A bored, obnoxious yellow journalist who has moved to Laramie from the Midwest and gotten a job with the "Laramie Free Press" stirs up trouble by publicly lionizing a drunken thug who threatened to shoot up the Bird Cage before being arrested by the marshal. The journalist's false reporting makes the drunken bully, who unfortunately is a good shot, out to be the victim of police brutality (by the Marshal) and manipulates the slow-witted miscreant into demanding an apology or a duel. The actor playing the journalist created a genuinely vile character (especially his voice), the kind of person that, unfortunately, can be found in real life, whatever the profession.
Reviews
142 Reviews
Horrible
11 May 2024
Horribly stupid and overacted episode of an otherwise decent television procedural. The character of Jocelyn Mayfair might have been convincing in 1931 but not 1977. The episode was so convoluted with red herrings and faise starts I couldn't follow it. Even Telly Savalas was irritating at times while George Savalas and Kevin Dobson were fortunately, for them, underused in this lousy story.
The only redeeming and enjoyable bits were those featuring veteran comedic actress Kathleen Freeman, here channeling Alison Skipworth.
The rest is crap. I hope there are no more like it in the Kojak canon.
The only redeeming and enjoyable bits were those featuring veteran comedic actress Kathleen Freeman, here channeling Alison Skipworth.
The rest is crap. I hope there are no more like it in the Kojak canon.
Mech
7 May 2024
Warning: Spoilers
This weird story about a miscegenation between two low-level Mafiosi who, with one deadly exception, can't shoot straight, and the world of tabloid journalism.
The more senior mob mook's wife is religiously obsessive but also a calculating, ruthless, and increasingly psychotic would-be ersatz Julia Agrippina. Her incessant reading of one particular tabloid puts ideas in her head to encourage her husband on a mission to rise in the organization which only leads to his downfall. Eventually, she simply resorts to convincing herself with lies when her "facts" break down.
Played with chilling coldness, and sociopathological deviance by Rose Gregorio, she is hateful but fascinating. If you've heard the term "malignant narcissism" in today's media/medical jargon but weren't sure what it meant, well Gregorio embodies it here, in increasingly suffocating degrees.
The more senior mob mook's wife is religiously obsessive but also a calculating, ruthless, and increasingly psychotic would-be ersatz Julia Agrippina. Her incessant reading of one particular tabloid puts ideas in her head to encourage her husband on a mission to rise in the organization which only leads to his downfall. Eventually, she simply resorts to convincing herself with lies when her "facts" break down.
Played with chilling coldness, and sociopathological deviance by Rose Gregorio, she is hateful but fascinating. If you've heard the term "malignant narcissism" in today's media/medical jargon but weren't sure what it meant, well Gregorio embodies it here, in increasingly suffocating degrees.
Pedestrian, notable only for cast.
6 May 2024
This episode is more notable for its cast than its storyline.
Paul Sand is adorably funny as a dipsomaniac fellow author who finds himself in one inane situation after another. Kenneth Mars, who usually played comedically odd or amusing characters, plays a heavy and unsympathetic character. Diana Muldaur is her usual astringent self in a rare non-NBC role. Ron Masak makes one of a few of his guest appearances before he landed the role of Sheriff Mort Metzger following Tom Bosley and John Astin's sheriffs left the show (for vastly different reasons). Robert Reed is, shall we say, graphically flamboyant although the artistic milieu in which the story is grounded more than accommodates the characterization. The rest of the cast was not particularly memorable, for me anyway.
Paul Sand is adorably funny as a dipsomaniac fellow author who finds himself in one inane situation after another. Kenneth Mars, who usually played comedically odd or amusing characters, plays a heavy and unsympathetic character. Diana Muldaur is her usual astringent self in a rare non-NBC role. Ron Masak makes one of a few of his guest appearances before he landed the role of Sheriff Mort Metzger following Tom Bosley and John Astin's sheriffs left the show (for vastly different reasons). Robert Reed is, shall we say, graphically flamboyant although the artistic milieu in which the story is grounded more than accommodates the characterization. The rest of the cast was not particularly memorable, for me anyway.
