THE EXECUTION

Loretta Swit, Sandy Dennis, Valerie Harper

THE EXECUTION (1985 telefilm). Director: Paul Wendkos.

In San Diego in 1970, several women who were survivors of the Birkenau concentration camp and who somehow met up with each other years later, get together each week to play mah jongg. Elsa (Sandy Dennis) spots a restaurant owner named Walter Grauman (Rip Torn of Sweet Bird of Youth) on a TV ad and is afraid that he may actually be Wilheim Gehbert, who raped and brutalized the women at Birkenau and was responsible for several thousand deaths. Marysia (Loretta Swit) agrees to find out if Walter has a certain scar on his back, and winds up sleeping with him when he doesn't. However, she is in for a rude awakening the next morning. The ladies decide that one of them will secretly murder Grauman, but things get complicated when an innocent man is arrested for the crime ...

Rip Torn with Loretta Swit

The Execution has an excellent premise but in its second half it becomes overly complicated, ignores points of law, and is almost sunk by its contrivances; even a final twist doesn't quite make up for the script deficiencies.  In fact, it becomes ridiculous at times. Loretta Swit, however, gives an outstanding performance, giving 150% to the role. The other ladies -- including Valerie Harper, Barbara Barrie and Jessica Walter  -- are good but a notch below Swit. Dennis indulges in her usual quirky all-tics-and-mannerisms acting style and is actually not that compelling. Of the male actors, Torn gives a good if second-rate performance, although Alan Miller and Peter White are fine as two of the spouses. Paul Wendkos also directed theatrical films such as The Burglar.

Verdict: No one expected Judgment at Nuremberg, but a film with this premise should have been much, much, more powerful -- Swit can not be faulted, however. **3/4. 

DON'T GO TO SLEEP

Robin Ignico

DON'T GO TO SLEEP (1982). Director: Richard Lang.

Phillip (Dennis Weaver) and his wife Laura (Valerie Harper) move into a new home with their two children, Mary (Robin Ignico) and Kevin (Oliver Robins of Poltergeist). Strange things begin to happen and Mary seems to be under the spell of her sister, Jennifer (Kristin Cumming), who died in a car accident some time before. Is Mary psychologically disturbed due to the trauma of her sister's death or is Jennifer's ghost out to destroy the family? Don't Go to Sleep shouldn't work, but thanks to excellent acting from the entire cast, taut and suspenseful direction, and a compelling script by Ned Wynn, it emerges as a memorable, creepy, disquieting and very uncompromising horror telefilm. Tragedy keeps piling on tragedy, and Weaver [Duel] and Harper [Stolen: One Husband] excel in difficult roles wherein they have to deal with things that (hopefully) few people would have to endure in real life. A cast stand-out is Robin Ignico, one of the most talented child actors I've ever seen, giving a nuanced, complex, and chilling performance. Ruth Gordon is peppery as the grandmother and Robert Webber is fine as a psychologist.

Verdict: A family tragedy disguised as horror. ***.

STOLEN: ONE HUSBAND aka I WANT HIM BACK

Valerie Harper

STOLEN: ONE HUSBAND (aka I Want Him Back/1990 telefilm). Director: Catlin Adams.

"I don't want what's rightfully mine -- I want what's his!"

Martin Slade (Elliott Gould of Ocean's Thirteen), married for over twenty years to wife Katherine (Valerie Harper), enters into an affair with his daughter's mentor, Samantha (Brenda Bakke), who is much younger of course, and eventually asks Katherine for a divorce. Katherine at first seems to blame her daughter, Jennie (Julie Warner) and spends her time stuffing her face with junk food. Then she and her best friend Lisa (Brenda Vaccaro) begin a harassment campaign against Martin and Samantha, but this begins to backfire when she finds herself legally locked out of her house ... Stolen: One Husband is a very entertaining and quite well-acted (especially by the wonderful Harper) made-for-TV dramedy that explores the situation of middle-aged women who have been cast off by their husbands but still love them. The movie does enter the world of pure fantasy when Katherine is told by an attractive and personable cosmetic surgeon, Peter (Bruce Davison of X-Men), that not only does she not need surgery (which she doesn't), but even asks her out to dinner -- sure, that happens to cast-off wives all the time! Valentina Quinn is fun as Imelda, the housekeeper, and Paul Joseph McKenna has a nice bit as the sympathetic and romantically-inclined bartender, Joe. The main problem with the movie is that Martin treats both women in his life so horribly, never considering their feelings, that it's unlikely that Katherine would ever consider taking him back. The ending makes a good point about divorcees realizing that they don't have to make the husband the center of their existence.

Verdict: Watch out for younger bimbos! *** out of 4.