Death Sentence

Cloris Leachman plays a wife and mother about to go on vacation with her husband when she's picked for jury duty on a murder trial; naturally, she's eager to be a good citizen, becoming emotionally (and personally) involved in the legal proceedings. Aaron Spelling-Leonard Goldberg production for TV isn't a flashy vehicle for the leading actress, but it doesn't need to be. Leachman is an appealing 'ordinary' woman, a good listener with a compassionate nature, and both her home life and her dedication to finding the truth in the murder case are engaging. Nick Nolte has an early role as the accused killer, and Laurence Luckinbill is appropriately smug as Leachman's spouse. The plot, adapted from the novel "After the Trial" by Eric Roman, is far-fetched, but waiting to see how writer John Neufeld and director E.W. Swackhamer work out all the angles is entertaining.

"It was a dark and stormy night," typed Snoopy, writing the final scene of this murder mystery movie of the week.

"Death Sentence" was quite an enjoyable picture with many moments of tension and suspense. And it's always fun to see familiar television actors picking up a few extra bucks between seasons. I did wonder what audiences in 1974 thought of flighty and flaky Phyllis Lindstrom playing it straight as a tightly wound mousy housewife with undiagnosed OCD, meticulously recording her car's mileage after each jaunt. The producers did take pains to disguise her usual effervescent appearance, but nothing could hide Leachman's signature halting stop-start speech pattern. I thought she did a fine job in this subtle and unglamourous role.

Also cast against type were sitcom vets Alan Oppenheimer and William Schallert playing the poor man's Perry Mason and Hamilton Burger. Their comedic default settings were on display, however, with Oppenheimer's mischievous grins as he made outrageous speculations he knew would be stricken from the record (even if not the minds of the jury). And Schallert's apoplectic objections were akin to those Mr. Pomfritt once made to Dobie and Maynard's monkeyshines.

Special mention must be made of Laurence Luckinbill toggling between calm reserve and wild-eyed wacko and whose manic facial expressions brought to mind his over-the-top performance as Sybok in STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER. He was well cast and it was his unpredictability that lent the story much of its suspense. I loved him looming from the balcony and idly plucking a leaf as a metaphor for... murder.

I wondered if Woody Allen of all people caught this movie on an idle evening. The crazy mistress scene has striking parallels to the similar confrontation between Anjelica Huston and Martin Landau in CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS. One almost sympathizes with the adulterous man who ends the affair with dignity and grace and suddenly faces an unhinged hell-hath-no-fury spurned woman shrieking threats of exposing him to his wife and community. I mean, did Marilyn really think screaming about ruining his life would win his heart and woo him away from his wife and children?

Vicki Lawrence taught me not to trust my soul to no backwoods southern lawyer. I would add sitcom stars playing lawyers in TV movies. Two glaring oversights by the attorneys in this case: (1) the scarf was left wrapped around the neck of the victim. Since it had been for two winters wrapped around the neck of the murderer, it likely had tell-tale hairs, cologne or aftershave traces or other incriminating evidence embedded within it. No mention was made of a forensic test ever being conducted, just the banal fact it was a common scarf available in a lot of local stores.

And (2) was what should have been the defense's trump card: The coroner declared the victim was killed at 10pm with a window of an hour each way. The bartender and the policeman should have been subpoenaed to testify that Nick Nolte's character was languishing in the bar long before 10 o'clock, long enough to drink himself into a stupor. And if Nolte had murdered his wife, would he (a) have left the body on the floor, and (b) have allowed a policeman to take him all the way inside his home?

I think these incontrovertible facts would have punctured even Mr. Bracken's premature and impenetrable conviction that Nolte was guilty. But they were inexplicably never raised.

A quibble that could have quashed the testimony of Mayberry's own Hope Summers: She testified to watching her game show from 8:30 to 9. She later adds she went to bed at 10, "right after my movie." Huh? What movie runs one hour? And besides, we clearly hear a game show ending when she turns off the set and announces "show's over." There never was a movie.

Another quibble: What was with Murray MacLeod hemming and hawing and keeping it fair until provoked, then suddenly vividly recalling the car was a cream-colored station wagon? His cheeky testimony should have been impeached not chuckled along with.

A credits quibble: Herb Voland played the harrumphing jury foreman Mr. Bracken, not Lew Brown as the credits read. Brown played the man holding out on a verdict, while the woman going all Henry Fonda was played by Meg Wylie. Of course, Cloris was holding out too but wasn't questioned. She had her reasons... very compelling ones too, as it turned out.

