Dying Room Only

Well-received but unsatisfying movie-of-the-week written by Richard Matheson, expanding his short story about a married couple driving through the desert who stop at a roadside diner for a bite to eat. The husband goes into the men's room and never comes out, leaving his wife in the hands of the suspicious-acting staff at the diner and the unsympathetic local law. Matheson could have taken this plot any which way, but instead settles on the most obvious scenario. I was hoping for something along the lines of "The Twilight Zone", perhaps placing the husband in an alternate reality. Instead, it's Formula 101--the old abduction plot--and the obviousness holds no suspense for us. In the lead, Cloris Leachman does very well, although she doesn't have much to work with. A promising premise, but I was "Dying" for a better denouement.

I just saw "Dying Room Only" for the first time in over 30 years, and this is a typically great 70's TV-movie thriller. A couple (Cloris Leachman looking pretty good, and hubby Dabney Coleman) stop at a lonely desert cafe (in the daytime, not the nighttime as the summary here states) and the husband disappears as the wife is in the ladies room. The only two possible witnesses (the cafe cook and customer Ned Beatty, in a great sleazy role) are saying nothing. What happened? Where did the husband go? The movie then takes off to have Cloris Leachman trying to figure it out, since she is getting almost no help at all from anyone. Is even the local cop in on it, whatever "it" may be? Everyone is suspect. Nighttime comes, and danger looms....

I do agree with the reviewer that stated this film could have been better in the second half. The first half is amazing - very suspenseful and thrilling. The second half kind of veers into "typical" fare but is still decent.

A bunch of familiar 70's faces round out the small cast. Especially since the film is fairly short at about 1:13 (most TV-movies back then were 90 minutes with the commercials) this is definitely a fun watch.

A favorite t.v. movie from the 70's. Again, Richard Matheson creates atmosphere and suspense out of almost nothing as a couple stops at a remote diner/motel and the husband never returns from the bathroom. From the bathroom? Who writes a suspense movie where the husband apparently falls in the toilet? The man who brought you the vindictive 16 wheeler of "Duel." Unlike that clever but overpraised feature, "D.R.O." (What's up with that title? It can't be a play on "S.R.O." can it? You don't buy tickets for the toilet?) stays close to realistic scale, and the less than apocalyptic climax is a face-off by two determined middle-aged women. Complain all you want - it worked for me then, it works for me now.

All must view this priceless gem.It creates a delicious sense of dread. Cloris Leachman's performance is unequalled.

You've read the plot for this television film on this page. What can I add? A married couple pulls up to a seedy diner on the way home from vacation. They are smack in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in the desert.

They encounter a nasty cook and a goof-ball customer. Both enter the bathrooms to wash up. She comes out, but he does not. She knocks on the door calling to him. No answer.

The fun begins. Kind of spooky at times. Good entertainment. Cloris Leachman is very good in this film. So are Ross Martin and Ned Beatty. And Dana Elcar does a good job as the sheriff. Oh, and the husband is a very young Dabney Coleman.

I would love to see this one again.