Excellent episode
29 April 2024
Warning: Spoilers
Compelling, fascinating, well-acted and well-written. Jacqueline Scott is brilliantly fierce and scary as a venom-spewing vindictive woman filled with both too much hate and love who decides to take VIP hostages (including Jill Danko) in a most unlikely place (a hospital surgical suite) to get her demands met: her lover released from jail, money and an escape route.
The episode is gripping and logical, and doesn't require all that much suspension of disbelief given what was going on in California in the 1970s.
As noted, Jacqueline Scott is brilliant but the entire cast performs wonderfully and kudos all around.
The episode is gripping and logical, and doesn't require all that much suspension of disbelief given what was going on in California in the 1970s.
As noted, Jacqueline Scott is brilliant but the entire cast performs wonderfully and kudos all around.
Amusing
24 April 2024
Warning: Spoilers
Actor John Pleshette (Suzanne Pleshette's cousin not brother, as another poster misstated) is very funny while being quite dislikable at the same time. A poser who is ashamed of his upper-middle-class/borderline nouveau riche Jewish parents who made their money in the garment industry, Pleshette's character, Julius, is a wannabe Sammy Glick -- someone with no embarrassing family ties but with the money and connections.
In the event, Julius is forced to ask his parents for $30K to save himself (and, later, his kidnapped sister, whom he also badmouths) from a crazed, vindictive Mafioso whom Julius had inadvertently embarrassed. A young handsome Rick Springfield plays a callow Euroceleb ("Keith Stuart") who turns down Julius's entreaties for the cash. Milton Selzer and Bea Silvern are Julius's caring, if stereotypical, Jewish parents of a certain generation.
Very amusing episode, with some eternal truths about kids and parents and whom you can really count on in this life.
In the event, Julius is forced to ask his parents for $30K to save himself (and, later, his kidnapped sister, whom he also badmouths) from a crazed, vindictive Mafioso whom Julius had inadvertently embarrassed. A young handsome Rick Springfield plays a callow Euroceleb ("Keith Stuart") who turns down Julius's entreaties for the cash. Milton Selzer and Bea Silvern are Julius's caring, if stereotypical, Jewish parents of a certain generation.
Very amusing episode, with some eternal truths about kids and parents and whom you can really count on in this life.
Abysmal
12 March 2024
Possibly the worst Hitchcock episode I have seen. The amoral psycho brother angle had potential but the rest is ridiculous. It is just an unconvincing waste of airtime by a defeated cast resorting to overacting. The characters are stereotypes, especially young Tommy and his mother. Even Hitchcock's opening and closing are cheesily awful.
Maybe we should be grateful it was just a half hour episode. A full hour would have been torture. A very sad blemish on an A list brand. Poor Hitchcock. I hope he never bothered to watch this one. I know I am sorry I did. Just goes to show that quality cannot be sustained indefinitely without the ineffable perspiration of genius.
Maybe we should be grateful it was just a half hour episode. A full hour would have been torture. A very sad blemish on an A list brand. Poor Hitchcock. I hope he never bothered to watch this one. I know I am sorry I did. Just goes to show that quality cannot be sustained indefinitely without the ineffable perspiration of genius.
Surprisingly scary
1 January 2024
Warning: Spoilers
Try and catch this surprisingly scary, very compact, and coldly unforgiving little offering with its unexpected dystopian ending.
It's a much better and more potent project (for the small screen!) than SO many of the ubiquitous and ridiculous overrated over-budgeted big screen films that cost (waste) tens of millions of dollars or more, in my humble opinion.
The Mowry sisters show they have some real acting heft, as, respectively, the increasingly tortured Janice Robinson and the evil creature which remorselessly takes over her form and, soon, her life. The rest of the cast is able but the Mowrys own this episode.
