Three's Company meets Barney Miller meets WKRP in Cincinnati. Hey it's a 70's sit com re-union! Jack Tripper, Barney Miller and Herb Tarlick meet in the creepy Stepford like Southern California community of "The Colony". This was a great movie. Anything with Jon Ritter is totally worth watching. He is such a warm and heartfelt actor. Since his passing, it is comforting to be able to watch him again and feel closer to the good old days of one of the greatest shows of all time, Three's Company. Hey, it's not a big budget Hollywood Blockbuster, but you already knew that. So get the popcorn ready and sit back and enjoy a thoroughly entertaining movie.
16 Reviews
The Colony: About what you'd expect, in a good way
Platypuschow14 August 2018
Starring the fantastic late great John Ritter The Colony is a made for television thriller with a concept alone that it deserves credit for.
It tells the story of a family who move into an exclusive gated community but begin to have concerns about the overwhelming number of rules they must live by and the strange behaviour of their fellow residents.
It's all very 90's (If that makes any sense) but despite the usual gliches it's quite an entertaining little venture. There are a couple of plot holes but thankfully nothing too major and Ritter is excellent as always.
A harmless way of killing 90 minutes.
The Good:
John Ritter
Some interesting ideas
The Bad:
Cliched
Ending could have been better
Things I Learnt From This Movie:
I would happily sacrifice some freedoms for that quality of life
It tells the story of a family who move into an exclusive gated community but begin to have concerns about the overwhelming number of rules they must live by and the strange behaviour of their fellow residents.
It's all very 90's (If that makes any sense) but despite the usual gliches it's quite an entertaining little venture. There are a couple of plot holes but thankfully nothing too major and Ritter is excellent as always.
A harmless way of killing 90 minutes.
The Good:
John Ritter
Some interesting ideas
The Bad:
Cliched
Ending could have been better
Things I Learnt From This Movie:
I would happily sacrifice some freedoms for that quality of life
The Ficus Benjamina is especially nice. Made from the finest silkscreen polyester.
sol-kay3 February 2008
Warning: Spoilers
(There are Spoilers) "The Colony" is a place where everything is wonderful with crime non-existent and the education system at the top 2% in the nation. Life is as good as it can get for the big bucks that people spend, after being accepted by the Colony's board of directors, to be living there.
It's after electronic security expert Nick Knowlton, John Ritter, and his wife Leslie, Mary Page Keller, were carjacked and almost killed by a pair of masked muggers that they were given the opportunity by the Colony's founder multi-billionaire Philip Denig, Hal Lindin, to live there. Earlier in the film Nick was contracted by Denig to install the Colony's new security system and the fact that he was so good at it Denig wanted him, and his family, to become a member of his exclusive condominium.
We already know that things at the Colony aren't exactly kosher with the Bensons, Vince Deadrick Jr & Stacy Courtney, being knocked out and juiced up, by having a bottle of bourbon shoved down Bob Benson's throat, by the Colony's top security man Doug Corwin, Marshall R. Teague. Putting the car that the Bob was driving into drive Corwin has it, with the Benson's unconscious in it, drive down a cliff were they were burned to a crisp. Benson had this DVD disk made that would expose everything that was really going on in the Colony and Denig wanted it bad. It turned out that the super careful Corwin screwed up by having Benson give him a fake disk and on top of all that having him juice Benson up with bourbon instead of the booze that he elusively drank gin!
Later Nick realizes that his stay at the Colony is like a stay at a maximum security prison with him forced to follow insane rules and regulations for everything he does. It's then that Nick and his wife Leslie together with his two children Danielle & Andy, Alexandera Pictto & Cody Dorkin, try to make a run for it to freedom.
The people living in the Colony are so brainwashed in how important they are that they don't realize that their being turned into a bunch of mindless zombies by Denig and his gang. Denig were told, by himself no less, has been obsessed with security matters since he was a little boy when his parents were victims of urban crime. It now comes out, through the revelation of the missing Benson disk, that Denig is not only a security freak but also in violation of a number of US privacy laws! Denig is gathering up, with his video security system, sensitive and very private information on all the people in the Colony and possibly, in order to keep them in line, blackmailing them with it!
