Dancing with Danger

(Some Spoilers) Average made for TV Film-Noir movie with a really good musical soundtrack that has taxi-dancer Mary Dannon being investigated by a private eye who's working for her estranged husband Sam.

After agreeing to meet with Sam under the Hawthrone Bridge in Portland with the latest info about Mary PI Derek Lidon finds him murdered in his car. Later on the TV news Derek finds out that his former client Sam was a Portland bank executive and even more surprising that he wasn't married to Mary Dannon in fact he never even knew her.

Getting in touch with Sam's wife Doris Daniels it turns out that she never knew or heard of Mary either so what did Mary have to do with Sam while he was alive and what happened to him the night that he was murdered? Derek later finds out that Mary was to be married in Atlantic City some time ago but was left high and dry by her fiancé at the alter; a short time later he was found murdered just like Sam was with his throat slashed by a scissor.

Shadowing Mary to find out what she has to do with the Sam Daniels' murder it turns out that another man, Steve, who later danced with her, at the Star Brite Dance Club where she works, also ended up dead with, like Sam, his throat slashed. Trying to find the killer Derek himself almost gets murdered by him who slashed him with a pair of scissors but Derek was too drunk to stand upright thus the booze saved his life.

The police with detective Boris Chowder in charge of the murder investigation and PI Derek, Boris' former police partner, checking out all the clues are totally in the dark to who's involved in the "Scissor Murders" in Portland and it's Mary Dannon who's the only suspect that they could come up with. It turns out that the murder of Mary's fiancé in Atlantic City and the killings in Portland has a connection to them and it indeed was Mary Dannor but in just what way did she have anything to do with the killings on both coasts?

Actress Cheryl Ladd as Mary Dannor is really fantastic looking, at the age of 43, in the film "Dancing With Danger" as taxi dancer Mary Dannon and is just as gorgeous, if not more so, then she was when she played one of the famous women crime fighters in the TV show "Charlie's Angles" some twenty years ago.

Ed Marianoro has that 1940's private eye look as the moody ex-cop Derek Lidon who's get belted around and almost killed but in the end gets to the bottom of, and solves, the "Scissor Murder" case and also after losing his wife Wendy to divorce court gets the girl; the beautiful and sultry Mary Dannon.

The team just about manage to turn Portland Oregon into Dark City with burned out copper turned P.I. Marinaro involved with Taxi Dancer Ladd.

Most interesting element is the Star Brite Club where Ladd plies her trade ("They choose me") and the customers do would be existentialist dialogue at the bar.

The deployment of Ladd's mask like features and the forties noir atmosphere hint at director Cooper's origins in British art cinema but the film is only marginally more atmospheric than the usual TV slasher film.Competent performance and production.

Lonely guy meets dancing babe who may or may not be a killer. There's the short of this bad made-for-TV flick. Back around 1998 I started a long TV-movie kick. None of these movies were actually good by real movie standards (limited acting, story, direction, artistry, technical skill etc.), but I got good feel for them. DANCING WITH DANGER was one of the movies I saw while on this particular train of viewings. It's bad, folks, really bad and that's when compared to other TV movies, which are inferior to real movies in almost every way.

What DANCING WITH DANGER is trying for is a noir feel. You get the old-fashioned music, the 40s style location, and the lady in red. This could have been a great idea if the writer and director could have put their heads together to do something instead of just having the idea. It proves even worse to have a fake style than to have none at all.

There are some truly pathetic scenes. In one scene, drama is attempted when our hero visits his ex-wife and asks her to dance with him (I'm being nice by even calling this an attempt at drama). The suspense is weak, but, like I said, this is a TV movie. The conclusion makes you sorry you bothered to watch the movie. In short: avoid.

This film begins with a crowd gathering around the body of a young man lying dead on a busy sidewalk in Atlantic City. The camera then zooms upon an attractive blonde in the crowd who turns and walks away just as the police arrive. The scene then shifts to a private detective in Portland named "Derek Lindor" (Ed Marinaro) being asked by a client to locate an attractive blonde by the name of "Mary Dannon" (Cheryl Ladd) who has recently moved there. And in order to help him in his search, he gives him a picture-which just happens to be of the same attractive blonde in Atlantic City. One thing leads to another and soon Derek locates Mary and informs his client that she is working as a taxi dancer at a local nightclub. Not long afterward, his client is murdered and this results in Derek investigating the situation even further. But what he doesn't realize is that he is soon to become a target as well. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that, considering the noir setting and the focus on Mary's choice of employment, I believe it would have been much better if the film had taken place in the 30's when taxi dancing was popular--rather than 60 years later when it's virtually extinct. Likewise, I would also have preferred a bit more action or suspense as well. That being said, while I don't feel like this was a bad film necessarily, for the reasons just mentioned everything seemed a bit out-of-place and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

They actually do a pretty good job of setting up a noir atmosphere, thanks in no small part to the music. Granted, the story/script is average TV slasher/mystery. Its all about atmoshpere and that music! Wish I could find the soundtrack.

Try to watch it on a cold rainy day or night and see if you don't catch the mood and enjoy it!