In Broad Daylight

Also original! Of course I won't tell the movie, like most others do. I will only say this: it's absolutely worth seeing! Richard Boone, an actor I love, is excellent. Stella Stevens, when she was attractive and sexy, is no less good in the role of the adulterous wife. There is also the sweet Suzanne Pleshette in the role of a caregiver. John Marley, was much more convincing in "Love Story" (1970) and "The Godfather" (1972) here, as a detective cop is not perfectly credible. Instead, a very beautiful and very smart dog is also in the cast. Robert Day, the English director, was a good craftsman, directing episodes of famous TV series such as "The Avengers", "The Invaders", "The Streets of San Francisco", "McCloud", "Kojak", "Dallas". He also directed "She", the boring "cult" film with Ursula Andress. This "In Broad Daylight" is perhaps his best film.

Having recently lost his eyesight, actor Tony Chappel (Richard Boone) finds that blindness is only one of his problems. While he was away in rehab, his beautiful wife (Stella Stevens) has gotten a bit too friendly with Tony's attorney. Now, Tony sets out on a seemingly impossible revenge scheme.

IN BROAD DAYLIGHT is a satisfying made-for-TV thriller with a simple, yet ingenious storyline. Written by the great Larry Cohen, it's a novel twist on the crime drama. Boone is convincing in his sightless role. His barely contained outbursts of temper are perfectly executed. Suzanne Pleshette plays Kate, Tony's kindly rehabilitation instructor, and John Marley is Lt. Bergman, the determined cop on the case.

The final act might be a tad predictable, but it's still a fitting denouement...

This is very much like a Columbo episode. Clocking in at 73 minutes, it was written by Larry Cohen, who later penned quite a few Columbo episodes. If you are a youngster and don't know who Columbo was, he was a raincoat wearing TV cop who looks at the less obvious suspect and wears them down with his "Just one more thing..." questions and his annoying quirky presence until the murderers trap themselves.

Richard Boone plays an actor, Tony Chappel, who recently went blind and is leaving some institute where he has been recovering and relearning basic skills as a blind person. He is being allowed to leave five days early and with his own full time therapist - somebody to help him continue learning how to adapt. This person is played by Suzanne Pleshette. If you have your calculator out and find this sounds all very expensive, first off Chappel was apparently a very successful actor and thus very rich, and plus healthcare costs have grown far faster than the rate of inflation this past fifty years.

On the way home Tony asks the therapist, Kate, if he can stop by his lawyer's apartment and get something without her assistance. He even knows the desk drawer. She relents. Tony actually does find his way up to the apartment and lets himself in with a key that he knows is hidden outside. Once inside, he hears his wife Elizabeth (Stella Stevens) and his lawyer in the bedroom doing bedroomy things with her talking about how exciting he is and what a drag it will be having to take care of Tony once he gets home. Tony leaves undetected but pretends to his therapist that he got lost and never got into the apartment. He immediately and secretly plans to murder his wife by shooting her and set up his attorney for the crime. But how can a blind man shoot anybody? Watch and find out.

Just like in Columbo, relationships are not deeply probed. The focus is on Tony and how he arranges everything to pull off the perfect crime. I've never seen Boone in much but "Have Gun Will Travel" and he did command my attention throughout. As an actor, Tony effectively and continually misleads everybody about both minor and major details and never lets on to his wife that everything between them is anything but perfect.

After the crime, which happens rather ironically itself, "an inspector calls" - John Marley as Lt. Bergman. Marley is rather bland in this part but he is methodical and thorough. But the important thing is from the beginning, he suspects Tony, in spite of evidence that the attorney did do it and that Tony is blind. Suzanne Pleshette, in spite of being second billed, does not have that much to do here.

I'd recommend this. But there is just one thing...never is it revealed HOW Tony became blind. Was it an accident? A disease? It is never mentioned. Also, was Tony's arrest even legal? The aftermath would have made a great episode of Law&Order. It is a very suspenseful made for TV treat and I would recommend it.

Must disagree with the previous reviewer, who apparently only accepts Ingmar Bergman and Fellini as art and can't appreciate a good meat and potatoes thinking man's thriller when he sees it. IN BROAD DAYLIGHT isn't Fellini but it is definitely a suspenseful and rewarding early 70s crime drama featuring a memorable turn by Richard Boone as a blind man who pretends to be sighted in order to kill his philandering wife. Solid cast includes the timeless Stella Stevens, Suzanne Pleshette and Whit Bissell, all of whom turn in good performances. Perhaps there aren't the requisite car chases and gunplay associated with typical 70s crime drama, but this quieter revenge story is still absorbing and compelling from start to finish. More than anything, though, this is a character study of Boone's blind man coping with the realization of his betrayal and coldly calculating how to transform his helplessness and hatred into advantage and revenge. The clever premise is bolstered by real tension throughout and a satisfying Ulmeresque Detour-like ending, despite the previous reviewer's odd dismissal.

This was actually a TV-movie produced by Aaron (LOVE BOAT, CHARLIE'S ANGELS, MELROSE PLACE, etc.) Spelling before he took up the lowest common denominator jiggly soap opera / action adventure mantle which built his 250-room Palace of Versailles in Beverly Hills. Too bad Aaron didn't continue down this darker, less commercial but more intriguing road, which tells the bleak story of a bright man who refuses to live his life in the dark. Spelling might not have built his huge palace making movies like this, but he'd certainly still have wound up with a couple ten bedroom mansions and a beach house, and we'd have a far superior filmography to enjoy. 8.5 /10

Enjoyably Far-Fetched. As someone pointed out, this was written by Larry Cohen, which explains the Columbo-esque feel to the movie. Whereas, Columbo is 25% planning and murder and 75% Columbo harrassment, this one is visa.

Despite the well-to-do characters and sunny scenery, this film is quite noir, especially the frenetic last 1/3 or so. And the ending is Noir As F___!!

I really love these old Movies of the Week!!