GamerTab That was an excellent one.

VividSimon Simply Perfect

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

mark.waltz Both parts were played by Edward G. Robinson, the first at the start of his film career and rise to fame, the later nearing his September Song, and filled with heart and an undying spirit. Unfortunately, this TV movie is extremely depressing, even if its star performance is one you'll never forget. In the opening scene, Robinson, who is retired and living with son Martin Balsam in the suburbs, visits his old neighborhood and longtime close friend Sam Jaffe, witnessing a horrifying crime, and desperately trying to find somebody who believes him. Unwilling to give up or be told that he is slowly becoming forgetful (dementia or Alzheimer's are never mentioned), Robinson decides to investigate on his own, running several times in the man (Percy Rodriguez) he swears he saw beat Jaffe to death with a rubber hose. People in the old neighborhood swear he is confused, and when an obvious aging hooker (Ruth Roman) tries to pick him up, this leads him to further danger that might further endanger his life!My first issue with this is trying to figure out the location. Certain aspects would indicate Los Angeles (palm trees in the background, footage that looks like part of downtown L.A.) and other aspects would indicate the lower east side of Manhattan (mentions of Avenue C, the apparent entrance to the Manhattan Bridge). The other is the very abrupt ending that leaves the viewer hanging, and even if the writer was trying to indicate that some issues are never resolved satisfactorily in life, the viewer did deserve some answers for some of those unanswered questions. Still, some of the details reveal much about the corruption going on within city politics, with councilman Martin E. Brooks somehow tied in with Rodriguez, citizens either corrupted or too much in fear of Rodriguez to reveal what they know, and a mental health nurse (Virginia Christine) who has a Nurse Ratched feel to her treatment plan for Robinson. I love the way, though, that Balsam cuts her off as he storms out to try to find his father, and when he expresses his heartache at seeing his father losing his wits, the look on both his and wife Diane Baker's face are extremely touching.It is those moments and a few other elements (especially the two young black men who go out of their way to try to help Robinson when they realize what kind of danger he is in) make this worth watching in spite of the serious failings of the script and movie as a whole. Robinson, just a few years before his moving performance in "Soylent Green", is truly touching, yet in spite of his frail appearance, it is obvious that he is not going out of his life without a fight. Ed Asner, as a psychiatrist assigned to try to find out the truth about what Robinson did or did not see, gives a gentle performance, although his methods aren't necessarily in his patient's best interest, and evidence of how fortunate the public is that mental health treatment and dealings with the elderly have changed over the past 50 years. The imposing Rodriguez doesn't get to say much, but he's a frightening villain. Roman makes the most of her cameo as the aging floozy, and her scene with Robinson in both the dive bar (where some very corrupt cops kick bathroom doors in for no apparent reason) and her apartment where her true nature is revealed. This is a flawed TV movie with good intentions that works on some levels but unfortunately needed more development and a real conclusion to be truly satisfying.

utgard14 Man, TV movies in the '70s were so much better than they are today. Hell, many of them are even better than theatrical films today. This is an engrossing movie starring the great Edward G. Robinson as an elderly man who sees his friend murdered but can't get anyone to believe him. It's a well-written and fairly gritty picture with a fine cast of familiar faces backing up Robinson, who's just dynamite. The ending is a bit of a downer but that was the '70s for you. Other reviewers seem to be picking on "why didn't anyone believe him" as a major flaw with the film. I just can't disagree more. I mean, were we watching the same movie? First, there's the underlying theme of how the elderly are treated at the heart of all this. The well-meaning but full-of-it shrink even compares them to adolescents. Second, there's the fact that there wasn't one shred of evidence to back him up. They spent the majority of the film showing him trying to convince people only to have it repeated over and over that there simply was no proof. So it was his word versus the evidence, which is all that would matter in reality to anyone but those who loved him. The son was the most sympathetic to his plight and even that wasn't much. The daughter-in-law, the real villain of the piece in my view, seemed like she couldn't muster an ounce of sympathy for the sweet old man. I half-expected her to be in on the cover-up! There simply was nothing to back up what he was saying. And the shrink going out investigating, which at least one reviewer took issue with, was more about the shrink trying to prove to the old man that he was wrong than it was about trying to seriously investigate the case.

jarrodmcdonald-1 Someone uploaded this classic old TV movie on YouTube yesterday. Within hours it had thousands of views, so that might suggest people were bored and had nothing better to do than watch Eddie Robinson in something from 1970, or else this was something people had been eager to see for a long time. You can tell it was close to the end of his life because of his advanced age on camera. He plays a man turning 70, but in real life he was 76 almost 77 when he filmed his part. He has scenes where he goes up and down stairs (once all the way down a fire escape) and stretches where he is wandering streets in a bad part of town. So obviously the actor was fit enough for the role, but it sounds like he has emphysema because there are a lot of weird deep breaths in his line deliveries (he would die of cancer just over two years later). I felt the performances were very good, from both Robinson and Martin Balsam who plays his son. That's why I'm giving it a score of 8. Also, Sam Jaffe has a memorable turn as a murder victim, and so does Ruth Roman as a barfly who helps crooks. In fact Roman comes the closest to upstaging Robinson, and she's hardly trying-- she's simply that good. But of course the script is focused on Robinson's character, an old man who tries to convince others he did actually see a murder and his life is in danger. Since a lot is said to establish him as a man who always told the truth, it's rather ridiculous they all think he's lying in this instance. The dialogue is downright terrible where they're all coming up with excuses why they shouldn't believe him. Also, it was entirely unbelievable that Robinson could get away from the killer so easily during a scene where a hotel room catches fire. I am sure a real killer would have let the drapes burn and prevented our hero from escaping. Meanwhile, Ed Asner appears as a well-meaning shrink who strangely starts to play detective and goes with Balsam out into the streets to find out whether Robinson did in fact witness a murder. Since they've gone out of their way to say Robinson is suffering from paranoia, why would they all of a sudden think there is any merit in his story? Also, why would a psychiatrist think he can do a better job than the police, and when would he find the time to leave his other patients to investigate? Not very realistic at all.Overall the story has some interesting characters and performances. And I would say the far-fetched plot does manage to build to a memorable ending. But there is something lacking, something still not fully satisfying. Either Robinson's character should have been presented as someone with a real history of paranoid schizophrenia or he should have been known as a compulsive liar, a man who usually never told the truth about business or family matters. If he had these character defects in the past, it would make his true story that much more difficult to swallow. Another possibility was they could have had the killer threatening to harm his family and forcing him to live in fear in a more realistic way.

Yavor Markov I have watched this movie a long time ago, but i have a vivid memory of it. It was often mentioned as an example for how a thriller should be made. This is TV at his best - it will not get any better. Everything is perfect - plot, direction, and what a performance by Robinson, Balsam and the rest! Robinson shows that he was capable of much more than playing mob bosses. Balsam is one of the most underrated character actors of his time. I can hardly count all the movies he was in, and in every single one he delivered a solid performance. I earlier days "The old man who cried wolf" was considered a classic and aired often. Sadly i never saw it on VHS or DVD. I also did not hear that it was aired lately on any major TV Station.