Darren McGavin shows that he can direct a movie, and does it without including himself in the cast (except as a photograph). He has plenty of talented professionals in the cast, including Simon Oakland who has a good role as the sheriff -- but he's gone to early, as is Bobby Darin (who would soon be permanently gone, dying early the same year). Tessa Dahl plays Neal's daughter, and being Neal's real-life daughter, and looking very much like her mother, would seem a perfect bit of casting. But Tessa was raised in England and keeps her accent, which is immediately off-setting. The throwaway explanation is absurd. In addition, Gale Garnett plays Neal's daughter-in-law, and she's Australian -- although she only has a few lines so it's not that noticeable -- yet her lack of on-screen time is another example of the actor-waste in this film.
The film is badly written, simple as that. Ron Howard spends too much time hanging around town instead of just simply marching over to his mother and asking the questions he wants answers to. And his stirring up of Tessa's character takes the story away from him in order to turn the film into a wildly violent horror rampage. And within that rampage, Neal is dispatched without an on-screen confrontation that should've been the high moment of the film's climax.
A misfire. Too bad.
The film is badly written, simple as that. Ron Howard spends too much time hanging around town instead of just simply marching over to his mother and asking the questions he wants answers to. And his stirring up of Tessa's character takes the story away from him in order to turn the film into a wildly violent horror rampage. And within that rampage, Neal is dispatched without an on-screen confrontation that should've been the high moment of the film's climax.
A misfire. Too bad.