What could have worked better as part of an hour long nighttime drama series ends up being stretched out to eternity twice as long as a 90 minute TV movie, minus commercials. Having dealt with a New York City earthquake while trapped underground in "Short Walk to Daylight", now James Brolin is trapped by a long evening with dobermans in this thriller as a divorced man who was the victim of a mugging is left in a department store bathroom and must try to get out while fighting with guard dogs left to prevent the store from being robbed.
That in itself is an unpleasant bit of tension, nail biting for that flat alone, but cloying when you throw in an ex-wife, Susan Clark, their daughter and her new husband, played by Earl Holliman who seems to be trying to imitate Marlon Brando with cotton in his mouth in "The Godfather". Daughter Tammy Harrington obviously can't stand her new stepfather, and that means a bit of a soap opera subplot that really extends the story to an unnecessary length.
It turns out that Brolin, whose marriage broke up because of his drinking problem, had promised to make his wife, daughter and the new husband at the airport for dinner, and when he doesn't show up, Holliman wants to blame it on him going out to get plastered. but Clark suspects through women's instinct that something else is up, and after visiting several local bars that he used to frequent, they go to the police. Robert Hooks becomes involved as the investigating officer, tangling this up further when they have to visit the more. The writers try to hard to make this complex, and ultimately, that just makes it irritating.
That in itself is an unpleasant bit of tension, nail biting for that flat alone, but cloying when you throw in an ex-wife, Susan Clark, their daughter and her new husband, played by Earl Holliman who seems to be trying to imitate Marlon Brando with cotton in his mouth in "The Godfather". Daughter Tammy Harrington obviously can't stand her new stepfather, and that means a bit of a soap opera subplot that really extends the story to an unnecessary length.
It turns out that Brolin, whose marriage broke up because of his drinking problem, had promised to make his wife, daughter and the new husband at the airport for dinner, and when he doesn't show up, Holliman wants to blame it on him going out to get plastered. but Clark suspects through women's instinct that something else is up, and after visiting several local bars that he used to frequent, they go to the police. Robert Hooks becomes involved as the investigating officer, tangling this up further when they have to visit the more. The writers try to hard to make this complex, and ultimately, that just makes it irritating.