In the end It's not Nick who gets the goods on Denig and his head goon security chief Corwin but his daughter Danelle. It was Danelle who found Benson's missing disk hidden in the basement of her parents home and broke it's security code thus being able to decipher it's contents. It turned out that the Benson's lived in the same place that Nick and his family are now staying at in the Colony!
A bit too paranoid to be believable "The Colony" has the very careful Denig blow his entire operation by murdering, through his henchman Corwin, those who like the Bensons were about to expose him. Whatever Denig got out of peeping into other peoples bedrooms in blackmailing them to stay at his place was nothing compared to what he'd get in having them murdered! The unbelievably ridicules regulations that Denig installed at his private condominium were only getting the people who lived there sick tired as well as rebellious. These draconian and mindless regulations, that filled what looked like an entire phone book, had the people in the Colony more then willing to both leave the place altogether and expose Denigs sleazy racket to he police.
In the end it was Denigs control freak-like methods that turned a peaceful and crime free environment like the Colony into a Nazi concentration camp or Soviet gulag. Denig's actions also forced the people there, like the Knowltons, to take matters into their own hands that lead to his downfall.
P.S It also turned out to both Denig's and Corwin's shock and surprise that Nick's brother Mike, Tod Jeffries,was the head detective in the local towns police department! Being put on the case to investigate the Benson's "accidenal" deaths gave Mike the opening that he needed to both expose and end Denig's crazy and deadly antics at his private "Colony".
It's after electronic security expert Nick Knowlton, John Ritter, and his wife Leslie, Mary Page Keller, were carjacked and almost killed by a pair of masked muggers that they were given the opportunity by the Colony's founder multi-billionaire Philip Denig, Hal Lindin, to live there. Earlier in the film Nick was contracted by Denig to install the Colony's new security system and the fact that he was so good at it Denig wanted him, and his family, to become a member of his exclusive condominium.
We already know that things at the Colony aren't exactly kosher with the Bensons, Vince Deadrick Jr & Stacy Courtney, being knocked out and juiced up, by having a bottle of bourbon shoved down Bob Benson's throat, by the Colony's top security man Doug Corwin, Marshall R. Teague. Putting the car that the Bob was driving into drive Corwin has it, with the Benson's unconscious in it, drive down a cliff were they were burned to a crisp. Benson had this DVD disk made that would expose everything that was really going on in the Colony and Denig wanted it bad. It turned out that the super careful Corwin screwed up by having Benson give him a fake disk and on top of all that having him juice Benson up with bourbon instead of the booze that he elusively drank gin!
Later Nick realizes that his stay at the Colony is like a stay at a maximum security prison with him forced to follow insane rules and regulations for everything he does. It's then that Nick and his wife Leslie together with his two children Danielle & Andy, Alexandera Pictto & Cody Dorkin, try to make a run for it to freedom.
The people living in the Colony are so brainwashed in how important they are that they don't realize that their being turned into a bunch of mindless zombies by Denig and his gang. Denig were told, by himself no less, has been obsessed with security matters since he was a little boy when his parents were victims of urban crime. It now comes out, through the revelation of the missing Benson disk, that Denig is not only a security freak but also in violation of a number of US privacy laws! Denig is gathering up, with his video security system, sensitive and very private information on all the people in the Colony and possibly, in order to keep them in line, blackmailing them with it!
In the end It's not Nick who gets the goods on Denig and his head goon security chief Corwin but his daughter Danelle. It was Danelle who found Benson's missing disk hidden in the basement of her parents home and broke it's security code thus being able to decipher it's contents. It turned out that the Benson's lived in the same place that Nick and his family are now staying at in the Colony!
