Final Performance

Driving down a lonely stretch of highway......checking into an isolated motel......a mentally unbalanced proprietor......an unexpected murder......an innocent victim......"Final Performance" may be Psycho's distant cousin, but the connecting elements are there.

Franchot Tone, an actor from Hollywood's Golden Years, has an apparent field day portraying the crazed proprietor of a rustic motel (the cabin variety) located somewhere in rural California. Actress Sharon Farrell is perfectly cast as an emotionally distressed young soul who is Tone's "white slave." She gains the audience's empathy within the first seconds of her screen time, and (we) hope that she attains her freedom by episode's end. If you haven't already read the other comment writer's "spoiler" summary or this web site's synopsis, you'll be surprised at what is disclosed in the final scene of "Final Performance"-- macabre, to say the least. Norman Bates, your Mother's calling......

First-rate Hitch. The hook's a real grabber. So what's going on with teen cutie Rosie (Farrell). Nice guy Cliff (Perry) picks her up hitchhiking on a country road. She's frazzled and desperate to get out of the little near-by town. So why then does she lie to the sheriff who stops good samaritan Cliff for speeding. Poor Cliff, he gets a ticket, then gets his clunker hauled back to town after it breaks down. Now he's stuck in a motel where unpredictable Rosie works with weirdo owner Rudolph (Tone) who is living in his show biz past and his big specialty act. But just what exactly was that stage specialty, and do we really want to find out.

Good suspense all the way through. There's some padding midway, probably to accommodate movie vet Tone. Nonetheless, he turns in a sinister, bravura performance. Farrell too shines as the desperately ditsy Rosie, while Perry makes a convincing bystander caught up in who knows what. Anyway, don't miss the highly suspenseful hour and its nifty climax.

(In passing—note that Cliff's clunker car is an Edsel, a notorious lemon in its day. Also, I'm surprised the script identifies Wyoming as where the events take place. Usually, the locale would remain understandably anonymous. But considering the arrogant sheriff, the mud hut motel, and the weird goings on, the hour's not exactly a tourist brochure for that wonderfully scenic state.)

As reviewers are commenting on the motel setting like ''Psycho'', I would like to add the faded vaudevillian that Franchot Tone plays makes this like ''Psycho'' meets ''Whatever Happened To Baby Jane''.

A young man encounters a traffic cop and then gets involved with a bizarre old vaudevillian with an equally bizarre grip over a frightened young woman, Rosie (Sharon Farrell) who is found trying to run away.

I found the ending unsatisfying and one of the worst in any Hitchcock TV show. Until then its a good novelty for those who may have only seen Franchot Tone as a matinée idol of 30's and 40's movies.

This is about a weird town where a young man, a writer heading for Hollywood, finds his Edsel isn't running and needs it fixed. Before that, however, a pretty young woman flags him down and jumps in the front seat. She also wants to go to Hollywood and he agrees to, but circumstances start going haywire. He meets an old vaudevillian who has an act with Rosie. He is over the hill and has no idea what is working now. The young guy keeps getting propositioned, but the old guy keeps making demands on him. Ultimately we have about fifty minutes that lead to one of the most bizarre moments I've seen.

Cliff (Roger Perry) is a writer driving cross country to Hollywood. On the way, he stops to pick up a hitchhiker and only moments later, the Sheriff arrives...announcing that Cliff has broken all sorts of laws....speeding, reckless driving, resisting arrest and trying to force the young lady to get into his car!! He obviously is being set up. However, suddenly this ISN'T the plot. Now, instead of Cliff being some victim of a small town shakedown, he finds himself in the middle of a bizarre love triangle....with Rosie, a broken down old man (Franchot Tone) and himself.

The ending of this episode is pretty weird and makes the film only mildly disappointing....but disappointing it was. The plot just seemed like a couple different episodes chopped up and shoved together. Mildly interesting and a bit frustrating as well.