"The Taking of Alta View" is based on real life events, how accurate the film portrayal is I do not know, but what I do know is that as far as Telemovies go, this one is certainly one of the best. The story revolves around one man, Richard Worthington (Harry Hamlin) who takes hostages at the Alta View Hospital as he is seeking revenge against the doctor who tied his wife's tubes after she gave birth to their tenth child. Worthington believes that the doctor tied his wife's tubes while she was sleeping and against her will, which is of course illegal, and according to a nurse who was present, the senior nurse Susan Woolley (Teri Garr) that is not what happened at all, though Worthington is not interested in learning the truth. What follows is confusion on the parts of the rescue team, fear from the hostages and the plight of Worthington, who plays to a certain degree both protagonist and antagonist at the same time.
Harry Hamlin does a great job of portraying the dilemma Worthington is in, making him come across not just as the villain, but as someone who you might actually sympathize with. Though, he does seem to spout a bit too much religious talk, such as the comment (I don't recall the exact wording) about God's meaning for birth is so that humanity can repopulate the Earth. There is no argument from anyone in the film to show the other side of that comment - that humanity is also a strain on the resources of Earth. Nevertheless, you may feel compelled to sympathize with Worthington at times, as do some of his hostages.
One hostage who does not fall under Worthington's "spell" is of course Teri Garr's Susan. Garr does a splendid job in her role, supported by Joycelyn O'Brien as the other nurse taken hostage. The other hostages include pregnant Cristan (Georgia Emelin), her husband Adam (Keith Coulouris) and her sister Carre (Britt Sady). Sady does a good job in terms of displaying some sort of affection towards Worthington - Stockholm Syndrome.
"The Taking of Alta View" also gives an interesting portrayal of a hostage situation in terms of there being so many different departments involved in the rescue, and each one of them not co-operating with the other. Terry O'Quinn (yes, who would later go on to star in "Lost") plays a respected hostage negotiator, Sgt. Don Bell, who is constantly under-minded by others. The rescue of the hostages goes terribly wrong on many occasions, simply because the various officials do not want to co-operate with Worthington (or Bell for that matter), and disaster spreads.
Overall, despite obvious low production values, "The Taking of Alta View" is a very well done Telemovie based on real events, with terrific performances from Hamlin and Garr, and some thought-provoking moments.
