Review of Haunts of the Very Rich

Well-regarded ABC movie-of-the-week involves a group of seemingly disparate airplane passengers (including a malcontent from the Bronx, a priest, a newlywed couple, and a homely spinster who blossoms after a makeover) who have either responded to an advertisement or were led unawares aboard a flight to a mysterious destination; once they land in a tropical, isolated paradise, the question is why were they chosen to be there--and how will they ever get back home. Familiar cast of faces from TV do satisfactory work, though they bicker endlessly with each other and come up with colorless, vacant characterizations. Writer William Wood, working from T.K. Brown III's original story, steers the melodrama to a 'shocking' conclusion, but much of his dialogue is overwrought. As the island host who mysteriously vanishes, Moses Gunn might have been the template for Ricardo Montalban's future Mr. Roarke, but no fantasies are produced here.