Isn't It Shocking?

This is a great TV movie with a good story and many comic moments thanks to the excellent cast.

The only problem this movie has is that it hasn't stood the test of time as well as it might have.

Despite this, it's definitely worth viewing, particularly if you are an Alan Alda or Ruth Gordon fan.

I've found, after seeing a dozen or so of them, that made for TV seventies horror flicks are generally good for seventy minutes of entertainment. This one looked really good considering the comments about it, so I hoped that I'd be in for one of the better ones; however, that wasn't the case. It's not that this is a bad film, but it's not all that good either and certainly isn't one of the better made for TV movies from the seventies that I've seen. The plot is interesting enough, and focuses on a small town where a bunch of old people are dying. There are certain similarities between the deaths, and it leads Sheriff Dan Barnes (Alan Alda) to investigate. The plot plods along at a relaxing pace, and there's not a great deal of suspense or interest, which is a bit of a surprise since director John Badham would go on to make the very suspenseful thriller 'Nick of Time'...though that was twenty two years later. The small town setting provides a good place for the film to take place, but this isn't taken advantage of to any notable extent, and the film simply boils down to a simple ending. Overall, this film isn't terrible; but it's not great either, and I can't really recommend bothering to track it down.

"Isn't it Shocking?" is a low-keyed and inconspicuous TV-movie that greatly benefices from a terrific ensemble cast, an unusual but nevertheless intriguing premise and a script full of witty jokes and fun dialogues (and this in sheer contrast to the sober subject matter). This was one of the many legendary "ABC Movies of the Week" that were especially produced for cable-TV during the early seventies, and I have yet to encounter one of those that isn't worth tracking down. I was born in the wrong decade and the wrong continent in order to enjoy this series on actual television, but thanks to the modern wonders such as You Tube these old TV-movies still find their way to new fans. The story takes place in a small American town called Mount Angel, where in a short period of time three senior citizens – including the deputy Sheriff – die from seemingly ordinary heart failures that nevertheless raise the suspicion of Sheriff Dan. At the beginning of the film we witness how a strange and also elderly man comes to town and kills his first victim with a portable device that induces the heart failure. So the viewer knows the killer's identity immediately, but it's up to Sheriff Dan and his gossipy assistant Blanche to figure out why these gentle old folks are knocked off. They discover that all victims graduated together in the class of '28 so perhaps something sinister happened back then. It always amazes me how those modest ABC movies managed to rely on such acclaimed and respected actors and actresses! "Isn't it Shocking?" stars class players like Alan Alda ("MASH", "The Mephisto Waltz") and Edmond O'Brien ("The Wild Bunch", "Fantastic Voyage"), but also a splendid supportive cast including Louise Lasser, Will Greer and Ruth Gordon (as a character that may perhaps have inspired the "Crazy Cat Lady" from "The Simpsons"). This was also one of the first directorial efforts of John Badham, who would later make a handful of action favorites like "Blue Thunder", "Stakeout" and "Nick of Time". There's one remarkably spectacular sequence involving a battle with cars (!) but what I really liked most were the smooth jokes and sly interactions between the lead characters. Fun movie!

Can you really refuse a film with Edmund O'Brien, Ruth Gordon, Alan Alfa, Will Gerr, LIAM DUNN, LOUISE LASSER AND Lloyd Nolan?

Alan Alda: "Old people do not sleep in the nude!" How does he know? How many old people gas he slept with?

Ruth Gordon: "What kind of a pahty is this?"

So it does have some funny moments.

Mount Angel, a small New England community inhabited mostly by seniors, is beset with a serial killer; the bachelor chief of police and his kooky assistant figure out the murderer's motive. "Isn't it Shocking?", an ABC movie-of-the-week scripted by mystery writer Lane Slate and directed by John Badham, is full of talent, yet it fizzles out somewhere along the way. The teleplay, the handling and the performances are all offbeat, yet not odd or unusual enough; the scenario is tinged with black comedy, but it isn't funny enough; and, worst of all, there's no guesswork needed in these killings because neither Slate nor Badham is interested in making the film a mystery (the killer is revealed to us right off). Alan Alda has the perfect dryly-eccentric manner for a role like this; if he were comically frazzled, it would add too much weight to the material (he gives the proceedings the cautiously light touch it needs). But there's no sympathy for the elderly victims (the first of whom, a woman, is found stripped), and the succession of funeral services is too gloomy. Badham doesn't provide any sting (or, conversely, any dark humor) to the narrative; he's determined to bend this thing towards the bizarre but, like the pun in the title, he lacks taste and finesse.