Gritos de pánico

Taut and relatively brief [running time 74m], "Cry Panic" is an above-average TVM. The tension and suspense build nicely and the twists that emerge keep the viewer's interest from waning.

This was shown on TV here the same week as "One Of My Wives Is Missing" - and thankfully I managed to record both.

7/10

Considering this made-for-TV flick was first televised in 1974, it holds up very well and for the most part delivers the goods, filled with suspense and thrills aplenty. What a great cast! John Forsythe, heretofore known mainly for his rather bland role as "Bachelor Father" and later of "Charlie's Angels" fame, surprises the viewer with one of the best performances ever in a TV film. His David Ryder portrayal should have given him an Emmy, but I'm sure it went unnoticed at the time. Supporting Forsythe are such reliable actors as Earl Holliman, Ralph Meeker, and Anne Francis.

The DVD transfer that I watched contained bleached-out color. This was distracting because the cinematography seemed otherwise excellent. Hopefully, a better transfer will be available. There are several above-average made-for-TV movies from the 1970's that are still unavailable on DVD. What a shame!

The talented writer Jack B. Sowards, who helped write the screenplay for the best of the Star Trek movies, "The Wrath of Khan," comes up with a doozy of a story for "Cry Panic." David Ryder accidentally hits a pedestrian while on a business trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco. He examines the body to find the man dead. He then walks to the nearest house to call the police. He confronts a nervous woman who permits him to use her phone. Once the cops arrive, no body is found. As the mystery deepens, Ryder learns that the town is attempting to cover up a conspiracy of some kind. Ryder becomes the target of those who see him as a danger to their covert scheme.

In some aspects the plot is a reworking of "Bad Day At Black Rock," minus the political overtones of the McCarthy Era, yet original enough to warrant it being judged on its own merits. The resolution is rather abrupt, leaving much to the viewer's imagination; otherwise, a worthwhile and entertaining picture.

This is the first time I recall seeing this film - happy to run across it one night. It's one of the strangest films I've seen in a long while - a compliment, I love the odd.

The story is about a man named David Ryder - he's going to California for a job interview. During his trip, he accidentally hit a man, got out of the car to see about him but found him what he thinks is dead. Ryder does the right thing and finds a nearby house to call the police to report it. Things gets weird when the police show up and no dead body at the scene - leaves the question: did the man die and someone move the body or was the man still alive and got up to walk away? The film follows Ryder on the mission to find out the answers.

8.5/10

Sometimes movies can seem better because the appearance of an actor recalls past roles that expand the scope of the story.

In this case, we have a short TeeVee movie that isn't incompetent. For the era, that was a major deal.

Its based on "The Chase" with Jane Fonda and Marlon Brando, plus an already famous Rod Serling -type twist. A driver kills a drunk pedestrian in a remote town, then the facts become all contested by those in that town.

We are supposed to be sustained by the depth of the characters; compared to other TeeVee fodder, they are deep. But if you watch it today, you won't have that, so you have to rely on the twist and threat to carry you, and they just aren't that powerful.

But it features Ann Francis in a key role, a mysterious beautiful woman who represents the mystery.

This is the same woman who at 26 played the teenage daughter of a Prospero in perhaps the greatest pure science fiction movie ever, "Forbidden Planet." Her face has changed (here at 43), but she has that distinctive mole that transports us back to the planet every time we see her here.

In "planet" she was a sort of representative of uncontrollable urges that represent the larger part of life.

If you know that, and can read it into this thin construction, it is enriched.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Motorist John Forsythe, taking the back roads to San Francisco for a job interview, hits a man standing in the middle of the street; believing he's killed a pedestrian, Forsythe goes for help--but when he returns with the local sheriff, the body has been taken away (the lawman doesn't believe clear-thinking Forsythe, per the usual backwater sheriff in these type of movies, and accuses him of being drunk). Everything that follows is a con job on the poor driver, and it takes Forsythe a while to get the message he's being used as a patsy in an unexplained plot that involves everyone from a bartender to a motel clerk to a garage mechanic to a housekeeper anxious to get out of town. TV drama keeps the suspense level high, even when our hero acts stupidly (finding a body in a freezer, Forsythe cries and panics, which I guess is where the title comes into play). Jack B. Sowards' script doesn't always play fair with the audience (Anne Francis' mystery lady appears out of nowhere in a bar...and vanishes just as easily), however Forsythe's nightmare is an intriguing one...at least until the finale where (intentionally) nothing is solved. This must be the writer's definition of irony.