SHE CRIED MURDER (1973)

SEVENTIES MADE-FOR-TV GOODNESS.

  This is more like it, after the rather disappointing 70's TV movie DEATHMOON.  SHE CRIED MURDER is from the golden year of 1973 when they made the hell out of these TV flicks.  Only perhaps horror-adjacent, nonetheless it's just close enough to count during this countdown.  Widowed mother and model Sarah Cornell (Lynda Day George) is riding at the front of a subway train when she sees a woman pushed onto the tracks by a man in a trenchcoat and hat. 

As she disembarks the train, we (and she) see that man is none other than Telly Savalas.  Later that day, the police come to interview her and one of the policemen is none other than Telly Savalas; the man Sarah saw murder the woman.  Fearful and feeling threatened, Sarah tells Inspector Brody (Savalas) and Inspector Stepanic (Mike Farrell) that she really didn't see the man enough to describe him.  Later, Sarah takes her little boy out to lunch.  She is called to the phone and when she gets back, her son is missing.  Brody has snatched the kid and lured Sarah to an abandoned theater and tells her that, if she knows what's good for her and her son, she will keep quiet about what she saw.  Sarah manages to send a backdrop careening down onto the stage.  Brody must jump out of the way and he falls apparently dead into the orchestra pit.  Sarah calls the police and reports the dead man but, when the cops arrive, there's no dead Brody.  Now we venture into familiar horror territory of the "Ray Liotta in UNLAWFUL ENTRY" psycho cop with Inspector Brody hot on Sarah's trail in order to silence her.  The woman Brody murdered was a hooker blackmailing Brody with incriminating photos.  Fortunately, Stepanic searches the dead woman's apartment and finds heroin packets in a bowl of jelly beans and the aforesmentioned blackmail photos of she and Brody in flagrante.  Stepanic informs his boss and the police begin a manhunt for Brody.  But Brody now is a wild wolf on the prowl and off the grid using all his police connections to track down Sarah.  Will Stepanic and the police be able to stop Brody and save Sarah in time?  

There is nothing really special or original about SHE CRIED MURDER but it's immensely enjoyable to watch.  It really is the epitome of how great 1970's TV movies (of the horror persuasion) could be.  At an incredibly tight 74 minutes, the movie barrels along without a pause.  Lynda Day George is very effective and sympathetic as Sarah Cornell; feeling like a fish out of water but determined to keep her son (and herself) safe as well as doing the right thing.  She's really terrific in this.  Telly Savalas is just about to embark on his TV series KOJAK and is also in top form in his villainous persona.  Mike Farrell (who I've never been THAT keen on) is also very good; underplaying his role as good cop Stepanic wonderfully.  Kate Reid has a small role as Sarah's friend/co-worker who lends Sarah her apartment in which to hide from Brody.  And a small role that should please horror fans occurs late in the film.  Sarah is once again on a subway train being stalked by Brody.  She attempts to ask help from a passenger.  That man is played by James Edmond who, a year later, would play Lynne Griffin's Dad in the classic BLACK CHRISTMAS!  The entire movie plays like an extended 70's cop show (in the vein of COLUMBO, THE ROCKFORD FILES or MCMILLAN & WIFE) and that's a great complement coming from me.  Director Herschel Daugherty helmed another made-for-TV horror/thriller the year before with the Elizabeth Montgomery starrer THE VICTIM and here he has a tight control of the pacing.  Another wonderful thing is the evocative 70's score which I found wonderful.  And now I know why.  When I looked at the credits, the score was composed by John Cacavas who, the year before this, composed the music for the classic HORROR EXPRESS also starring Telly Savalas.  This is way more enjoyable than it has any right to be and I had a blast.