It's ironic that black sheep son Kristoffer Tabori chooses this particular time to drop on his parents Rod Taylor and Dina Merrill as they are planning a trip with family friend Janet Margolin by private plane to the destination where their other son was killed, presumably an accident caused by Tabori. Having skedaddled when that tragedy occurred, Tabori is broke and needs his family's financial support. Mom Dina is very happy to see her son, her alcohol problem having increased when he disappeared, affecting her marriage to Taylor, but daddy Rod isn't as thrilled, and the antagonism between them is quite obvious. But they are soon on their way and Margolin, the girlfriend of the late son, tries to become peacemaker. Issues with the equipment causes the small plane to safely crash in the middle of nowhere, and more tensions in the family erupt, everything from mom's going through withdrawal symptoms to dad's unfolding hatred of his son which causes him to physically attack Tabori over a stupid mistake.
The situations of this intense drama aren't really far-fetched no matter how ridiculous they seem, and Merrill in particular is excellent as she deals with her elements of the story as a loving mother with lots of problems who, pushed to face her mortality in a situation without access to liquor. Taylor isn't a complete brute, holding his anger in for as long as he can, yet pompous to his son in a way that many fathers are when they are disappointed. It's easy to see the motivations of these characters and that makes you root for them to get out of this situation unharmed even though one of the characters does have a very serious life-threatening accident.
It's intriguing to see the upper crust Merrill get down and dirty as she pulls a plant out of the ground by its roots to create a way for the plane to find a path to take off again. It certainly didn't look like any stand-in to me, and it showed how the socialite heir to a billion dollar fortune could get down and dirty with everybody else. Why nobody ever cast her and lookalike Constance Towers as sisters is certainly a mystery to me as I would have remade Dina's segment of "The Letters" with Dina in the Barbara Stanwyck role and Constance in Dina's. Look for Ed Begley Jr. In the beginning as Tabori's friend who drops him off.
The situations of this intense drama aren't really far-fetched no matter how ridiculous they seem, and Merrill in particular is excellent as she deals with her elements of the story as a loving mother with lots of problems who, pushed to face her mortality in a situation without access to liquor. Taylor isn't a complete brute, holding his anger in for as long as he can, yet pompous to his son in a way that many fathers are when they are disappointed. It's easy to see the motivations of these characters and that makes you root for them to get out of this situation unharmed even though one of the characters does have a very serious life-threatening accident.
It's intriguing to see the upper crust Merrill get down and dirty as she pulls a plant out of the ground by its roots to create a way for the plane to find a path to take off again. It certainly didn't look like any stand-in to me, and it showed how the socialite heir to a billion dollar fortune could get down and dirty with everybody else. Why nobody ever cast her and lookalike Constance Towers as sisters is certainly a mystery to me as I would have remade Dina's segment of "The Letters" with Dina in the Barbara Stanwyck role and Constance in Dina's. Look for Ed Begley Jr. In the beginning as Tabori's friend who drops him off.