IN SAYING
EVERYTHING ABOUT A MOVIE?
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IN SAYING EVERYTHING ABOUT A MOVIE? |
| A TATTERED WEB (TV) (director: Paul Wendkos; screenwriter: Art Wallace; cinematographer: Michel Hugo; editor: Jack McSweeney; music: Robert Drasnin; cast: Lloyd Bridges (Sgt. Ed Stagg), Frank Converse (Steve Butler), Sallie Shockley (Tina Butler), Murray Hamilton (Sgt. Joe Marcus), Walter Brooke (Lt. Preston), Ellen Corby (Mrs. Simmons), Whit Bissell (Mr. Harland), Broderick Crawford (Willard Edson), Anne Helm (Louise Campbell); Runtime: 73; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Bob Markell; Treeline Films; 1971) |
| "Never
satisfies with its unconvincing psychological
dramatics."
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz Paul Wendkos ("The Burglar"/"Gidget"/"Angel Baby")
directs this
uninteresting made for TV
police drama. The
moralistic crime drama, written by Art Wallace, is
filled with
histrionics and comes with an unpleasant and banal
story. It looks more
like TV viewing than
a movie, and never satisfies with its unconvincing
psychological
dramatics. Hard-nosed veteran
homicide
Detective Sergeant Ed Stagg (Lloyd Bridges) becomes unglued when his oil rigger
son-in-law Steve Butler (Frank
Converse) is
cheating on his
daughter Tina (Sallie
Shockley).
Ever since wifey skipped out of the
marriage thirteen years ago, single parent Ed has been
overprotective
of Tina. The couple live with him, which upsets Steve.
Married for a
year, he starts cheating on wifey a month ago with
loose-living bar
girl Louise
Campbell (Anne
Helm). The cop warns Louise
by phone
to stay away from Steve, and then tells Steve to end
the affair. Ed
follows Steve one night and discovers he is with his
mistress again,
and when Steve leaves Louise's apartment he
barges in and tries to offer her money to stop seeing
him. When she
refuses, the cop angrily tosses her against the wall
and
accidentally kills her. Then he gets to investigate
the homicide with his
partner Joe
Marcus (Murray Hamilton). When Joe suspects
Steve is
the killer, after learning that he could have been her
boyfriend, Ed
pins the murder on a wino (Broderick
Crawford)
who just confessed he killed his best friend while in
a
drunken stupor. There's a lot of angry
looks
and grim facial expressions, and a sad look at a model
cop who cracks
up because he's afraid that he can't protect his
daughter any more from
being hurt by a cheater she dearly loves. Trouble is
the story is weak
and the acting is poor, and in the end the pic has
little to say about
adultery, sluts, overprotective dads, cops who lose
their moral compass
and winos. In other words, you're probably wasting
your time watching
this pic. REVIEWED ON 10/14/2010 GRADE: C Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews" © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ |