In reviewing this awful movie let us start with the awfully big story hole in James Lee Barrett's awful screenplay. Namely, how in the world could a black man be elected sheriff of the very segregated southern town of Colusa in 1970? Barrett makes no attempt at explanation beyond a vague reference to "organizers" who have "fled North" once Jim Price is in office. I wish Barrett had delved deeper into this paranormal phenomenon. It sure would have made for a more interesting film than this tired rehash of "In The Heat Of The Night" with all the small town, redneck cliches left in but any drama or conflict between the white and black lawmen sharply curtailed once Price's resentful Caucasian predecessor turns white savior about thirty minutes in. Throw in Jim Brown's usual stolidity, an embarrassingly bad Frederic March performance (hate to see a great actor like March at the tail end of his career doing a crappy Lionel Barrymore imitation), slow as hell pacing from director Ralph Nelson (let's just say that the film does not pay off on its title) and music, selected and arranged by a former Republican lieutenant governor of California, that is actually offensive...like a Glenn Campbell ballad sung right after we see a dead girl in the highway following a drunk driving incident...and you can see why this thing is lucky to rate a 4. Indeed, if it were not for the performances of George Kennedy and Lynn Carlin as a loving but somewhat distant husband and wife there would be nothing to see here. C minus.
Review of Tick, Tick, Tick
