The advantages of casting against type here are obvious with all three principals -- Earl Holliman, Morgan Woodward, and unknown Jennifer West -- giving excellent performances. The drama is heightened to overcome a somewhat cliched story, especially in Holliman's character Hackett, a homicidal maniac whose brain has been additionally addled by 10 years in prison. Unaccountably, this was Jennifer West's last role, aged 30, after 12 years of playing bit parts. She does very well as an obviously intelligent actress playing a really stupid woman. One glaring lapse in the script (unconvincingly inserted to show how stupid she is supposed to be) is when she refers to the just-hired hand Hackett as a "friend". Only on a couple of occasions do her lines stick in her throat, her expression giving it away.
Review of Hackett
