The Bait

The same year that Angie Dickinson took on the role of Pepper Anderson, Donna Mills appeared in this carbon copy. The story is just your typical psycho on the loose film and Mills pretty much walks through it as the detective that's out to catch the lunatic. I'm wondering if Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg were knowingly trying to copy the success of "Police Woman". If they were, they did a very lousy job.

I became a Donna Mills fan with "Play Misty for Me", and here working in TV she has a starring breakthrough with a fabulous performance as a lady cop. Though it didn't go to series, the show fleshes out her character and the story format/solid supporting cast that definitely merited a pickup.

Leonard Horn sustains suspense artfully, and the structure carefully injects clues, red herrings and plot twists par excellence. William Devane is strong as the adversary, but there's no doubt that such a strong character that Mills has created will prevail.

Only sad note, for me at least, is late in the show a fleeting closeup (plus that voice) identifies the allt-me great (and eccentric) character actor popping up in a pointless part as the night clerk manning the front desk of Mills' workplace building. What a shame that this great talent went unappreciated.

Four women have been raped and murdered in a very short period of time. The killer's signature sets him apart from other such criminals. The police want to catch this madman fast for obvious reasons. It's not long before victim number five is stalked, defiled, and dispatched.

Enter Detective Tracy Fleming (Donna Mills). She convinces her superior (Michael Constantine) to assign her as THE BAIT.

This is another wonderful made-for-TV thriller from the 1970's. It also has some borderline horror elements: Like whenever the killer is creeping around, or the scene in the bus yard. Ms. Mills is perfectly cast in her role. She has a real knack for movies of this type. Watch for June Lockhart as her mother-in-law, and William Devane in an early role.

The one drawback to this movie is that the perpetrator's identity is revealed a bit too soon. Other than that it's very good. The frenzied finale, in close quarters, is one for the books!...

This film is based on a 1968 novel by Dorothy Uhnak. It is a very good book that I recommend. There is a condensed version of it in Reader's Digest Volume 2. The movie, as usual, doesn't do justice to the book. The names were changed from the characters in the book, ruining the feel for those who have read the story. It just felt like another bland cop story. They could have done so much more with it, but this can be said of most good books that end up being bad films. It was an ill-conceived project. Many of the subtleties that were in the book, you just can't feel them on film. I don't feel that they made a concerted effort to convey these subtleties to begin with. There is much more to Uhnak's book than a simple detective story. There are other things that lie beneath the surface which were not conveyed on the screen.

Contrary to what was posted in a previous comment, The Bait was first broadcast on March 13, 1973, more than a year and a half before Police Woman debuted in September 1974. It was actually based on a 1968 novel by former policewoman Dorothy Uhnak. Sure, it seems cheesy today -- just like all those other made-for-TV thrillers from the early 70's -- but The Bait was exciting and, with a young and super hot Donna Mills in the lead role, it definitely held your attention. I thought Donna gave a strong performance. She was effective and appealing. I'm not sure if it was in reference to this particular film, but I remember a reviewer stating that nobody does wide-eyed looks of terror as well as Donna Mills! Looking back, it's funny to see what was considered provocative at that time. The short skirts and outfits that Mills' character wore to catch the attention of the rapist-killer are pretty tame by today's standards.