The Victim

I watched this for the first time since it was new yesterday, and, no matter how many times I replay that final scene, I can't make out Eileen Heckert's last line. She says, "Mr. Chapell, let her go," then something about calling the police. I can't help but think that line is critical in determining exactly which one killed her, or if they were in it together. Does anyone know exactly what she says? I remember when the networks all had the movie of the week. I sure wish they still did. I liked the comment about the eeriness without the graphic violence, and I agree that none of that is necessary. By the way, what are some other old favorites everyone has? Maybe I'll find one I don't remember seeing!

I saw The Victim starting Elizabeth Montgomery when I was 12 years old. I just watched it again on You Tube and really enjoyed it, 44 years later.

It's an old-fashioned woman in jeopardy suspense thriller and I wish there were more movies like this today.

Elizabeth Montgomery plays Kate, a well to do woman who is concerned about her sister Susan. Susan lives in an isolated house, sounds troubled when she talks to her sister on the phone and a terrible storm is coming. Kate calls her sister back, but the line is dead, which worries Kate. Kate decides to drive to her sister's home in the storm and arrives to find her missing. The storm is in full force, the phone's not working, the power goes out....as a 12 year old, this scared me to death. As a 56 year old, I still enjoyed it. Eileen Heckhart gives a terrific performance as the sister's creepy housekeeper and George Maharis is excellent as the missing sister's husband.

For baby boomers like myself who loved Elizabeth Montgomery on Bewitched and who adored watching The Movie of the Week (a precursor to Lifetime Movies), this one's for you. I truly wish all the old Movies of the Week would be released on DVD or at least as Amazon Prime videos. There's a real market out there among the baby boomers and most of the movies, like The Victim, are really good.

If not, why? Rather a number of them were high class suspense pictures. This is one of them.

Elizabeth Montgomery plays a lady who's going visiting her sister in an isolated upland cottage after learning that the sister is planning to divorce her husband. The sister is already murdered when Elizabeth arrives but she doesn't know that. Instead, there's a prolonged eerie cat-and-mouse sequence when she's searching for her and unexpectedly finds the half deaf old maid entering. The meeting with the maid is quite unsatisfactory and awkward. Then the sister's husband turns up and it's quite clear that he's hiding something...

Not to spoil the story, the set up is great and one wish that today's television could conceive originality of this kind.

Elizabeth Montgomery (THE LEGEND OF LIZZIE BORDEN) is Kate wainwright, who goes to her sister, Susan's (Jess Walton) house, looking for her. Kate grows increasingly anxious, as time passes with no sign or word from her sister. Of course, the viewer has already been shown the terrible truth early on, but Kate must find out for herself, while not knowing that whatever happened to Susan, could very well happen to her!

This is Ms. Montgomery's show, from start to finish, and she pulls it off mightily! Other characters pop up throughout, but she carries the whole movie. THE VICTIM is another made-for-TV movie that deserves re-discovery.

Co-stars Eileen Heckart as the crabby housekeeper, Mrs. Hawkes, and George Maharis as Susan's husband, Ben Chapel...

While the setup is good, The Victim does suffer from a predictable conclusion. Once you look at the opening credits and see a star's name, but said star doesn't show up until the last 10 minutes of the movie, you have a good feeling they might be the one causing all the mayhem. It's still got a nice, creepy rain-soaked atmosphere and anything with Eileen Heckhart and Elizabeth Montgomery sharing the screen together can't be all bad.