Weekend of Terror

WEEKEND OF TERROR is about a pair of kidnappers named Eddie and Larry (Robert Conrad and Lee Majors). After botching their abduction -Eddie's a bit homicidal- the two scramble for a way to get the ransom money, even though their abductee is dead! Their solution? Why, grab a trio of nuns (Jane Wyatt, Carol Lynley, and Lois Nettleton) of course!

The brilliant plan is to pawn one of them off as their former victim. While this may sound like the setup for a screwball comedy, it's actually a made-for-TV suspense thriller. As such, it's not a bad movie. This is mostly due to the "decent crook" / "crazy, eeevil crook" dynamic, between the two assailants.

Majors plays his role as the more sedate Larry with laid-back ease, and Conrad's Eddie is dangerous, always about an inch away from his next maniacal rampage!

A little more worldly than her Sisters, Ellen (Nettleton) benefits from her less naive nature. Can she use this against these men, before it's too late?

A flashback to a time when movies like this seemed to be on every night! A fun way to spend an evening. Watch for Gregory Sierra in an early role as a cop...

What an excitement for me to have here the two heroes - at least Robert Conrad as Jim West, for WILD WILD WEST - from my childhood TOGETHER and in villains roles. When I watched SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN, I was actually not a child anymore but a young teen, but it's not important...I would have liked so much so see Majors in a COLUMBO episode, playing a wealthy crime mastermind.... In this very good suspense yarn, I am totally satisfied with with my younger years TV heroes playing bad guys. Jud Taylor was a prolific TV stuff provider and this one here proves his efficiency in terms of directing skills. However, I admit it could have been a bit better on some points...For instance the ending.

Handsomely-produced TV-movie from Paramount has two desperate men, holed up in an abandoned house in California's High Desert, hastily rearranging their kidnap-for-ransom plan after their female captive suffers a fall and dies; they decide to kidnap another woman to take the dead girl's place, but end up with three nuns in the bargain (two in robes and habits, one in civilian clothes: a pleated mini-skirt and go-go boots!). Fairly entertaining yarn, written by Lionel E. Siegel with tongue slightly in-cheek, begins well but unravels completely by the third act. This holy trio of Sisters (Lois Nettleton, Jane Wyatt and Carol Lynley) is quite an unlikely group--as are Robert Conrad and Lee Majors as the kidnappers! The characters are not fleshed out by the writing, therefore we never fear for their safety. Lynley has a big dramatic sequence late in the film which Siegel squashes merely so he can continue along with his formula (this may not have been his fault, however, as most television dramas from this era were not made to be surprising or provocative--just routine). However, Jud Taylor's competent direction and the interesting rural locales manage to hold interest for most of this "Weekend".

I thought it was a bit like Hitch-Hike or Last house on the Left movie. This movie was dry and very boring. Only good thing about it was the acting skill. Therefore i give the movie a weak 3 out of 10. I must say the plot was extremely weak and it' starts with two guys who kidnapping a young pretty lady for ransom money and one of the kidnapper chasing her and she accidentally trips and die. Then they must find a new pretty lady. And one of the men goes out to find someone. It end up with a good looking lady and two nun. And of course they have no money but still they keeping them as hostage. One of the kidnapper want to kill them, but the other companion won't. This movie could have been a lot better, but it went downhill early on.

One reviewer describes this as 'a pretty lame movie' and I am in total agreement. The film often makes little sense and you could certainly do better.

When the film begins, one of two kidnappers accidentally kills the lady they kidnapped. So they come up with a plan that makes absolutely no sense--to kidnap some poor lady and somehow convince the rich guy that the substitute is his daughter. Instead, the idiot kidnaps three nuns and what they do after that makes even less sense. But one of the kidnappers (Lee Majors) balks at his partner (Robert Conrad) when he plans on murdering two of the three nuns. Why only 2 of the 3? I have no idea.

There is nothing about this film that is good or excellent. It often makes little sense and the nuns occasionally behave like morons (especially when they are hiding and one betrays their hiding place by crying out!). Overall, a sloppy, silly movie that rarely does more than pass time.