Top-shelf episode and final entry in this superior anthology series spins a love triangle among a brutal gangster (Gordon), his wife (Kellerman) and her old lover (Lockwood). Turns out she married the gangster to keep him from killing the musician. Unfortunately, the gangster knows this and decides to turn the musician into a sort of house pet. Complicating the situation, the gangster's number two man (Breck) lusts after the wife at every turn. The tension builds to the breaking point when the gangster decides to throw a lavish anniversary party. Excellent performances all around, especially the diminutive Gordon as the freakiest and scariest mob boss ever portrayed on a TV show. A must see.
4 Reviews
Fingers
kapelusznik1831 July 2014
Warning: Spoilers
***SPOILERS*** Just out of jail and now successful businessman in the construction & horse manure business sleaze ball Millard Severin,Don Gordon, has a score to settle with piano player Frank Connery, Gary Lockwood, who was romantically involved with his wife , before he married her, Millard played by Saly Kellerman. It was Millard who married that low life swine Severin in order to prevent him from having Frank murdered by his thugs.
Wanting to punish Connely and at the same time humiliate him Saverin has him kidnapped and made to not only play at his and Millard's one year wedding anniversary party but made to look, by kissing his behind in public, less then a man to his former lover Millard! Sure of himself and feeling invincible the cold blooded snake like Severin had earlier brutally murdered his then #1 butt kisser real-estate agent Wiley Bondesen,Peter Breck,for giving him bad advice in a real-estate deal that went bust. It just happened that Connery as well as Millard were made to see the murder by Saverin just to show that he, in wanting things done his way, means business! With Bondeseen murder made to look like a car accident Severin felt home free in getting away Scot-free with it.
***SPOILERS*** It's at the anniversary party with dozens of people present that the beaten down to the ground Connery just about had it from Severin and spilled the beans about the truth in Bondesene accident or better yet murder and Severn's involvement in it. With the police on their way Saverin than losing it attempts to murder Connery or better yet brake his piano playing fingers to take away his only means of making a living! Connely survived and was later reunited with Millard with Severin now well on his way to spend the rest of his life living behind bars and, in with him losing his mind, in a padded cell.
Wanting to punish Connely and at the same time humiliate him Saverin has him kidnapped and made to not only play at his and Millard's one year wedding anniversary party but made to look, by kissing his behind in public, less then a man to his former lover Millard! Sure of himself and feeling invincible the cold blooded snake like Severin had earlier brutally murdered his then #1 butt kisser real-estate agent Wiley Bondesen,Peter Breck,for giving him bad advice in a real-estate deal that went bust. It just happened that Connery as well as Millard were made to see the murder by Saverin just to show that he, in wanting things done his way, means business! With Bondeseen murder made to look like a car accident Severin felt home free in getting away Scot-free with it.
***SPOILERS*** It's at the anniversary party with dozens of people present that the beaten down to the ground Connery just about had it from Severin and spilled the beans about the truth in Bondesene accident or better yet murder and Severn's involvement in it. With the police on their way Saverin than losing it attempts to murder Connery or better yet brake his piano playing fingers to take away his only means of making a living! Connely survived and was later reunited with Millard with Severin now well on his way to spend the rest of his life living behind bars and, in with him losing his mind, in a padded cell.
Like a cat toying with a captured mouse....
planktonrules16 October 2015
This is the final episode of "Kraft Suspense Theatre"--a series that ran two years and which is now (mostly) available to watch for free on YouTube. I'd recommend it even if the episodes are a bit uneven.
This episode stars Gary Lockwood, Don Gordon and Sally Kellerman--a pretty impressive lineup, though the series frequently had very impressive casts. Lockwood plays Frank Connery...a pianist with a past. And it seems tonight his past has caught up with him, as a pair of goons arrive at the bar where Frank's playing piano. They're there to take him to see Severin (Gordon) a psycho gangster whose girlfriend Frank stole some time ago. Frank is now expecting to die. Is there any chance of a reprieve? Well, it isn't clear...and Severin doesn't do anything at first. After a while, however, it seems that Severin really loves toying with people...like a cat toying with a mouse that it's captured!