It's a much better and more potent project (for the small screen!) than SO many of the ubiquitous and ridiculous overrated over-budgeted big screen films that cost (waste) tens of millions of dollars or more, in my humble opinion.
The Mowry sisters show they have some real acting heft, as, respectively, the increasingly tortured Janice Robinson and the evil creature which remorselessly takes over her form and, soon, her life. The rest of the cast is able but the Mowrys own this episode.
Murder, My Sweet
(1944)
Interesting but too convoluted
26 November 2023
Warning: Spoilers
I thought this film would be sizzling but it was a bit tepid for my taste. Powell, better known as a singer and director, is miscast but tries hard. Trevor is all she should be and then some. Scarier than Barbara Stanwyck's character in "Double Indemnity", who seems like a bored hausfrau in comparison, but Stanwyck got the better film by far. Mazurki is huge and scary and relentless. Anne Shirley is the sweet mostly innocent stepdaughter of Trevor's character. The rest of the characters are all nefarious and complicit in one way or the other. That about sums it up.
The screenplay isn't a narrative that makes sense but rather a string of lurid incidents or coincidences strung indifferently on a cheap gaudy (definitely not jade) necklace.
(SPOILER ALERT: The jade necklace was never missing so why all the pretense that it was? Never fully explained to my satisfaction. Helen has a doting millionaire husband but it's not enough for her? Maybe I just couldn't read between the Breen Office's censored lines.)
The screenplay isn't a narrative that makes sense but rather a string of lurid incidents or coincidences strung indifferently on a cheap gaudy (definitely not jade) necklace.
(SPOILER ALERT: The jade necklace was never missing so why all the pretense that it was? Never fully explained to my satisfaction. Helen has a doting millionaire husband but it's not enough for her? Maybe I just couldn't read between the Breen Office's censored lines.)
Stupid
29 September 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This episode is pretty stupid. And, while I am not politically correct, the casting of Peter Lorre as a Mexican private eye, is distasteful (not to mention borderline grotesque in this case). Thomas Gomez would have been ideal.
The goofs are absurd. Three people cross the border into Mexico from California despite the tricky immigration status of one, an elderly Englishwoman. She dies in her sleep without the other two realizing it. Her documents are not checked by the Mexican authorities on entering Mexico. When the others realize she died they don't alert the police but leave her in the car and go to a cantina. The old woman had been the most interesting character and the episode goes downhill from there. The ending is tame though considering any number of nightmarish consequences that could have taken place. Even the final twist is very gentle by Hitchcock standards but not particularly rewarding or funny.
Steer clear.
The goofs are absurd. Three people cross the border into Mexico from California despite the tricky immigration status of one, an elderly Englishwoman. She dies in her sleep without the other two realizing it. Her documents are not checked by the Mexican authorities on entering Mexico. When the others realize she died they don't alert the police but leave her in the car and go to a cantina. The old woman had been the most interesting character and the episode goes downhill from there. The ending is tame though considering any number of nightmarish consequences that could have taken place. Even the final twist is very gentle by Hitchcock standards but not particularly rewarding or funny.
Steer clear.
Like a Mad-TV version of "A Streetcar Named Desire"
2 September 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This episode is ludicrous. It's like a Mad-TV version of "A Streetcar Named Desire" which star Tandy debuted to acclaim on Broadway. Main difference is that the episode is set in 1910 NYC not 1940s New Orleans.
Tandy's Edwina Freel here is not that dissimilar from Blanche DuBois and shares the same consignment to a mental institution at the end -- although far more happily as Freel had only recently escaped from such an institution and was longing to return. The men from the asylum or sanitarium are as pleasant as possible. The other characters also roughly replicate characters from "Streetcar": Mr. McGurk (Stanley Kowalski), Mrs. McGurk (Eunice Hubbell), and, of course, Mr. Birch, who is a kinder, smarter, more mature Mitch.
The ending, in which Edwina's "baby", "Toby", is revealed as a black cat (and left in Birch's care), is hilarious.
Tandy must have seen the similarities to "Streetcar". I wonder what she thought. She certainly played it straight.
