I found the DVD of this movie lying around my house and decided to watch it. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The movie played out like a Law & Order episode, but this was definitely more suspenseful.
The basic premise of the movie is exposing the mob in the town and one man dies of it. Director Buzz Kulik puts in a Twilight Zone like approach to the movie as he directed several TZ episodes. It played out well despite only being a movie made for TV. They could had showed some of the trial at the end of the movie, however, it wasn't necessary.
The stars in this movie was top notch, the cast gets a 10 out of 10 as everyone executed their character masterfully. William Shatner, who recently came off playing Captain Kirk in Star Trek and the first film, plays a villain in one of the darkest roles in his career. I enjoyed the appearance of David Canary, Adam Chandler of All My Children. He does a fine job as a lawyer and one of the few non-western roles he did at the time. Seeing Richard Castellano only a year after The Godfather was an unexpected treat, I always enjoyed his work. He dies quite unexpectedly in the movie. Murray Hamilton also puts in a superb performance as Shatner's lackey so to speak. Actually, I could go on for hours talking about the actors, I'll just say the quality is not of TV movie quality, but that of a good movie showing in theaters.
If you have not seen this movie, I strongly recommend giving this movie a shot, a solid suspense story combined with a first-rate cast and you have arguably the best TV movie of the 70's.
The basic premise of the movie is exposing the mob in the town and one man dies of it. Director Buzz Kulik puts in a Twilight Zone like approach to the movie as he directed several TZ episodes. It played out well despite only being a movie made for TV. They could had showed some of the trial at the end of the movie, however, it wasn't necessary.
The stars in this movie was top notch, the cast gets a 10 out of 10 as everyone executed their character masterfully. William Shatner, who recently came off playing Captain Kirk in Star Trek and the first film, plays a villain in one of the darkest roles in his career. I enjoyed the appearance of David Canary, Adam Chandler of All My Children. He does a fine job as a lawyer and one of the few non-western roles he did at the time. Seeing Richard Castellano only a year after The Godfather was an unexpected treat, I always enjoyed his work. He dies quite unexpectedly in the movie. Murray Hamilton also puts in a superb performance as Shatner's lackey so to speak. Actually, I could go on for hours talking about the actors, I'll just say the quality is not of TV movie quality, but that of a good movie showing in theaters.
If you have not seen this movie, I strongly recommend giving this movie a shot, a solid suspense story combined with a first-rate cast and you have arguably the best TV movie of the 70's.