The show works well. Not only is the plot exciting, but Lockwood did a really nice job and Gordon (a highly underrated actor) is wonderful as the mentally disturbed and sadistic gangster. At least the show ended on a high note.
This episode stars Gary Lockwood, Don Gordon and Sally Kellerman--a pretty impressive lineup, though the series frequently had very impressive casts. Lockwood plays Frank Connery...a pianist with a past. And it seems tonight his past has caught up with him, as a pair of goons arrive at the bar where Frank's playing piano. They're there to take him to see Severin (Gordon) a psycho gangster whose girlfriend Frank stole some time ago. Frank is now expecting to die. Is there any chance of a reprieve? Well, it isn't clear...and Severin doesn't do anything at first. After a while, however, it seems that Severin really loves toying with people...like a cat toying with a mouse that it's captured!
The show works well. Not only is the plot exciting, but Lockwood did a really nice job and Gordon (a highly underrated actor) is wonderful as the mentally disturbed and sadistic gangster. At least the show ended on a high note.
Great casting
lor_1 February 2024
Character names are well-chosen in this excellent Kraft Suspense Theatre offering. The memorable bad guy played by Don Gordon is a sadist named Severin, taking the name of the iconic masochist of the classic novel "Venus in Furs". And hero Gary Lockwood is Connery, he of then-current James Bond fame.
Gary plays a jazz pianist, enmeshed in a deadly love triangle that catches up with him right in the first scene. He's flirting with a cutie (Jean Pyne, an actress who never quite made it, though she did have a bit part on "Star Trek" a year later), when two goons sit down at the piano bar and "take him for a ride".
A well-written and suspenseful story is quickly developed, as Gary is brought to the mansion of gangster Gordon, who has married Gary's old flame Sally Kellerman and is a memorably cold and calculating control freak. It soon is revealed that Sally saved Gary's life by marrying Gordon, from whom Gary had "stolen" her, to use the rather dated male chauvinist terminology that fits the story and its '60s backdrop.
Plot twists are very fine: Don is ridiculously nice to his new prisoner, getting Gary's trio (with jazz greats Shelly Manne and Ozzy Mathews guest starring) back together and mapping out his career renaissance with recordings and key major bookings.
This tense situation, in which both Sally and Gary feel trapped (and really are) continues until a spectacular climax at Don & Sally's anniversary party, where Gary finally makes a stand. It's a stylish, exciting finish to a classic episode.
Made right before Gary landed his tremendous career break co-starring in "2001: A Space Odyssey" (though he unluckily had his role cut back by Kubrick after "running too long" previews three years later), it makes one wonder why Coleman never became a big star. He and Kellerman reunited quite successfully on the pilot episode of "Star Trek" a year later, even before DeForest Kelley joined the cast.
Gary plays a jazz pianist, enmeshed in a deadly love triangle that catches up with him right in the first scene. He's flirting with a cutie (Jean Pyne, an actress who never quite made it, though she did have a bit part on "Star Trek" a year later), when two goons sit down at the piano bar and "take him for a ride".
A well-written and suspenseful story is quickly developed, as Gary is brought to the mansion of gangster Gordon, who has married Gary's old flame Sally Kellerman and is a memorably cold and calculating control freak. It soon is revealed that Sally saved Gary's life by marrying Gordon, from whom Gary had "stolen" her, to use the rather dated male chauvinist terminology that fits the story and its '60s backdrop.
Plot twists are very fine: Don is ridiculously nice to his new prisoner, getting Gary's trio (with jazz greats Shelly Manne and Ozzy Mathews guest starring) back together and mapping out his career renaissance with recordings and key major bookings.
This tense situation, in which both Sally and Gary feel trapped (and really are) continues until a spectacular climax at Don & Sally's anniversary party, where Gary finally makes a stand. It's a stylish, exciting finish to a classic episode.
Made right before Gary landed his tremendous career break co-starring in "2001: A Space Odyssey" (though he unluckily had his role cut back by Kubrick after "running too long" previews three years later), it makes one wonder why Coleman never became a big star. He and Kellerman reunited quite successfully on the pilot episode of "Star Trek" a year later, even before DeForest Kelley joined the cast.
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