Okay, okay. I know I wrote months ago (wait…was it years?) that I would finish off my look at the NBC Best Sellers “series of mini-series” from the 1976-1977 season, with a review of The Rhinemann Exchange, based on the Robert Ludlum WWII espionage thriller, starring Lauren Hutton, John Huston, Roddy McDowall, Claude Akins, Vince Edwards, Jose Ferrer, Rene Auberjonois, Larry Hagman, Werner Klemperer, Trisha Noble, and that pedo. I’m also fairly certain that I told you people that I was experiencing actual physical discomfort in doing so, not so much because I would have to write about Stephen Collins (we’ll dissect him later), but because The Rhinemann Exchange is so cosmically dull, so existentially dead, that I honestly don’t know—I mean right now, sitting here—what the hell I’m going to say about it.
Continue reading ‘The Rhinemann Exchange’ (1977): Final ‘Best Sellers’ miniseries is a 4-hour dragTag Archives: thriller
‘The Executioner’s Song’ (1982): ‘Director’s Cut’ trims down ‘true life’ crime miniseries
I made the mistake of going to the movies this week. A new movie. In an actual theater. That I had to pay for. Without thinking, I bought a ticket for Terrifier 3, for no other reason than I wanted to see if I could recreate the feeling I used to have back in the 80s—the golden age of slasher movies—where you just walked into some horror gore fest you didn’t know a thing about, and had a rowdy good time at the movies.
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‘Dead by Sunset’ (1995): Juicy melodrama is exactly what true-crime lovers want
I don’t even know what’s up anymore with Lifetime or Lifetime Movie Network; I haven’t watched since we ditched cable years and years ago (I think they just make Christmas movies now where everyone’s best friend is some screaming Billy Eichner queen). But back in the day, those channels, particularly LMN, were a treasure trove of lurid, pulpy, old-school true-crime mellers, and Dead by Sunset―featuring one of the genre’s “Psycho Hall of Fame” performances from Ken Olin―was one of the best.
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‘The California Kid’ (1974): A spare, surprisingly grim little suspenser
A clean, trim, hard-boiled little gem of a suspenser, from the golden days of network made-for-TV movies.
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‘Satan’s Triangle’ (1975): Decades later, occult thriller is still a winner
You know what would be the perfect vacation for this particular Fourth of July, Independence Day? In today’s America, I mean? Cruise to the Devil’s Triangle. But you say you just can’t let Beelzebub see your bikini bod this year? Well…you could check out Satan’s Triangle, the 1975 made-for-TV occult classic starring Kim Novak and Doug McClure, that originally appeared on the beloved anthology series, ABC Tuesday Movie of the Week (there’s a nice print streaming on Prime right now).
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‘Sudden Fury: A Family Torn Apart’ (1993): Solid performances in true crime dramatization
Mill Creek Entertainment has released a DVD and digital download combo pack of Sudden Fury: A Family Torn Apart,
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‘Payback’ (1997): Mary Tyler Moore, Ed Asner reunite
Good ‘ol Mare. I had to poke around all the way up into the 1990s to find a TV movie where Mary Tyler Moore is menaced (apparently she was too good to do cheap actioners during her series’ heyday…): ABC’s Payback, from 1997, with Fredric Lehne, Adam Scott, and guess who? ‘Ol Lou Grant!
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‘Night Terror’ (1977): Valerie Harper shifts gears in tense suspenser
Next up on our hit list is Rhoda! Now, you can find Valerie Harper’s 1977 NBC made-for-TV movie, Night Terror, for sale on various public domain discs, but make sure you type in Night Drive, because somehow, somewhere, this spiffy, creepy little actioner was re-titled. Or, snag a copy of the 2021 Blu-ray release from Scorpion Releasing and Kino Lorber Studio Classics.
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‘Dying Room Only’ (1973): Cloris Leachman’s deadly vacation
Available through Warner Brothers’ Archive Collection (a real rarity, considering how few MTVs from this era have made it onto disc), ABC’s 1973 telemovie, Dying Room Only, directed by Philip Leacock, written by the master, Richard Matheson, and starring Cloris Leachman, Ned Beatty, Ross Martin, and Dabney Coleman, is a model of efficient, effective suspense.
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Drunk TV 