A bit too paranoid to be believable "The Colony" has the very careful Denig blow his entire operation by murdering, through his henchman Corwin, those who like the Bensons were about to expose him. Whatever Denig got out of peeping into other peoples bedrooms in blackmailing them to stay at his place was nothing compared to what he'd get in having them murdered! The unbelievably ridicules regulations that Denig installed at his private condominium were only getting the people who lived there sick tired as well as rebellious. These draconian and mindless regulations, that filled what looked like an entire phone book, had the people in the Colony more then willing to both leave the place altogether and expose Denigs sleazy racket to he police.
In the end it was Denigs control freak-like methods that turned a peaceful and crime free environment like the Colony into a Nazi concentration camp or Soviet gulag. Denig's actions also forced the people there, like the Knowltons, to take matters into their own hands that lead to his downfall.
P.S It also turned out to both Denig's and Corwin's shock and surprise that Nick's brother Mike, Tod Jeffries,was the head detective in the local towns police department! Being put on the case to investigate the Benson's "accidenal" deaths gave Mike the opening that he needed to both expose and end Denig's crazy and deadly antics at his private "Colony".
Still Relevant Today, Despite Some of It's Dated and Hokey Aspects.
betchaareoffendedeasily28 May 2020
The Colony stars the eternally likeable John Ritter(dead); he really does elevate this movie, it is not too hard to feel sorry for this families plight because he is so easy to like. If you don't know where to watch this, it is viewable on youtube for free, as maqny other old TV movies are. The themes in this film, of safety versus freedom, especially during this 2020 the Corona Virus Panic, are even more relevant than they were in 1995. When I watched this in early April, I couldn't help think to myself, as people talk about how great it is to give up freedoms for safety in this film, about how much people have been chided for wanting their constitutional freedoms among the mostly fabricated Corona Virus scare, and the totalitarian methods many governor's and some police who enforce those unconstitutional orders.
Yes, some of the story line is ridiculous, and uses a common trope that has been borrowed from Jurassic Park ad nauseum, of a young teenage girl being a tech wiz, though at least here, she's not as overly adept as in some films, and doesn't instantaneously whip up a solution. Another trope not too uncommon of the time it was made John Ritter's brother just happens to be a detective within The Colony's jurisdiction, and was really an unnecessary addition. The ending is overblown to the extreme, and would have been better with a much more subtle, ideally downbeat(or partially downbeat) ending. Those are the two biggest weaknesses here. The other silly aspects are easily forgiven as this is clearly a bit of a satire, but it doesn't necessarily tread that line between the dramatic and satire well, hence why the overblown conclusion is not so great and diminishes the amazing tension built up in the first 2/3's of the film.
The script is overall well-written up to the final 1/3 when it becomes a bit of a hot mess. It is filmed as well as one can hope for a TV film, and acted better than most TV films of it's time, or before or after. One could complain about character development, but that's really not the point here is it? No.
Despite all of this, 25yrs after it's made, can we say a lot of the surveillance techniques here are unrealistic? I think we can conclude they are not. With government threatening to chip or put bracelets on those with Covid 19, or the use of drones in LA and Detroit to attempt to monitor and keep people in their houses, this film becomes even more chilling, despite it's silly aspects. We may laugh at some of the absurd laws that the Colony implements, but I think we can agree they are not so far fetched when people have been fined for parking their cars instead of going straight home, or like in Colorado, required to have a "permit" to even travel to work, verifying that they are essential.
Flawed as it is, I still really do recommend this film, again it is viewable on youtube for free, and I hope it will scare the tar out of some people into stop thinking that the government is here to protect us, they are not. They are, in the US, supposed to protect our constitutional freedoms not us(although certainly the military may be deployed to protect the country, they are not meant to provide total safety), and this film illustrates that beautifully, allegorically, despite it's flaws and silly aspects.