Tandy's Edwina Freel here is not that dissimilar from Blanche DuBois and shares the same consignment to a mental institution at the end -- although far more happily as Freel had only recently escaped from such an institution and was longing to return. The men from the asylum or sanitarium are as pleasant as possible. The other characters also roughly replicate characters from "Streetcar": Mr. McGurk (Stanley Kowalski), Mrs. McGurk (Eunice Hubbell), and, of course, Mr. Birch, who is a kinder, smarter, more mature Mitch.
The ending, in which Edwina's "baby", "Toby", is revealed as a black cat (and left in Birch's care), is hilarious.
Tandy must have seen the similarities to "Streetcar". I wonder what she thought. She certainly played it straight.
Excellent
1 September 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Excellently acted, especially by lead actress Inger Stevens who plays Jana, who has learned a lot about Iife but is missing one enormous fact about herself, which she will realize before the end of the episode. The claustrophobic atmosphere, disconnected from society and the greater world (despite the unfortunate video format) is eerily evoked.
John Hoyt and Irene Tedrow are Jana's loving but self-absorbed elderly parents, Dr. & Mrs. Loren. The episode opens to Tedrow being given a massage from the maid Nelda and making what her daughter accurately describes as "animal grunts of pleasure", which are distracting but point out the venality that lies under the veneer of respectability. Irene Tedrow, who usually played staid, comedic or matronly types, manages to draw it out, both genteely and carnally at the same time, while giving the first hint to the audience that something is not quite right in this otherwise seemingly normal affluent household.
The creepy all-efficient robot servants are well-portrayed, and the overcontented parents are excellently portrayed by Hoyt and Tedrow who force themselves back into reality to face their daughter's existential crisis, then make the necessary adjustments and return to their isolated overcontentment. Stevens gives a bravura performance, as noted above.
John Hoyt and Irene Tedrow are Jana's loving but self-absorbed elderly parents, Dr. & Mrs. Loren. The episode opens to Tedrow being given a massage from the maid Nelda and making what her daughter accurately describes as "animal grunts of pleasure", which are distracting but point out the venality that lies under the veneer of respectability. Irene Tedrow, who usually played staid, comedic or matronly types, manages to draw it out, both genteely and carnally at the same time, while giving the first hint to the audience that something is not quite right in this otherwise seemingly normal affluent household.
The creepy all-efficient robot servants are well-portrayed, and the overcontented parents are excellently portrayed by Hoyt and Tedrow who force themselves back into reality to face their daughter's existential crisis, then make the necessary adjustments and return to their isolated overcontentment. Stevens gives a bravura performance, as noted above.
Interesting
15 August 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Interesting vibes between "Teacher" and Al, the character played by Don Johnson. Seems like "Teach" may have more than a teacher-student relationship on his mind which seemed to explain his later murderous edict after horny rebellious Al hooks up with a wild-child teenaged girl who has successfully hidden her true nature from her own grandmother. "Teach" tells his other "students" (acolytes) that it's for safety and a bigger share of the profits but this is not entirely convincing, especially as he later absconds with all the money himself but is, of course, eventually caught by the cops (off-camera).
Also interesting is how unclear it is if the "Teacher" is actually blind (he explains how he inadvertently caused an explosion that went off in front of his face and when he goes outside he wears dark glasses and walks with a cane, neither of which he does indoors) or only partially-sighted -- he is so self-reliant he actually seems to just be pretending to be blind.
The episode features early appearances by future stars Don Johnson and Nick Nolte.
Also interesting is how unclear it is if the "Teacher" is actually blind (he explains how he inadvertently caused an explosion that went off in front of his face and when he goes outside he wears dark glasses and walks with a cane, neither of which he does indoors) or only partially-sighted -- he is so self-reliant he actually seems to just be pretending to be blind.
The episode features early appearances by future stars Don Johnson and Nick Nolte.
