Network: ABC
Original Air Date: February 6th, 1974


Even with the upcoming release of Dark Night of the Scarecrow the fact still lingers that most of the classic television movies have yet to find a home on DVD (or even on vhs for that matter). Whether they be stuck in copyright hell or the studios just think a DVD release won't generate any revenue, there are still plenty of interesting movies available. I’m always shocked at what I can find on disc in some cheap release. Would I prefer a better transfer, extras and perhaps a little commentary from the actors or filmmakers? Sure, but beggars can’t be choosers, and I support the release of any TV film wholeheartedly.


I was happily surprised when I picked up a copy of Cry Panic, which is featured on a two movie disc with something called The Inside Man (not a TV movie), to find a very good movie. I think it’s easy, even for big fans of television films (yeah, all three of us!) to forget that dozens, if not hundreds of television movies came out in that golden era and just because it doesn’t have Trilogy or Satan in the title, they’re still worth checking out.

And that brings me to the actual film (I know, enough already, on with the movie!). John Forsythe puts in a good turn as David Ryder, a man who’s been driving all night to a job interview. As he’s passing through a small town, he accidentally hits a man, knocking him (and his own car) into a ditch. Once he realizes he’s killed this man, Ryder high tails it to the first house to call for help. A beautiful woman (Anne Francis) answers the door, leads him to the phone and hands him a stiff drink. Back at the sight of the hit and run, Sheriff Cabot (the great Earl Holliman) has already begun pulling out the car and searching for the dead man. When no body is found, Ryder is led to the police station to make a statement and told he’s just drunk and tired and needs to rest. The mysterious woman shows up a bit later at a bar, giving Ryder the heads up that something is just not right in this idyllic little desert town. Things begin to unwind in a confused fashion as nothing Ryder claims to have happened can be substantiated. Has he gone crazy or are his conspiracy theories correct?



Cry Panic is pretty great. There’s a little bit of Lynch-esque beats with Francis and the concept of nothing-is-what-it-seems-in-this-small-town. Of course, it never goes to the extremes Lynch does, nor does it possess any kind of nightmarish imagery, but there is definitely a feel to this film, or at least during the first half. The second half is played a bit more straight as the mystery gets ironed out, but is just as enticing as the first.

The actors in Cry Panic are great, giving every bit of dialog a second meaning. Is the postman really trying to abscond with Ryder’s mail or is he just sorting the letters? I love the way it all unfolds in front of Ryder. The pacing is phenomenal. It’s slow, yes, but deliberate and helps make the mystery interesting to us. The bits with the mysterious woman are done in just such a way that it leaves a palpable air of unease afterwards. Cry Panic is a movie that knows its medium and how to pull off small screen thrills without going to grandiose measures. It’s all about the little things here and does not disappoint.

Network: NBC
Original Air Date: January 3rd, 1984

If Magnum P.I. and The Whiz Kids had a baby, Riptide would be their love child. Not just content to have machismo running around in tighty whities, Riptide also features a lovable computer geek nicknamed Boz who has a robot called the Ro-Boz, which I'm sorry, is totally adorable! Actually, all of the actors are extremely endearing and a lot of fun to watch. So, although you are guaranteed to get at least two car chases and just as many fist fights (as well as some nice peck checks) per episode, this show is all about friendship. Well, ain't that sweet?

These down and out detectives bring in their old army bud, Murray "Boz" Bozinsky (Thom Bray), a famous computer whiz who is fed up with his office job (I mean really fed up!) and he brings along the Ro-Boz, who can pretty much do anything except bring you a drink without pouring it on you (this later becomes a bit of an ongoing joke through the show).

The story for the pilot is competent and fun, a little complicated but fairly easy to follow. The show actually featured some fun mysteries in the later episodes. I liked that the crime solving parts were a little Murder, She Wrote. And thusly, it was the birth of a pretty amazing series.

All three seasons of Riptide were recently released on DVD and I just picked up Season One (with Season Two currently on the way!). I had the vaguest memories of this show, but mostly remembered the boat and the easy going flow of action. It's an obvious riff on Magnum P.I. but original enough that I am wary to make any comparisons (except for Cody's mustache, which made him that blonde alternative to Tom Selleck. Nice to know there are choices in these matters!). They doubled the hunk factor but took some great lessons from Magnum's camaraderie with his Nam buds. So yeah, I made a comparison, what of it?

Riptide was created by Stephen J. Cannell, who along with Donald P. Bellisario and Glen A. Larson, made some of the best escapist action television of the 80s. And say what you will about one-off episodes, which often feature characters who disappear in the ether never to be seen again, but the overall enjoyment of this kinds of "mindless" action fare frankly blows a lot of newer stuff out of the water. I remember when people watched television to escape and not to feel all bad about something. Riptide is one of the best of those shows to air in a decade full of great escapist television, and that my friend is no small feat.

Network: NBC
Original Air Date: December 3rd, 1979


Friendships is a definite precursor to Lifetime movies, but like even before Lifetime was a twinkle in cable TV’s eyes. Even before cable was a twinkle in cable’s eyes. I mean, maybe it’s the movie that inspired television for women. In fact, Friendships does it one better by featuring a cast with no men. Not one. Nada. Of course, these women talk endlessly about men, and basically about how the male species is the reason for their downfall. Yup, total Lifetime. And I love it!