But it was Cloris' cake in the rain moment racing about and imagining things through windows where the movie kinda lost me (and lost a star). It also lost momentum as the conversation between Leachman and Luckinbill dragged on when we all knew what happened and what was going to happen. Cloris had to know if her husband murdered Marilyn he would kill her too.

A sequestered juror escaping would probably result in a mistrial, but of course startling new evidence was uncovered. I'm glad the movie ended where it did, leaving me confident that Nolte would be acquitted and free to murder his mother-in-law Doreen Lang, who knew all along he was innocent and her daughter pregnant by a paramour. But that's just fiction. Pity poor Luckinbill, whose real-life mother-in-law was Lucille Ball o' Fire, the original henna-rinse ginger.

Seeing the name 'Nick Nolte' prominently displayed on the DVD jacket made me buy this film. I am sorry I did. Nolte has no more than a few lines to say. The other actors are *all* great. The problem is the scenario, which is full of holes. This, in a judicial suspense drama, is fatal. I suspect that my DVD only has a shortened version (74 minutes) of a longer film (90 minutes according to your database) that might explain the glaring holes. On my DVD, the picture quality is *worse* that what you would expect from a standard-resolution TV picture. The scenario-writer is billed as 'John Nuefield' instead of 'John Neufeld'. Is this a spelling mistake ? The year in the copyright notice at the ending credits states '1972' instead of '1974'. In any case, it is certainly a Spelling mistake as Aaron Spelling produced this El-Cheapo picture. Avoid.

This is a well-acted, well-written, well-directed little murder-suspense piece that is still quite watchable and entertaining.

Unfortunately, this is being promoted as a Nick Nolte movie on DVD. He is only in about four scenes for about ten minutes. The stars here are Cloris Leachman, Laurence Luckinbill, and William Schallert. Cloris Leachman is best known for her role on the "Mary Tyler Moore" television Show, but she was in 80 television shows before that and has been in about 80 television shows and movies since then. In films, she is best known for her role in Mel Brooks "Young Frankenstein" movie. Fewer people remember that she won an Oscar for her role in the "Last Picture Show."Her movie career started with a great small role of a young woman running nude on a Highway at the start of "Kiss Me Deadly" (Aldridge, 1956). Here she is terrific as the housewife who slowly comes to realize that her husband may be a killer. Laurence Luckinbill is excellent as the husband. He gives a very natural and smart performance, going against the stereotypes of the genre. William Schallert, with over 350 television appearances is legendary. He gives his usual lovable and sympathetic performance as a clever defense attorney.

The movie is mainly a courtroom drama with the gimmick that one of the jurists is actually involved with the real murderer. The suspense comes from the jurist slowly putting together the clues to figure this out. Some things ring a bit hollow here and there like the prosecutor making basic mistakes while presenting his case, but we can just chuckle over the goofs and enjoy the rest. Overall, it is a pleasant and suspenseful 74 minutes.

A passably entertaining made-for-TV thriller, "Death Sentence" reveals the killer in the opening scene. Laurence Luckenbill strangles his annoying blonde mistress with his own yellow scarf, because she threatened to go public with their affair, which would have destroyed his cherished family. Cut to the courtroom, where Luckenbill's wife, Cloris Leachman, has been accepted as a juror in the trial of Nick Nolte, who is on trial for the murder of his wife, the woman that Luckenbill killed in the opening scene. If the premise sounds a bit far fetched, it is, not to mention the murdered woman preferring Luckenbill to the young Nolte. Based on the novel After the Trial, the film cuts back and forth between the courtroom testimony and Leachman's domestic scenes with her husband and children. As the testimony progresses and evidence is presented, Leachman slowly suspects her husband's involvement.

The performances are uneven; Leachman is good as the wife, intently listening to witnesses, while slowly connecting the dots. However, Luckenbill, the family-values man, overacts at times, and poor Nolte sits looking at his hands for most of the movie, until he provides brief testimony in his own defense. Director E. W. Swackhamer keeps the proceedings moving fast enough to distract viewers from the inconsistencies and gaps in logic. Absolutely no motive or evidence are presented to implicate Nolte, other than the malicious dislike of his mother-in-law and unreliable claims from a nosy neighbor. Leachman's suspicions are all circumstantial, and some of her actions are completely implausible. However, for non-demanding viewers with an hour or so to kill, "Death Sentence" is decent entertainment, if they just go with the flow and do not ponder the details.