The 9th Guest
(1934)
Disagree with Trivia Spoiler opinion
15 May 2023
Warning: Spoilers
While it certainly seems that Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Were None' (ATTWN), also known as 'Ten Little Indians', was influenced by this nine (9) years earlier work, it may or may not be so. Almost everyone is inspired by something seen or heard which later germinates. Christie may or may not have seen the film in question or read the book, who can know. As 'The Ninth Guest' only ran for a dismal 72 performances on Broadway, Christie surely did not see the play. One could propose the same theory of indirect influence regarding the American authors who seemingly plagiarized Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote 'A Study in Scarlet' first and which had some similar themes.
I also disagree with some of the comments in the TRIVIA (SPOILER) section: "Though it runs just over an hour, nearly every element of the film's plot was replicated in Christie's 'Ten Little Indians'":
1) "A coward who offers to collude with the murderer in return for his life being spared" - Totally inaccurate description of the relationship between Dr. Armstrong and Justice Wargrave in ATTWN.
2) "A male character managing the tension by drinking to excess" - Not in ATTWN.
3) "An uneasy romance between two of the characters who suspect each other despite their growing attraction" - In the original rather bleak novel ATTWN (later lightened up for stage, film and television productions), the relationship between Vera Claythorne and Philip Marlowe cannot accurately be described as a romance. Neither loves the other (Marlowe is not even capable of love) and the relationship never gets physical --- aside from And Then There Were None (2015), the latest adaptation of the thriller, which was rewritten and added an orgy scene involving 4 characters --- although as the last two surviving guests the two do form a brief alliance until it is violently destroyed.
4) "The two would-be lovers unraveling the solution to the mystery before they can be killed" - Not in ATTWN novel. Original bleak ending changed later for stage, film, and TV productions.
5) The 1930 work in several instances relies on elaborate electronic devices, more appropriate to the late 20th century or to the 21st century, which are used to constrain victims and inject poison - Christie's work has nothing of that sort.
6) The characters, some of whom know each other intimately, targeted for death in 'The Invisible Host'/'The Ninth Guest' are guilty of such serious but not capital crimes as conspiracy, corruption, and bigamy, and the killer is seeking revenge on those who directly impacted his life, whereas in Christie's ATTWN, each and every guest to the island is a stranger to each other (except the married couple of servants) and each guest (except the one, who will, ironically, kill the others) has evaded justice after being responsible for causing the death of (an)other human being(s).
7) In 'The Invisible Host'/'The Ninth Guest', one completely innocent person is killed (later revealed as the electrician hired by the killer to wire the apartment so a high-voltage charge ran through the metal gate that was the only way to leave), and the fate of the two butlers is not known to those who haven't seen the film or read the book. Moreover, the killer admits to the two innocents and would-be lovers, who leave the apartment before the grim ending, that the whole point of the evening was to get revenge on Margaret, Sylvia, and Cronin. So why invite and kill/try to kill the rest, including the woman he loves? Illogical.
Serious differences. Also, far more tellingly, there is no record of any accusations, much less lawsuits, filed by either Owen Davis and/or Gwen Bristow & Bruce Manning, for plagiarism or any similar such offense against Christie and her publisher, which, based on the above, would have been relatively easy to prosecute, presumably with a good chance of success based upon the superficial evidence.
I also disagree with some of the comments in the TRIVIA (SPOILER) section: "Though it runs just over an hour, nearly every element of the film's plot was replicated in Christie's 'Ten Little Indians'":
1) "A coward who offers to collude with the murderer in return for his life being spared" - Totally inaccurate description of the relationship between Dr. Armstrong and Justice Wargrave in ATTWN.
2) "A male character managing the tension by drinking to excess" - Not in ATTWN.
3) "An uneasy romance between two of the characters who suspect each other despite their growing attraction" - In the original rather bleak novel ATTWN (later lightened up for stage, film and television productions), the relationship between Vera Claythorne and Philip Marlowe cannot accurately be described as a romance. Neither loves the other (Marlowe is not even capable of love) and the relationship never gets physical --- aside from And Then There Were None (2015), the latest adaptation of the thriller, which was rewritten and added an orgy scene involving 4 characters --- although as the last two surviving guests the two do form a brief alliance until it is violently destroyed.
