I saw this movie or TV show in the early-80s, when I was about 10 years old.
I’ve always assumed that Telly Savalas starred in it (since the actor was bald), but I’ve scanned through most of his filmography recently, and haven’t been able to find it. So now, I’m wondering if it might’ve been another bald actor that just looked like Telly Savalas.
My recollection is hazy, but this film seemed to be some kind of police, espionage, or detective drama. The bald actor might’ve been a cop in plain clothes, and the movie villain was a beautiful foreign woman with a thick accent (maybe French, Swiss, Russian or eastern European?).
All I remember are 2 scenes from this movie:
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Bald actor first meets this beautiful woman on a cable car, as it crosses what appear to be the snowy French Alps. Their interaction seemed pleasant, as she smiled and was receptive to him.
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Towards the end of the movie (the climax), this beautiful woman is sitting at a table at a hotel casino or nightclub.
Bald man approaches her and asks her to follow him upstairs.
They walk upstairs together and enter a room. As soon as they get inside, he starts beating her with powerful slaps.
After getting hit a few times, she retaliates by letting out a shrill scream and scratching him across the face with her fingernails, leaving bloody lacerations.
He grabs and throws her violently, causing her body to spin a couple of times, before landing on the bed.
She asks him “vat do you vant?” (or something like that) in a distressed tone of voice.
He starts questioning her, and asks who she is and who she works for, or something to that effect.
That’s all I remember, unfortunately.
Please note: This movie is not “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”, which also takes place in the Alps and stars Telly Savalas.
Also, I always assumed that I was looking for an episode of Kojak. However, a friend of mine, who recently rented the complete series from the library, and watched all the episodes, claims that he did not see the scenes that I described in any of them.