail, Warren surmises that Postec is illegally disposing of its toxic waste through a contract company known as Elgin, which is the exclusive province of one of Postec's board members, the regal Harry Fielding (Ted Schwerdt). Warren
confirms his suspicions by tailing a tanker truck up the coast highway; the truck backs up beside a secluded, picturesque cove and disgorges its deadly contents.
Continuing his search, Warren uncovers a corporate shell game masking an exclusive real estate venture called Blue Fin Estates. Meanwhile, letting his guard down, he falls into an affair with Ellen Fielding (Judy McIntosh), who would like him to put husband Harry out of the way. The hapless
attorney attempts to sort out the Fieldings' machinations during a rooftop confrontation. But in the midst of Fielding's elaborate apologia, he is apparently shot and killed by a sniper. When the smoke clears, Warren must fall back on his dubious skills as a trial lawyer to extricate himself from
this morass. It turns out that the Fieldings have manufactured the incident to take them out of harm's way, setting up Warren as the fall guy.
Most of this convoluted narrative takes a back seat to soft-core scenes of passion, which fail to buoy interest. As a point of reference, EBBTIDE wants to be the sort of tony thriller in which libidinous aging ingenues stop to remove their earrings before tumbling into bed. Despite its
rollercoaster plot, this one leaves you high and dry. (Violence, nudity, sexual situations, profanity.) leave a comment
