Weekend of Terror

I taped this movie years ago & I thought that it was a pretty lame movie. But there were some really funny parts in it that were not meant to be funny. Lee Majors was cast as "Larry" a few years before his really big role as "Steve Austin" in "The Six Million Dollar Man". And Robert Conrad plays "Eddie" the main bad guy out of the two. The part that is really funny is the line that "Larry" says to "Eddie".

I quote: "Eddie! What are trying to do! Are you on something that I don't know about? Acid! Speed! Something?"

The line is a classic! If you ever get a chance to see this movie, keep it on until you get to hear "Larry" say that line. It's priceless! If I ever have the chance of meeting Lee Majors someday, I would ask him if he was on something that we didn't know about, after making this partly funny clunker...

Handsomely-produced TV-movie from Paramount has two desperate men, holed up in an abandoned house in California's High Desert, hastily rearranging their kidnap-for-ransom plan after their female captive suffers a fall and dies; they decide to kidnap another woman to take the dead girl's place, but end up with three nuns in the bargain (two in robes and habits, one in civilian clothes: a pleated mini-skirt and go-go boots!). Fairly entertaining yarn, written by Lionel E. Siegel with tongue slightly in-cheek, begins well but unravels completely by the third act. This holy trio of Sisters (Lois Nettleton, Jane Wyatt and Carol Lynley) is quite an unlikely group--as are Robert Conrad and Lee Majors as the kidnappers! The characters are not fleshed out by the writing, therefore we never fear for their safety. Lynley has a big dramatic sequence late in the film which Siegel squashes merely so he can continue along with his formula (this may not have been his fault, however, as most television dramas from this era were not made to be surprising or provocative--just routine). However, Jud Taylor's competent direction and the interesting rural locales manage to hold interest for most of this "Weekend".

The film is about a couple of kidnappers who's captive died and the 2 men decided to get another woman to pretend to be the woman that died so they can get the ransom money. They didn't bargain for 3 nuns but that is what they got. The nuns end up with a case of Stockholm Syndrome.

Pretty good crime-thriller, suspenseful enough to keep me interested. Well acted out. There a small handful of flaws but overall it's not a bad TV film of the 1970s.

The film is about 1 hour 15 minutes but feels like a longer film. Not so much because it's boring but just feels like a 2 hour movie.

Worth watching on a boring afternoon.

8/10.

I have to say that I really enjoyed this movie. Usually I don't like the really really old TV movies, just the really old ones, LOL. The movie has a pretty decent pace, and the acting is good. Lots of well known actors in here. I thought Carol Lynley was kind of spaced out, but then she seemed spaced out in most of her 1970's films. Jane Wyatt really didn't seem to have much of a role. The only thing that really bothered me was that STUPID wig! That wig looked nothing like the Louise's hair, it was two totally different colors! When the guy sends the nun into the wig shop with a piece of hair to match up, you can see that it is so light it is hardly even brown. Louise's hair was chocolate brown. How hard was it to make the nun get a really dark brown wig?

One reviewer describes this as 'a pretty lame movie' and I am in total agreement. The film often makes little sense and you could certainly do better.

When the film begins, one of two kidnappers accidentally kills the lady they kidnapped. So they come up with a plan that makes absolutely no sense--to kidnap some poor lady and somehow convince the rich guy that the substitute is his daughter. Instead, the idiot kidnaps three nuns and what they do after that makes even less sense. But one of the kidnappers (Lee Majors) balks at his partner (Robert Conrad) when he plans on murdering two of the three nuns. Why only 2 of the 3? I have no idea.

There is nothing about this film that is good or excellent. It often makes little sense and the nuns occasionally behave like morons (especially when they are hiding and one betrays their hiding place by crying out!). Overall, a sloppy, silly movie that rarely does more than pass time.