Today, most people remember Lloyd Bridges either as the father of a younger brood of actors or from his comical performances in "Airplane!" and other films. They forget that Bridges was one of the busiest actors on film and television from the 1940s on up. For this television film, he picked the wrong week to follow son-in-law Frank Converse around, finding that he's having an affair on wife Sally Shockley with the trampy Ann Helm. Confronting him, he accidentally kills her, and rather than report what really happened, then cleans up his fingerprints, leaves the apartment building and conveniently frames a homeless drunk, Broderick Crawford, who has already confessed to one murder. but fate always plays a twist in this, and the more he schemes to both keep himself from being exposed and make his son-in-law pay for his affair by arranging for suspicion to be reverted from him, the more he digs his grave.
This movie of the week is your typical B movie melodrama, nothing spectacular, but certainly featuring a compelling performance by the always terrific Bridges. Helm is fascinating in her brief appearance as it is obvious that she is simply out to get as much from Converse as she can get financially, and when Bridges tells her that he can find a replacement right outside on the street, she viciously slaps him across the face, sending up her own ending. She's the archetype for every film noir floozy whoever manipulated a man, and you can't help but think of her for the rest of the film.
Unfortunately, Shockley is either too cherry or whining in her performance, and up against Bridges, comes off as amateurish. Converse makes an excellent cad. and character actor John Fiedler is recognizable as helms neighbor who helps provide some evidence. The great character actor Murray Hamilton is outstanding as Bridges' confidant and longtime best friend at the apartment, adding additional class to this predictable, pedestrian production.
This movie of the week is your typical B movie melodrama, nothing spectacular, but certainly featuring a compelling performance by the always terrific Bridges. Helm is fascinating in her brief appearance as it is obvious that she is simply out to get as much from Converse as she can get financially, and when Bridges tells her that he can find a replacement right outside on the street, she viciously slaps him across the face, sending up her own ending. She's the archetype for every film noir floozy whoever manipulated a man, and you can't help but think of her for the rest of the film.
Unfortunately, Shockley is either too cherry or whining in her performance, and up against Bridges, comes off as amateurish. Converse makes an excellent cad. and character actor John Fiedler is recognizable as helms neighbor who helps provide some evidence. The great character actor Murray Hamilton is outstanding as Bridges' confidant and longtime best friend at the apartment, adding additional class to this predictable, pedestrian production.