An old college sorority house is being demolished to make way for a new building. During construction the bones of a baby are unearthed. Nosey reporter Jessie (Sandra Locke looking great!) decides to make this tragic unsolved crime an issue of Pro-Choice. With a bit of poking around she is able to pin down the one summer that the murder most likely took place. This particular summer there were only six sorority sisters and a housemother living there, including Sondra’s co-worker Martha (Cathryn Damon of SOAP). The women (and housemother, who is now a maid for one of the sisters!) reunite and through the broken and unbroken bonds, they uncover the mystery behind the baby’s death.

Although it’s stated part way through Friendships that these women hadn’t been together since college, a good portion of them are seen hanging out at the beauty parlor gossiping and avoiding any real work at the beginning of the film. Weren’t the 70s grand?

Friendships has a lot on its plate. Each of the six women has ended up leading lives they’d never dreamed of living. Pretty much left destitute emotionally (thanks to what else? Men, of course - well, one of them is a lesbian), they all accuse each other of aborting the baby during a time when women weren’t left with much options regarding an unwanted pregnancy.

Friendships is a rather clumsy attempt at presenting an important opinion. The premise is interesting, but there are so many soap opera antics going that the main point kind of gets all lost in the drinking and cavorting and arguing. But really, I didn’t want a movie with strong political message. I just wanted some drama and maybe a bit of suspense, and I got it. One of the directors, Marlena Laird was most famous for directing General Hospital in the 80s. I should also note this film was co-directed by another woman named Ann Zane Shanks and written by Joanna Crawford based on a book titled The Walls Came Tumbling Down which was written by Babs H. Deal. Talk about solidarity. I admire that a film tackling women issues with an all female cast was penned and filmed by women. That’s putting your money where your mouth is!

The entire cast, which includes Loretta Switt, Shelly Fabares, Tina Louise and Paula Prentiss among others is in fine form with the sometimes hackneyed storytelling. Louise is particularly incredible as the crazed widowed housewife who finds out one of her sorority sisters was schtupting her old man. Prentiss, who is normally gorgeous, looks like a crack fiend and kind of acts like one! Her character is the most grating and I kept wishing she’d been the one they found under the house (ye-ouch!). Switt plays the lady who loves having babies, Stevens is the one who gets beat up by her husband and Fabares rounds out the cast as the token lesbian. It’s kind of obvious, but you know a woman in a smart suit could just be pragmatic, right? And actually her “coming out” scene is dealt in a progressive manner.

Damon is of course fantastic as is Sandra Locke, whose character is the catalyst for blowing the whole ordeal out of proportion. She turns the issue into a pro-women’s rights issue which is what draws all the women together and inevitably outs many long kept secrets. The reveal is not all that revealing but a good choice which helps cement the idea that even the most together of women can make one simple mistake.

The mistake of LOVE.

I know, I love a good dramatic build up!

Network: ABC
Original Air Date: September 18th, 1973


I’ve got all my favorite nouns covered in Dying Room Only:

Person - Cloris Leachman. This woman  is a truly extraordinary talent, who brought up the bar in just about every production she graced. And on Phyllis her wardrobe was simply to die for.

Place - The Desert. I'll admit, I'm not a fan of the desert in real life. I grew up in one. It's boring, it's hot... oh, and it's boring. But in movies (the really good ones), there's something so undeniably atmospheric about it. In 70s TV movies in particular, the characters practically insisted on wearing layers of clothes with long sleeves. Yikes! What were they thinking?

Thing – Atmosphere. There’s tons of it here!

In Dying Room Only, the uber-stylish Leachman is Jean Mitchell, a woman who wears, like, three layers of tops (OK, it's more like a black shirt with a white safari type jacket, but I swear it felt like three layers!). She’s a mousy wife travelling across the desert (see, two of those nouns knocked out of the ballpark in the first five minutes!) with her hubby, Bob (Dabney Coleman). The couple stops at a remote cafe inhabited by the overly serious proprietor Jim (Ross Martin) and truck driver Tom (the normally affable Ned Beatty). Jean scoots to the bathroom to freshen up her already exquisite style and when she comes out Bob has disappeared.



Three of the hottest women of the 70s. Could you just die?
What happens afterwards is about 60 minutes of pure suspense while Cloris looks for her man. I think the film takes place within an approximate 1,000 square foot area and it's extraordinary. Like The Stranger Within, Dying Room Only plays up the claustrophobia and plays down bulky effects (in fact, there are none. Zero. Zilch). In place of large visuals and set-pieces is an amazing cast that uniformly brings in brilliant performances. Everyone is in top form here, from Leachman to Martin to Beatty to Dana Elcar as the Sheriff. Dabney has the least amount of screen time but is good as the missing (and forever aggravated) husband.

Written by the always reliable Richard Matheson (who coincidentally also wrote The Stranger Within), what struck me most about Dying Room was the growth of Leachman's character. She's played out here in a realistic manner and goes from weak to loony to strong without missing a note. The situation calls for that, and unlike some "final girls" who seem to go from useless to bold in one stroke of the writer's typewriter, Leachman's dissent becomes her strength, but not without a few freak-outs along the way! I love the part where she loses it and starts hitting Beatty. I admit, by that point, I’d be slapping someone around too!

There’s also a grand sense of xenophobia, although that doesn’t really come into play in the actual story, but Leachman is treated in such a way that she may well just be a suspicious interloper. How those two guys continue to make Leachman look guilty of something is amazing!

So we’ve got our person, place and thing all in place… what about the ending? Well, that might be the movie’s only weakness. Still, even without a big ol’ huge payoff, this movie is the kind that lingers in the mind well after you’ve seen it. Another point for Matheson in an already extraordinary career.


Poor Bess didn't stand a chance!