Heatwave!

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.

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.

When the film begins, it's inexplicably hot in California. This heat wave isn't just hot...but unrelenting. In fact, it's so bad that through the course of the movie, Frank and Laura Taylor (Ben Murphy and Bonnie Bedelia) find that society is breaking down--folks are out of work, supplies start running thin and chaos is breaking out. In an effort to get away from the crazy city, they head to a family mountain retreat in the mountains...but things are so bad that they are soon attacked and their car stolen. Could it be any worse? Well, Laura is pregnant!! Will they survive or are they completely screwed?

"Heatwave" is a very competently made film and it has some interesting things to say about human nature...at its best as well as at its worst. However, the film does pull its punches a bit...especially at the very end of the picture. Worth seeing but not among the best of the series.

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.

Two things you could easily find in the 70s were disaster movies and made-for-TV movies. Heatwave! (I love the added exclamation point) combines the two. The end result is a nice, little, enjoyable film. The movie focuses on Frank and Laura Taylor (Ben Murphy and Bonnie Bedelia) as they try to cope with and survive an unrelenting heatwave. Complicating matters, Laura is seven months pregnant. They decide to try to escape the heat and general nastiness of the city and head to Laura's parent's cabin in the mountains. But the heat and nastiness follow them. They are forced to hike the last several miles, which is rough on the pregnant Laura. Fortunately, one of the few remaining residents on the mountain is an old doctor. Laura prematurely goes into labor. With no modern medical equipment, no power, and no way to get back to civilization, will the baby survive?

Unlike modern films with their overblown special effects, Heatwave! is a much smaller, more intimate movie. It's the kind of movie that I'm not sure you could make today. The movie works primarily due to some outstanding acting and writing. The two leads, Murphy and particularly Bedelia, are great. There were times when Murphy got on my nerves, but that had more to do with his character than him as an actor. The supporting cast is strong. Lew Ayres, David Huddleston, John Anderson, and Dana Elcar are all veterans and more than capable. The script is well-written and provides a good amount of tension and suspense. The run-ins that Frank and Laura have with other people are interesting. I'm sure the message here is that we are all living in a world that is just one small disaster away from breaking down into chaos. Frank's encounter with the old man on the road is proof of that. There were, however, moments of manufactured tension that didn't quite work. I got a chuckle out of Laura's overly dramatic encounter with a raccoon. This was a 70s made-for-TV movie so the happy ending should come as no surprise. Still, the ingenious way they all pull together in the end to save the baby, however improbable, was nice.