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.

D.O.A. (1950)

Frank Bigelow (Edmond O'Brien) is just a regular Joe, a mild-mannered accountant who steps out to San Francisco for a few days of fun to get away from his smothering girlfriend. She never gives the guy a break! Once in SF things gets a little campy with the strange wolfish whistling sound every time a foxy dame walks by and the completely whacked out jive club scene, but then things take a serious turn when somebody slips some "luminous" poison in Bigelow's drink.

The next morning he feels sick and goes to the hospital. When they tell him he's been poisoned and is gonna die in a few days he freaks out and before you can say “I glued my balls to my butthole and now I can’t fart.” Big Frank goes running down the street like a madman. Once he calms down he gets pissed and goes out in search of his killer.

Not quite as hard-boiled as you would hope but still an awesome movie from beginning to end without a minute wasted.  Highly recommended.

Notice the names: Ernest Laszlo (Cinematographer), Marty Moss (Assistant Director) and Russell Rouse (Writer).