What was up with that goofy smile and that goofy expression? He looked liked stealing turned him on sexually.
shareI think we'll need to read the book to know, also I thought those punks listening to loud music and partying were going to play into the movie mire, but I never saw them after they were told to pipe down (unless I missed it)
shareI agree. Keycase was a really annoying character, with the goofy smile and the completely inappropriate jaunty, jazzy soundtrack that accompanied his swanning around the various floors and apartments of the hotel. Somehow I think his character was weirdly expected to be some sort of comic relief. Duh!🐭
shareYes, he was horrible. However, in Karl Malden's defense, he was a method actor and this movie only gave him very very few lines of dialogue. His mugging goofy expressions may have been his way to show his character because no dialogue was supplied. On the other hand, he certainly came across as someone sleazy and unlikeable.
shareMalden was first offered the role of the millionaire developer O'Keefe(the Kevin McCarthy role.) But he read the script and decided that Keycase would be more fun, and different for him(the character barely has any lines, just a few.)
Keycase was at once comic relief and the manifestation of a kind of "hotel specific villain" -- now rendered obsolete by credit cards and electronic self-destruct room keys.