ISN'T IT SHOCKING? (1973)

ISN'T IT SHOCKING? aired on Oct. 2, 1973 as part of ABC's "Movie of the Week" series and it stars a young Alan Alda as the sheriff of the small dying town of Mount Angel. The town is dying because only old people live there. Alan is bored and just riding out his last few days before he takes a new police job over in the thriving metropolis of Horse Creek. Then a serial killer strikes!

Mount Angel is full of quirky characters and the script by Lane Slate (who also wrote a number of other memorable 70's TV movies, most notably THE CAR) quickly brings the town to life. Right from the start I liked this movie and the naturalistic tone of the conversations. Especially the playful banter between Alda and his secretary Louise Lasser. Alda is dating with a single mother who runs the local roadside motel, but Lasser knows that he's secretly (even to himself) in love with her so she just plays with him nonstop. It's a lot of fun to watch. Anyway, there's a killer on the loose, but nobody even knows it because he's using a homemade defibrillator to make it look like the elderly victims died of a heart attack. But then the bodies start piling up so fast that Alan begins to suspect that something sinister is going on.  He decides to get to the bottom of it.

Quick pace, funny script, quirky town folk, nice camerawork and a excellent cast (including Ruth Gordon, Lloyd Nolan, Will Geer and Edmond O'Brien!)...I didn't want ISN'T IT SHOCKING? to end! If some TV exec back in 1973 had a brain he would have made a TV show about the adventures Sheriff Alan Alda and his town full of weirdos, but I guess Alan was already busy with "M.A.S.H.". Oh well, if you like small town mysteries, then check it out.

A COLD NIGHT'S DEATH (1973)

Veteran actors Robert Culp and Eli Wallach are two scientists sent to a remote high altitude research station after the previous scientist, Vogel, quit responding to radio calls. Flown in by helicopter, Culp and Wallach find Vogel locked in the radio room with the window open. It was 20 below zero outside. The strange thing is Vogel had the keys to the locked door in his hand.

The pilot leaves and now Culp and Wallach are left alone high up on a mountain with only a few research monkeys locked in cages to keep them company. They settle into a daily routine, but soon strange things start happening...machines turned on, windows open, doors closed, the generator turned off. What the hell's going on around here?!

A COLD NIGHT'S DEATH originally aired as a ABC's "Movie of the Week" on January 30, 1973 and at only 74 minutes it packs in the story.  But even with it's economical storytelling, A COLD NIGHT'S DEATH isn't much more than an extended episode of "The Twilight Zone"...but a really good episode! For a one time watch, it's definitely worth checking out. On a side note: for nearly the entire film I found myself thinking about 1982's THE THING.

Recommended.

[Update 10/31/2022: This has nothing to do with the review, just thought it was interesting.  I'm currently reading an Adrian Monk mystery novel, "Mr. Monk Goes to the Firehouse" by Lee Goldberg, and one of the characters randomly starts talking about this movie.  Isn't that odd?]

You can see Eli's pants even though he's in the shower.

HEATWAVE! (1974)

It got up to 107 in Austin this afternoon, so what better time to stay indoors in the air condition and watch a movie about a heatwave! Luckily for me, I still had electricity and water unlike the unfortunate folks in this movie. Holly McClane from DIE HARD is pregnant as fuck, hot as fuck and irritated as fuck: the electricity is out, the tap water is brown and her husband is a whiny bitch. Finally they say screw it and decide to go out to their cabin in the woods, but that's easier said than done. All the electricity is out and gasoline is hard to come by. Then, to make matters even worse, they get carjacked and are forced to walk the last eight miles through the woods. Remember it's 120 degrees and she's pregnant. Once they get to the cabin, they discover that the electricity is out there as well and now the baby is ready to bust out of this hot motherfucker!

As far as early 70's made-for-TV movies go, this one is entertaining, but the story was too small. Instead of going to the woods and just standing around a cabin sweating I would have rather they remained in the big city and experience everything going to Hell. Also there really needed to be a villain of some kind or a bigger struggle than just trying to cool off.

If you can find a copy it's worth watching, but nothing to go out of your way for. HEATWAVE! originally aired on January 26, 1974 as part of ABC's "Movie of the Week" series.