God Bless ~Amy
Yes, some of the story line is ridiculous, and uses a common trope that has been borrowed from Jurassic Park ad nauseum, of a young teenage girl being a tech wiz, though at least here, she's not as overly adept as in some films, and doesn't instantaneously whip up a solution. Another trope not too uncommon of the time it was made John Ritter's brother just happens to be a detective within The Colony's jurisdiction, and was really an unnecessary addition. The ending is overblown to the extreme, and would have been better with a much more subtle, ideally downbeat(or partially downbeat) ending. Those are the two biggest weaknesses here. The other silly aspects are easily forgiven as this is clearly a bit of a satire, but it doesn't necessarily tread that line between the dramatic and satire well, hence why the overblown conclusion is not so great and diminishes the amazing tension built up in the first 2/3's of the film.
The script is overall well-written up to the final 1/3 when it becomes a bit of a hot mess. It is filmed as well as one can hope for a TV film, and acted better than most TV films of it's time, or before or after. One could complain about character development, but that's really not the point here is it? No.
Despite all of this, 25yrs after it's made, can we say a lot of the surveillance techniques here are unrealistic? I think we can conclude they are not. With government threatening to chip or put bracelets on those with Covid 19, or the use of drones in LA and Detroit to attempt to monitor and keep people in their houses, this film becomes even more chilling, despite it's silly aspects. We may laugh at some of the absurd laws that the Colony implements, but I think we can agree they are not so far fetched when people have been fined for parking their cars instead of going straight home, or like in Colorado, required to have a "permit" to even travel to work, verifying that they are essential.
Flawed as it is, I still really do recommend this film, again it is viewable on youtube for free, and I hope it will scare the tar out of some people into stop thinking that the government is here to protect us, they are not. They are, in the US, supposed to protect our constitutional freedoms not us(although certainly the military may be deployed to protect the country, they are not meant to provide total safety), and this film illustrates that beautifully, allegorically, despite it's flaws and silly aspects.
God Bless ~Amy
Poor execution of a potentially good story.
yenlo12 July 1999
This made for TV suspense thriller had lots of potential but just seemed to fall flat. John Ritter stars as a security expert of the high tech scale who moves his family into THE COLONY an ultra exclusive community that appears on the surface to be perfect in every way.
Shortly after moving in they soon find all is not what it appears. An elaborate set of rules and regulations abound that at first seem to be ridiculous but in reality are taken seriously by those who run The Colony. The family encounters staff members, who come into their home to do various environmental checks, remove outdoor plants that are deemed inappropriate for The Colony and perform surgery on their pet dog. Security guards shows up at the home of another family when the man of the house decides to paint his dwelling with a color that The Colony does not approve of. Slowly this utopian community begins to show it's dark and sinister side as Ritters family begins to catch on.
The film attempts to have a Stepford Wives type plot to it but too many topics are touched on and compressed to allow the film to have a build up for a suspenseful ending which also falls somewhat flat. The characters seemed to be miscast which hurts the picture. Hal Linden as the BMOC (Big Man On Community) who runs the Colony and wants everyone to love, respect and fear him at the same time just doesn't seem believable as a sinister individual. John Ritter who is fine in comedy roles also just doesn't seem to click in this picture.
The story is there and if redone with good casting and directing would make for a suspenseful film along the same lines as The Firm. If you've never seen it it's still worth viewing.
Shortly after moving in they soon find all is not what it appears. An elaborate set of rules and regulations abound that at first seem to be ridiculous but in reality are taken seriously by those who run The Colony. The family encounters staff members, who come into their home to do various environmental checks, remove outdoor plants that are deemed inappropriate for The Colony and perform surgery on their pet dog. Security guards shows up at the home of another family when the man of the house decides to paint his dwelling with a color that The Colony does not approve of. Slowly this utopian community begins to show it's dark and sinister side as Ritters family begins to catch on.
The film attempts to have a Stepford Wives type plot to it but too many topics are touched on and compressed to allow the film to have a build up for a suspenseful ending which also falls somewhat flat. The characters seemed to be miscast which hurts the picture. Hal Linden as the BMOC (Big Man On Community) who runs the Colony and wants everyone to love, respect and fear him at the same time just doesn't seem believable as a sinister individual. John Ritter who is fine in comedy roles also just doesn't seem to click in this picture.
