Jack Nicholson's film debut. He plays a teenage kid who shoots two other guys (off screen) and panics. He thinks he's killed them (he hasn't) so he gets some hostages and holes up in a room. Soon the police have the place surrounded and order him to let the hostages go and give up. But he's scared and doesn't know what to do.
Basically this could be a pretty good half hour TV show...but this is stretched out to 75 minutes! The script is bland and very by the numbers. All the characters are clichéd and I saw every line of dialogue coming. This would be a thoroughly forgotten little movie by now if it weren't for Nicholson. Seeing him so young is fascinating in itself and seeing him doing his best with such subpar material is interesting. Unfortunately he's NOT the whole movie. There are long stretches when he's not even on screen which are more than a little boring. The acting by everybody is no more than OK but nobody could make this script interesting. So worth seeing if you're a Nicholson fan but it's a pretty bad film. A 3.
Basically this could be a pretty good half hour TV show...but this is stretched out to 75 minutes! The script is bland and very by the numbers. All the characters are clichéd and I saw every line of dialogue coming. This would be a thoroughly forgotten little movie by now if it weren't for Nicholson. Seeing him so young is fascinating in itself and seeing him doing his best with such subpar material is interesting. Unfortunately he's NOT the whole movie. There are long stretches when he's not even on screen which are more than a little boring. The acting by everybody is no more than OK but nobody could make this script interesting. So worth seeing if you're a Nicholson fan but it's a pretty bad film. A 3.