Heatwave!

There probably isn't another movie out there that could make you thirstier than this one. Plot follows a young couple and their newborn through a devastating heat wave. Everyone's looking for water as the towns supply dries up. Things get tough especially on the baby. Look for the makeshift incubator. (Great Idea!) Reminds me of the Twilight Zone episode where the Earth shifts and heads towards the sun as the temperature keeps climbing. Acting is O.K. Worth a look on late night TV.

Well, now we know the first sign that the end is near: restaurants limit customers to one glass of water.

This is a better than average 70s TVM. I don't know if it was inspired by the blossoming environmental movement or the disaster film craze. In 2021, I find it comforting to watch old disaster films from a more civilized era.

Struggling independent young couple Murphy and Bedelia - he's a lowly clerk, she's pregnant - are two of the more memorable residents of a small town whom the heat is upon, where personal emotions and intensities are rising along with the temperature.

There's dramatically nothing new here, and it isn't new on a TV budget. But in saying that, the TV disaster cycle spawned by the success of the big-screen genre in the 70s was often to be found to be far more briskly entertaining than its bombastic big-budget counterparts. In fact, in Heat Wave! in particular, the tack factor remains pretty low and preposterousness is kept to a minimum, in favour of building tensions amidst characters and their situation.

It's a shame that these films aren't shown TV anymore, as in their way they can be a more thoughtful yet entertaining watch than today's mindless blockbusters, and often at half the length.

This film begins with a man named "Frank Taylor" (Ben Murphy) and his pregnant wife "Laura" (Bonnie Bedelia) lying in bed drenched in sweat due to a severe heatwave which has swept Los Angeles and indirectly caused massive brownouts all over the city. Eventually, with city resources strained to the breaking point and tempers flaring up as well, chaos erupts which in turn prompts Frank and Laura to leave Los Angeles and head to their parent's cabin in a more remote part of California. But even there the conditions aren't much better and not long afterward the impact of the weather crisis results in both Frank and Laura having to make major adjustments--along with some other equally tough decisions--in order to survive. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this made-for-television movie had some slow parts which caused it to drag a bit here and there. Fortunately, things improved near the end sufficiently enough for me to rate this movie a little higher. Average.

Heatwave! (1974)

** (out of 4)

ABC Movie of the Week has a large city battling one of the worst heatwaves the country has ever seen. Frank (Ben Murphy) and his pregnant wife Laura (Bonnie Bedelia) decide to jump in their car and try to make it to the top of a mountain where they hope to find a doctor as well as cooler temperatures but they hit one roadblock after another.

HEATWAVE! is a pretty bland movie from start to finish that's biggest flaw is its screenplay, which offers some rather unappealing characters as well as too many predictable moments. One of the biggest issues that I had with the film is how every single turn led the couple to another major issue. I'm not going to ruin some of the plot points here but let's just say that everything imaginable happens to the two but not for a second did I believe it. I also never really felt that the script was putting either of them into any real danger so that means there's no drama or suspense to be had.

Bedelia does turn in a good performance in the role of the 7 month pregnant woman who finds herself battling the heat. Murphy is also good in his role but his character is a major jerk, which is a turnoff as well. Lew Ayres shows up as a county doctor and it was fun seeing him and David Huddleston is also fun in his role as a beer salesman.

HEATWAVE! thankfully runs only 72 minutes or else it would have been more of a chore to sit through. As it is, it's mildly entertaining but there are just too many flaws for it to work.