The story is there and if redone with good casting and directing would make for a suspenseful film along the same lines as The Firm. If you've never seen it it's still worth viewing.
Heat Needed to Be Turned Up To Make This One Worth It
ryan-1007519 February 2020
In this mid-90s TV movie John Ritter plays Rick Knowlton who has designed a security system. He is also a family man with a wife Leslie (Mary Page Keller) and two kids (Alexandra Picatto and Cody Dorkin). While feelings the effects of living in a big city of L.A. and having their car stolen Rick is looking for a new and fresh place to live without the stresses and fears that city life creates. A super-rich tycoon Philip Denig (Hal Linden) wants to buy this security system and move the Knowlton family to his community. Rick is ecstatic, but soon finds out that this community isn't as great as he first thought.
Unfortunately this flick doesn't make the cut in my eyes. Not scary enough or spooky enough and the messages that are delivered could have been done in different ways to be much more effective. I do believe they needed to amp things up for it to strike any real chords with me. Might work better for those who have not seen this type of movie before. Sad though, because I think Ritter was perfectly cast for his role, but needs more meat on the bone for me to become more concerned for their well-being. Also starring Frank Bonner from WKRP IN CINCINNATI.
Unfortunately this flick doesn't make the cut in my eyes. Not scary enough or spooky enough and the messages that are delivered could have been done in different ways to be much more effective. I do believe they needed to amp things up for it to strike any real chords with me. Might work better for those who have not seen this type of movie before. Sad though, because I think Ritter was perfectly cast for his role, but needs more meat on the bone for me to become more concerned for their well-being. Also starring Frank Bonner from WKRP IN CINCINNATI.
Not bad for a snowy Sat. afternoon.
Slyjack200317 June 2006
I thumbed through the channels and came up with " The Colony " After watching for awhile and thinking it might turn out to be a good wet Saturday movie, I realized it was just like living in a gated community here in Boynton Beach, Florida. Fortunatly we can leave whenever we wish. However, there are associations who tell you what color your homes should be painted, what kinds of plants are acceptable, who is entitled to play on the tennis courts,who can swim in the pool etc,etc. We have our own COPS core. CITIZENS ON PATROL.They patrol the streets in an official police car. They do not carry guns, cannot issue traffic tickets. I am thankful to have this type of security. As far as the movie, It was better than expected.
Not the best I´ve seen.
bubbelbjornen5 February 2001
I saw this film 2001 and didn´t like it too much.
John Ritter is a security agent who´s given the opportunity to move to a totally crimeless society outside the town. He moves to this place with his family, and in the beginning everything seems like heaven. But after a while he and his family begins to think that everything is not right.The man (Hal Linden) who´s running the place is a very excentric old man with a lot of strange ideas... Pretty good idea (but I´ve seen it before....)
John Ritter is a security agent who´s given the opportunity to move to a totally crimeless society outside the town. He moves to this place with his family, and in the beginning everything seems like heaven. But after a while he and his family begins to think that everything is not right.The man (Hal Linden) who´s running the place is a very excentric old man with a lot of strange ideas... Pretty good idea (but I´ve seen it before....)
Excellent production
phillychicken8 June 2005
Warning: Spoilers
I stumbled upon this movie on Lifetime channel while I was channel surfing. Why oh why had I never heard of this movie before? It was fantastic!!
John Ritter did a wonderful job as Mr. Benson, and Hal Linden did a magnificent job as the head of the colony.
The deeper meaning of this movie is that Big Brother is watching you. The scene in which the control booth can use cameras to look in individual bedrooms may not be far from reality.
Scary, eh? Reminds me of the Rockwell/Jackson song: I always feel like, somebody's watching me.
John Ritter did a wonderful job as Mr. Benson, and Hal Linden did a magnificent job as the head of the colony.
The deeper meaning of this movie is that Big Brother is watching you. The scene in which the control booth can use cameras to look in individual bedrooms may not be far from reality.
