Cbs Tuesday Night Movie with Murder in Mind

Elizabeth Montgomery, looking svelte and youthful, returns to TV films with a based-on-fact number in which she plays realtor-eatery owner Gayle Wolfer, but it's a humdrum affair written by Daniel Freudenberger. Sometimes flirting with suspense, it early on does give viewers another look at lots of blood.

Elizabeth Montgomery, looking svelte and youthful, returns to TV films with a based-on-fact number in which she plays realtor-eatery owner Gayle Wolfer, but it’s a humdrum affair written by Daniel Freudenberger. Sometimes flirting with suspense, it early on does give viewers another look at lots of blood.

Wolfer, living with one of her real estate agents, Bob Sprague (Robert Foxworth), goes alone at night to a secluded house to meet the owners (Kevin O’Rourke, Mary Ann Hagan) and out-of-state prospect Furman (Howard Rollins Jr.). Before anyone can get down to real estate business, Furman pulls a gun, shoots them and takes off with some cash.

All three survive, though the husband, who’s brain damaged, never reappears and the wife turns up only summarily. The police are stymied, though well intentioned, and Wolfer starts her journey to find the assailant. By chance, at a county fair, she sees him: He’s a local uniformed cop. Though the police go after him, he’s on the loose and Wolfer finds she’s a damsel in distress. But indications that she’s over-reacting, which usually means in such a drama that the heroine’s in a real pickle, seep through, and a false alarm only peters out.

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Furman’s arrest scene is a neat bit of writing and performing by Rollins and Ronny Cox, who limns a police lieutenant, but the trial scenes are abrupt, the femme witness doesn’t even appear. The choppy drama, which involves an attempted drug sale, does offer a lovely sequence in which Wolfer’s great aunt (played charmingly by Maureen O’Sullivan) advises too-busy-to-enjoy-life Wolfer to start collecting memories.

Director Michael Tuchner, working with the uneven script, finds moments of tension, as when Wolfer’s struggles to overcome her wounds, but the meller, instead of building to a climax, simply concludes, after a TV announcement of the trial outcome, with Wolfer’s daughter’s wedding party gathering for a photo.

Montgomery creates a dynamic if not sympathetic character whose bravery almost folds as the danger mounts. Foxworth is an OK support, and Cox offers a strong arm. Rollins does a good job as both the crook and the accused, but the role doesn’t have much dimension.

Tech credits are good.

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