Weekend of Terror

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".

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.

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...

I thought it was a bit like Hitch-Hike or Last house on the Left movie. This movie was dry and very boring. Only good thing about it was the acting skill. Therefore i give the movie a weak 3 out of 10. I must say the plot was extremely weak and it' starts with two guys who kidnapping a young pretty lady for ransom money and one of the kidnapper chasing her and she accidentally trips and die. Then they must find a new pretty lady. And one of the men goes out to find someone. It end up with a good looking lady and two nun. And of course they have no money but still they keeping them as hostage. One of the kidnapper want to kill them, but the other companion won't. This movie could have been a lot better, but it went downhill early on.

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.