4) "The two would-be lovers unraveling the solution to the mystery before they can be killed" - Not in ATTWN novel. Original bleak ending changed later for stage, film, and TV productions.
5) The 1930 work in several instances relies on elaborate electronic devices, more appropriate to the late 20th century or to the 21st century, which are used to constrain victims and inject poison - Christie's work has nothing of that sort.
6) The characters, some of whom know each other intimately, targeted for death in 'The Invisible Host'/'The Ninth Guest' are guilty of such serious but not capital crimes as conspiracy, corruption, and bigamy, and the killer is seeking revenge on those who directly impacted his life, whereas in Christie's ATTWN, each and every guest to the island is a stranger to each other (except the married couple of servants) and each guest (except the one, who will, ironically, kill the others) has evaded justice after being responsible for causing the death of (an)other human being(s).
7) In 'The Invisible Host'/'The Ninth Guest', one completely innocent person is killed (later revealed as the electrician hired by the killer to wire the apartment so a high-voltage charge ran through the metal gate that was the only way to leave), and the fate of the two butlers is not known to those who haven't seen the film or read the book. Moreover, the killer admits to the two innocents and would-be lovers, who leave the apartment before the grim ending, that the whole point of the evening was to get revenge on Margaret, Sylvia, and Cronin. So why invite and kill/try to kill the rest, including the woman he loves? Illogical.
Serious differences. Also, far more tellingly, there is no record of any accusations, much less lawsuits, filed by either Owen Davis and/or Gwen Bristow & Bruce Manning, for plagiarism or any similar such offense against Christie and her publisher, which, based on the above, would have been relatively easy to prosecute, presumably with a good chance of success based upon the superficial evidence.
Repellent character draws your attention.
26 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Cameron Mitchell's repugnant, indeed repellent, character, Karl (stepfather of Deb, a recovered addict and former courier, who is a friend of Pete) oozes sleaze and desperation. At the episode's beginning, while Karl is being arrested during a drug sting he manages, due to the stupidity of a third party, to get the cop's gun and shoot both officers, at least one fatally. The ultimate fate of the other officer is not spelled out but he is deemed unlikely to make it.
Karl is out of control, trying to sell a key of dope and flee with the proceeds. He talks about how tired he is and, at one point, says he doesn't care yet belies his words by clinging to existence, canny, cunning and sometimes violent. Deb is conflicted, remembering how good Karl was to her late mother, but agrees to help the squad.
This viewer kept wishing Karl would put himself and everyone else out of misery by using the gun on himself but he never does.
Karl is out of control, trying to sell a key of dope and flee with the proceeds. He talks about how tired he is and, at one point, says he doesn't care yet belies his words by clinging to existence, canny, cunning and sometimes violent. Deb is conflicted, remembering how good Karl was to her late mother, but agrees to help the squad.
This viewer kept wishing Karl would put himself and everyone else out of misery by using the gun on himself but he never does.
Very well-acted episode with disturbing mirrors to similar real-life crimes.
17 November 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Brilliantly acted with some truly harrowing scenes. Jillian Armenante is a scarily effective psychopath here and Christian Camargo's quiet intensity as the husband of one of her victims is equally affecting. The ending could probably have been handled better regarding Camargo's and Arquette's characters given Allison (Patricia Arquette)'s trauma. (After all, this is not Luke & Laura on "General Hospital"!!!)
On the lighter side, Marie Dubois helps her father at work within even realizing it. Bridgette is the same as always. Ariel is away at college and this viewer, at least, sorely misses her.
On the lighter side, Marie Dubois helps her father at work within even realizing it. Bridgette is the same as always. Ariel is away at college and this viewer, at least, sorely misses her.
