User Reviews

Fred Durant is an IRS agent by day, hen-pecked by his overbearing mother and left frustrated by his sexless marriage. Even his breakfast ritual is sad, as he squeezes an orange and stares out the window, wondering why he goes on. He needs a release and if it has to be calling young women up in the middle of the night and unleashing pure filth on them, then so be it!

Yes, in the 1970's, we lived in a world without caller ID and cell phones, when we had no idea who was on the other side of the phone. In fact, for years a burglar who had stolen my family's stereo equipment would call back and tell my mother that he could come back at any time. Years later, he would find religion and call her back, asking for forgiveness.

It's in that world that we find Fred (played by Robert Reed, who will be forever typecast as the dad from the Brady Bunch, but who knows all about playing a man who is hiding a secret). On his way to work, he dreams about kissing the gorgeous woman next to him in traffic, to the point that he completely loses himself and cars beep their horns at him. If only he could feel that way about his wife (Hope Lange, Bronson's doomed wife in Death Wish)

Directed by Jerry Jameson (Airport '77, Raise the Titanic and The Bat People and numerous episodes of Murder, She Wrote), we soon realize that Fred is calling the women from his office, who find him sweet and old-fashioned. And while we never get to hear what he's saying to them, it's enough that it leaves them so confused that they can't hang up.

He can't even bring himself to tell his therapist what's really going on. Oh, Fred. Your life is such a mess. At least you can get lost in your world of plants and dote on your teenage daughter (Robin Mattson, Are You in the House Alone?, Candy Stripe Nurses). Or get upset when she shows up in a bikini. And throw in that mother (Sylvia Sidney, Damien: The Omen 2 and God Told Me To) and Fred just keeps giving in to his craziness, even if it leads co-workers to wreck their cars and him getting blackmailed by strippers that he has to choke out!

Between this movie and Haunts of the Very Rich, Robert Reed really could bring the acting to small screen movies.

Producer Charles W. Fries has brought us a wide array of films, from Trashin' to 1987's Flowers in the Attic and the Lifetime remakes (we did also all three sequels, Petals in the Wind, If There Be Thorns and Seeds of Yesterday on our podcast), Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge, Troop Beverly Hills, the Spider-Man TV Movies, The Initiation of Sarah and Amicus' Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror! What an IMDB page! What an arsenal of films to enjoy!

Sadly, this has never been released on DVD. You're left to the mercy of the grey market and YouTube if you want to see this for yourself.

Probably one of the most disturbing TV movies of the 1970s, this deals with a nearly deranged IRS manager (Robert Reed) who is in a very miserable marriage to Hope Lange. They live under the facade of happiness with enthusiastic daughter Robin Mattson, but underneath that phoniness, husband and wife are miserable. Something has driven him to starting to make obscene phone calls, and one of his victims whom he actually stalks is one of his employees. She ends up in an accident over her freak out over the situation, and already in therapy, Reed feels guilt ridden. After a horrible dinner with the family and mother Sylvia Sidney, Reed takes a desperate and sickening action, but finds himself the victim of blackmail which adds to his emotional woes.

When I looked at the cast of this TV movie prior to starting it, I kept going "Ooh!" as all these familiar names begin appearing. The subject matter sounded disturbing but that was quickly overcome by the names I knew, even among the minor and unbilled cast. Robin Mattson was already a known child actress when she played Reed and Lange's daughter, but she would later go into soap immortality with three lengthy roles, winning multiple awards and nominations for playing wacky villainesses like Heather Webber, Gina Capwell and Janet "from another planet" Green. She is fantastic as the very understanding daughter who is perhaps the only person who loves Reed unconditionally. Karen Lynn Gorney ("Saturday Night Fever"), Thayer David ("Dark Shadows") and Marla Adams ("The Young and the Restless") were other names that got my immediate attention.

As Reed's mother, that are an actress Sylvia Sydney is fascinating, truly resembling Lauren Bacall and looking far more glamorous than she did in any other of her later career movies. In fact, she mentions dancing with Humphrey Bogart in a restaurant scene, a reminder that she had once appeared in a film with him, "The Wagon Rolls at Night". It's obvious that Reed's emotional problems go far back, and his glamorous diva like mother with her constant attention seeking has obviously had a grave impact on his psyche.

What is interesting about this film is the fact that Reed's perverted character actually get some sympathy, although he is definitely in need of more therapy than psychiatrist Michael Constantine can give him. Elaine Giftos as the blackmailing Chloe is hysterically over the top, while Arlene Golonka as the victim Reed stalks should have been harassed with demands for acting lessons before filming.

Lange, a very cold, unloving wife and mother, may not be the cause of Reed's growing issues, but she is certainly a major symptom. It's these details of what is happening inside Reed's mind and what has aided them in getting worse that guides him into giving a brilliant performance. But that made me feel guilty over sympathizing with him over the horrible things that he does. You can't really develop such a story in such a short period of time, and how this is wrapped up prevents it from being fully effective.

I'm glad I didn't see this made for TV movie as a kid because it would have disturbed me in a most profound way. Why, I probably would have never answered the phone during the rest of the 1970s had I seen it.

Now I only wish Mike Brady would call me up and talk dirty instead of getting Spam calls from Malawi or Pakistan. Better yet would be getting a prank phone call from Sylvia Sydney. She had a cool smoky voice that I am guessing was the result of many a Virginia Slim.

The hook for "The Secret Night Caller" was that it was a story of a seemingly normal guy making obscene phone calls (thanks to TV censorship, the lewdness of the obscenity is left to the viewer's imagination-thanks TV censorship!).

But my main takeaway from the movie was that an IRS employee would stop at nothing in order to make a career change.