Scary, eh? Reminds me of the Rockwell/Jackson song: I always feel like, somebody's watching me.
Perfection-not for human kind?
tributarystu18 August 2003
Warning: Spoilers
Looking beyond my fabulous title for this review, we have-had-will have- in front of our eyes, which are often connected to narrow minds, a blank movie, with blank characters and with a blank intrigue. Actually that means it's...not too good, right? Sure, the idea is all there might ever be to this movie, an idea which I would like to analyze a bit further on. But except the idea, what does this movie have? Not much, really, but enough, enough to be decent...unlike others.
SPOILERS
Let me put it this way: this is very much a movie made for children, which sadly and unsuccessfully tries to be for grown ups. Especially regarding the acting, the plot and the way the plot develops. And even more just by looking at the idiotic security officers. They could actually be placed on a movie poster for this "creation".
The story at hand is about a family which moves to "the perfect place", a community which its members like to regard as flawless. Surely, though, the dream of human perfection starts falling apart day by day and frame by frame. Yet I think this special society is how our world will soon look like. Democracy might very well be terribly diminished and all there might be left from this idea will be a vague shadow. We are already being controlled through the internet and just think that with the satellites we humans have launched into orbit, we can spy on each other(or better to say we can be spied upon) regardlessly of our feelings and desires. I just fear that this total control (which should be for our good) will actually lead man kind to a terrible dark age sometime in the future. We never like to be told what to do, do we? And humans should never be perfect, because then they there would exist Gods among humans.
Sure, this movie might be fun to watch, sometime, after midnight, when you're really bored and don't have anything else to do(as it was in my case) but it will never ever gain a mark higher than 6.5.
SPOILERS
Let me put it this way: this is very much a movie made for children, which sadly and unsuccessfully tries to be for grown ups. Especially regarding the acting, the plot and the way the plot develops. And even more just by looking at the idiotic security officers. They could actually be placed on a movie poster for this "creation".
The story at hand is about a family which moves to "the perfect place", a community which its members like to regard as flawless. Surely, though, the dream of human perfection starts falling apart day by day and frame by frame. Yet I think this special society is how our world will soon look like. Democracy might very well be terribly diminished and all there might be left from this idea will be a vague shadow. We are already being controlled through the internet and just think that with the satellites we humans have launched into orbit, we can spy on each other(or better to say we can be spied upon) regardlessly of our feelings and desires. I just fear that this total control (which should be for our good) will actually lead man kind to a terrible dark age sometime in the future. We never like to be told what to do, do we? And humans should never be perfect, because then they there would exist Gods among humans.
Sure, this movie might be fun to watch, sometime, after midnight, when you're really bored and don't have anything else to do(as it was in my case) but it will never ever gain a mark higher than 6.5.
The Colony Warns US OIf What is Really Happening
carriet-134-4033768 December 2013
THE COLONY is one of those warning films that did a pretty good job of exposing the "communities" that are now popped up all over and prison is more accurate. And THE COLONY was mild compared to what is really happening now all over in these government controlled "communities". I have friends who are trapped in them and cannot get out ! THE COLONY tried to show as many events that happen as it could in a short less then two hour film. It did an excellent job. The victims are made to think everything is just wonderful - until all their money is gone and they are trapped inside and then the obedience and submission training begins. These 'homes' or apartment complexes are nothing more then prisons for training submission. And the 24/7 monitoring is true - inside as well as outside of the home cell ! Everything is controlled inside and outside of the home 'cell'. I could go into more details not covered in the film, but this film is a good warning to those who think they are 'safe' in these prisons. You're not ! You are nothing more then a controlled submissive robot ! And the water is totally a mind controlling chemical toxic concoction that the DC govt has put all over to keep the people passive and under control, which is why America is the ONLY country that has not had a people rebellion against their tyranny govt.These "communities" are mini cities of submission training just as the whole nation is, on the larger scale. THE COLONY NEEDS TO BE SHOWN ON TV EVERY FEW MONTHS AT LEAST. it is a great film. And the actors in their characters were good in their roles. This film is mild compared to what is really happening out here ! It gives you a view of it all and the future. But the homes are not as luxurious as shown in the film.