Great episode
15 July 2022
Implausible casting
8 February 2022
A good episode, but strained by implausible casting. William Converse-Roberts and Millie Perkins are far too young for the roles they play, as Annie Potts's father and grandmother. Converse-Roberts is about the same age as Potts, while Perkins (too young to be Potts's mother in real life) is far too youthful and fresh-faced as Potts's character's dementia-ridden GRAND(!)mother.
GREAT GUEST PERFORMANCES
20 June 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Richard Mulligan plays a German masquerading as American "Major Lansing" and Vincent Gardenia, speaking Italian fluently (never heard him speak Italian onscreen before although he was of Italian descent on both sides) both give good performances. Mulligan's arrogant overbearing duplicitous Teuton is matched by Gardenia's honorable Italian Captain Centis, who has surrendered himself to the Americans as he has a bunch of wounded men who need medical attention. When Centis recognizes Lansing as a German, and Lansing reveals his plans to kill the Allied General Maclean, Centis, who cares more about getting help to his men, rejects Lansing and tries to warn the Americans. Centis is shot by Lansing for his troubles but survives.
UNFUNNY SERIES FINALE
15 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This episode's guest stars were mostly poorly cast (aside from Dena Dietrich) and unfunny, except for some slapstick bits featuring Jeffrey Tambor, whose character's back is out and is confined to a chair which goes spinning this way and that, especially when given a firm push, most notably by Dietrich whose statuesque but overbearing and acquisitive character is one of sweet Helen Roper's two sisters. Aside from Dietrich, this is one unfunny episode.
Hannibal
(2001)
PRETTY AWFUL -- SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN MADE!
11 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Only good thing about this film was an excellent performance by Giancarlo Giannini as a conflicted Italian police inspector in Firenze (Florence) whose avarice leads him to do the wrong things and ultimately become a victim of you-know-who around half-way through the film. The rest (roughly the second half) is increasingly awful, and, by the end, just gross and disgusting. Jodie Foster (who refused to reprise her role as Clarice Starling) made clear her personal disregard and distaste for this film. Sad that Anthony Hopkins DID agree to make it because otherwise it wouldn't have been made. He must have needed the money.
WELL-DONE
4 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Well-acted and enlivened by the Sydney, Australia vibe and exteriors, this episode borrows a lot from Agatha Christie's "Witness for the Prosecution", which, with a somewhat sanitized ending, was expanded from a very short story (three or so pages, originally) into a 1950s London stage play of the same name (starring Patricia Jessel and Gene Lyons on Broadway from 1954-56) and later into the iconic film Witness for the Prosecution (1957), which starred Marlene Dietrich and Tyrone Power. It has been made for television as well.
Good work by all involved, especially Patrick Labyorteaux as Bud Roberts, who, after an unfortunate mishap, has to have his jaw wired shut and, no matter what he says, sounds like he is muttering gibberish.
Good work by all involved, especially Patrick Labyorteaux as Bud Roberts, who, after an unfortunate mishap, has to have his jaw wired shut and, no matter what he says, sounds like he is muttering gibberish.
MOSTLY A RIP-OFF OF INSIDE MAN (2006)
26 April 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Interesting and well-acted but much or most of the plot, main characters, and dynamics are pretty blatantly ripped off from the film Inside Man (2006).
Action in the North Atlantic
(1943)
GOOD FILM
13 April 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Well acted and suspenseful but this would have been a far better film had it not been drastically cut. (I miss Ruth Gordon.) It also needed subtitles. Way too much German spoken with no subtitles. A little German one can decipher but entire military conversations? I think not. The horrors of submarine/U-boat bombings of Allied ships, though, is crystal clear.
GOOD EPISODE
11 April 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Good episode about pornography, murder, the mob, white slavery, and a new and frightening milestone in depravity -- the snuff film. (Hugh O'Brian, playing Sergeant Daley, looks absurd in one scene wearing an ascot tied around his neck and sporting, throughout the entire episode, sadly, a moustache that would not be out of place in one of the skin flicks the cops are investigating, though, LOL.)
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