I rarely give these programmers (especially PRC) more than a five or six rating, but this one rises a notch above on the strength of a decent plot and some twists that keep you guessing. Unfortunately, the biggest puzzler of the story is dispensed with in the first five minutes. Where WAS Norma Craig for the past seven years? If you dwell on that bit of information you'll wind up too distracted for the rest of the story.
I've seen a few flicks with Hugh Beaumont before he became Mr. Cleaver, and if that's the only thing you know him by, this one will probably shock you. He turns out to be every woman's worst nightmare once you fall out of his favor, and he usually sends his regrets by wire. I thought he did a pretty good job of playing the drunk in the early going. Did you notice how he slurred his speech and kind of bobbled around when he walked? Just the way I get when I've had one too many, which makes me think he might have actually been lubricated when he did those scenes.
On the flip side, Lucky Brandon (Edmund MacDonald) wasn't such a bad guy after all when you think about it. However isn't it just a bit too convenient that he goes to repay Norma the ten grand she loaned him on the night she was killed? So what happened with the dough? That's what I want to know.
You know, the Captain (Emmett Vogan) made a point of stating that Larry Craig's (Beaumont) alibi was just a little too perfect a couple of times and for the sake of the story it was. However you really have to suspend some disbelief over the idea that Larry woke up out of his drunken stupor, went over to Norma's place to kill her, and then returned to the 7-11 Club to go to sleep all over again. Seems to me like the adrenaline would have kicked in by then unless he was faking the whole drunk routine. Which makes him a better actor than I was going to give him credit for.
I've seen a few flicks with Hugh Beaumont before he became Mr. Cleaver, and if that's the only thing you know him by, this one will probably shock you. He turns out to be every woman's worst nightmare once you fall out of his favor, and he usually sends his regrets by wire. I thought he did a pretty good job of playing the drunk in the early going. Did you notice how he slurred his speech and kind of bobbled around when he walked? Just the way I get when I've had one too many, which makes me think he might have actually been lubricated when he did those scenes.
On the flip side, Lucky Brandon (Edmund MacDonald) wasn't such a bad guy after all when you think about it. However isn't it just a bit too convenient that he goes to repay Norma the ten grand she loaned him on the night she was killed? So what happened with the dough? That's what I want to know.
You know, the Captain (Emmett Vogan) made a point of stating that Larry Craig's (Beaumont) alibi was just a little too perfect a couple of times and for the sake of the story it was. However you really have to suspend some disbelief over the idea that Larry woke up out of his drunken stupor, went over to Norma's place to kill her, and then returned to the 7-11 Club to go to sleep all over again. Seems to me like the adrenaline would have kicked in by then unless he was faking the whole drunk routine. Which makes him a better actor than I was going to give him credit for.