Businessman Richard Crenna, getting ready for a dinner party in his New York City high-rise apartment, hears two gunshots coming from a nearby complex and sees a shadowy figure in the distant window; after reporting it to the police, Crenna is attacked in his basement by a man he cannot identify. Skeptical police investigator Vic Morrow has him come down to the station to identify guys from a line-up--which hardly seems logical, but never mind. Crenna gets feisty fiancée Patty Duke Astin involved, but when she is attacked through a chain-locked door (!), Crenna takes matters into his own hands. Completely illogical non-mystery steals liberally from Hitchcock's "Rear Window", but hasn't an ounce of the Master's style or wit (not even low-budget style or wit). Cast is rather weak: Crenna is so low-keyed throughout much of the movie that his eventual outburst in a bank seems to come from nowhere, while Astin wears kooky '70s outfits and makes exaggerated faces (both stars are wasted). Henry Winkler and John Travolta have uncredited bits, while Peter Link's score inappropriately--though amusingly--calls up the blaxploitation movies of this era (good for laugh, but totally out of place for a square movie-of-the-week like this). The New York locations seem to be well-captured, though a credit at the end suggests the picture was filmed in California! Either way, it's one lousy "Nightmare".
4 Reviews
Accidentally hits the bullseye
raymond-andre14 October 2009
Stupid movie that was churned out seemingly without much effort or thought.
I remember watching this when I was a kid and actually getting scared to death of it. I missed the ending because my parents sent me to bed and that made it worse.
At its heart the film has one frightening idea going for it. It was made very soon after the University of Dallas Texas sniper incident. The thought that you can be going about your business and some nut with a high powered rifle and a telescopic lens can just end your life was truly chilling.
The callous attitude of the police can make it all even worse.
I remember watching this when I was a kid and actually getting scared to death of it. I missed the ending because my parents sent me to bed and that made it worse.
At its heart the film has one frightening idea going for it. It was made very soon after the University of Dallas Texas sniper incident. The thought that you can be going about your business and some nut with a high powered rifle and a telescopic lens can just end your life was truly chilling.
The callous attitude of the police can make it all even worse.
Like Rear Window, but worst
ilcinefilo-18 October 2002
Richard Crenna is a witness of a crime on the front window (and the killer sees him!). He says the Police it was on the window in the same floor his flat is, but when they go, the flat is empty. What happened? That in the front building doesn't exist 13th floor, so he's wrong! Meanwhile, the killer goes for poor Crenna. Stupid son of Rear Window, with not enough money and brain.
Adult actors play Nancy Drew and one of the Hardy boys.
mark.waltz9 December 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Thank goodness that you only waste 70 minutes of your life on this TV movie with the genre of thriller listed, but little that can be described as thrilling. It's a combination of Patty Duke as a variation of her Neely O'Hara role from "Valley of the Dolls" and Richard Crenna as her businessman fiancee who in James Stewart fashion becomes obsessed with the belief that he saw a murder, or in Crenna's case, saw a flash of light which he believes came from a gun which committed an actual reported murder.
The future stars of the single season sitcom "It Takes Two" are hardly acting their age after the plot takes off with Duke doing everything Neely did minus the booze and dope. She's a New York stage actress so of course she had reason to come off as neurotic and dramatic, but Crenna acts like a 12 year old kid once his paranoia takes over. Of course there is real danger, but it's caused by their own stupidity.
I concur that the music score here is quite inappropriate, often comically so, and it's surprising that detective Vic Morrow doesn't try to take them down himself because of how they mess up his case. He needed to tie Crenna up and leave him in his apartment with nothing to listen to but those metal balls constantly slamming into each other.
A cameo by Henry Winkler as an auditioning actor is over the top while John Travolta is basically a quickly seen extra. Others in the cast as neighbors, building supers, gun salesmen, bus drivers and passengers are all given plenty of motive to stalk Crenna at least to make his character pay for being such a nuisance. The nightmare of the title is so generic, but very appropriate for the impact that this will have on the viewer.
The future stars of the single season sitcom "It Takes Two" are hardly acting their age after the plot takes off with Duke doing everything Neely did minus the booze and dope. She's a New York stage actress so of course she had reason to come off as neurotic and dramatic, but Crenna acts like a 12 year old kid once his paranoia takes over. Of course there is real danger, but it's caused by their own stupidity.
I concur that the music score here is quite inappropriate, often comically so, and it's surprising that detective Vic Morrow doesn't try to take them down himself because of how they mess up his case. He needed to tie Crenna up and leave him in his apartment with nothing to listen to but those metal balls constantly slamming into each other.
A cameo by Henry Winkler as an auditioning actor is over the top while John Travolta is basically a quickly seen extra. Others in the cast as neighbors, building supers, gun salesmen, bus drivers and passengers are all given plenty of motive to stalk Crenna at least to make his character pay for being such a nuisance. The nightmare of the title is so generic, but very appropriate for the impact that this will have on the viewer.
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