A hidden gem!
eapoe-434861 September 2018
This is the kind of movie that gives made for tv movies a good name. It fills the gaping void left by the gap between self-serious big budget epics, comedies and domestic dramas. That gaping void has a name, and it's name is over-the-top, straight-faced treatment of real-world annoyances.
John Ritter's character and his family join a homeowners association version of Jonestown. And when I add that, within about the first half hour of the movie, he's been cited for running in out of spec jogging apparel on a non-approved jogging path, I've told you all you need to know.
Grab some popcorn and watch this. Made for tv movies don't get any better than this.
John Ritter's character and his family join a homeowners association version of Jonestown. And when I add that, within about the first half hour of the movie, he's been cited for running in out of spec jogging apparel on a non-approved jogging path, I've told you all you need to know.
Grab some popcorn and watch this. Made for tv movies don't get any better than this.
Eden as Seen by Dick Cheney
deanofrpps8 June 2005
Welcome to the Colony. It's very sleek, effete, modern and totally upper middle classish. Externally it's a well constructed paradise replete with its own efficient private security enforcing the C&R, the fine print covenant and restrictions which govern life, but what lies behind the pleasantries and the security screens?
Colony featured excellent performances by Hal Linden as the evil genius who created the colony and John Ritter the neophyte who allowed to enter the circuit walls engirding the Colony is drawn into discovery of the hidden secret.
I never liked John Ritter's personal philosophy of endemic liberalism but it is strange to watch this 1980s made for TV movie and witness its eerie prophesy for life in a nearly paranoid state.
Colony featured excellent performances by Hal Linden as the evil genius who created the colony and John Ritter the neophyte who allowed to enter the circuit walls engirding the Colony is drawn into discovery of the hidden secret.
I never liked John Ritter's personal philosophy of endemic liberalism but it is strange to watch this 1980s made for TV movie and witness its eerie prophesy for life in a nearly paranoid state.
Great John Ritter Film!
whpratt11 November 2004
I thought that I had seen all of John Ritter's TV films and movies and this film took me by surprise. It was great seeing John looking so healthy and very sad knowing that he passed on to a stage in HEAVEN and a higher level of experience. John Ritter,(Rick Knowlton),"Manhood",'03, was a successful business man and wanted to better himself and his wife in a larger home in a crime free neighborhood. Hal Linden,(Philip Denig),"Barney Miller",'75 TV Series, managed to make Rick's dream home become a reality and things were working out just fantastic. June Lockhart,(Mrs. Billingsley),"Lassie",'54 TV Series, helped Ricks children get situated in their new school programs. This is truly a great film with veteran actors and a very interesting and entertaining story.
Nice try...
JoeyDVDZ24 March 2002
This could have been a good movie, except it was too tame. Not enough menace in the menace, if you know what I mean. If you want to at least read it done right, read a novel called The Association, by Bentley Little. It's almost the exact same concept, but it actually makes you fear the big boogey man.
Formula movie with a Stepford feel
Bernie444426 February 2024
Security specialist Rick Knowlton (John Ritter,) upset by a life-threatening incident is invited to live in a securely closed society "The Colony". At first, the parents, children, and family dog are happy. Then people get over antsy about nitpicky rules. This masks something more sinister.
If you are familiar with computers, you may notice this movie is a little dated.
If you are thinking the colony is nowhere as bad as a Homeowner's Association, then you may be interested in the filming location of Rancho Palos Verdes, California, USA.
Warning if you cannot watch cruelty to dogs and ferns then you may find this upsetting.
If you are familiar with computers, you may notice this movie is a little dated.
If you are thinking the colony is nowhere as bad as a Homeowner's Association, then you may be interested in the filming location of Rancho Palos Verdes, California, USA.
Warning if you cannot watch cruelty to dogs and ferns then you may find this upsetting.
See also
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