A Tattered Web

Tattered Web, A (1971)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Silly but entertaining made-for-TV thriller has Lloyd Bridges playing Sgt. Ed Stagg. He learns that his son-in-law (Frank Converse) has been having an affair so he goes to the woman to make her put an end to the affair. Stagg accidentally kills her so he must protect himself but also try to keep the police from finding out who her boyfriend was. I've come to expect a certain amount of silliness when it comes to these made-for-TV flicks from the 70s. It really doesn't matter what they're about but the majority of them are entertaining but also very campy. That's pretty much the case here as we get a pretty good story but it's mixed in with some very dumb moments. One of the biggest killers of this type of film are how over dramatic they can be and this here usually happens right before we go to commercial as the music blares and we get a silly zoom shot towards the guilty person. We get quite a bit of that here but we also get some very silly moments including the scenes at the start when Bridges busts into the woman's house and just keeps insulting her and calling her a tramp. I couldn't help but laugh at this as well as some of the more sillier moments including a priceless sequence where Bridges is trying to protect his daughter yet he never realizes that he's just putting a burden on her. The entire "protecting the daughter" is driven into the ground here as we get countless dialogue scenes with Bridges expressing his love for his daughter, which is fine but at times they are way too cute and over the top. With that said, the story itself is a pretty interesting one and I thought it was also rather clever as we had Bridges trying to do two things at once. I think it goes against his character that he'd do so many wrong things to try and clear everything up. As for the actor, he's great fun to watch here as he really gives it his all and keeps the film moving from start to finish. We also get a great supporting cast that includes Murray Hamilton, Broderick Crawford, Val Avery, Whit Bissell, John Fielder and Anne Helm as the other woman. The daughter in the film has to be one of the dumbest characters in the history of film as you'd think you were watching a 2-year-old. She can never figure things out and is constantly coming off either stupid or just downright ignorant and one can't help but grow frustrated with her. If you're a fan of the genre then this here is pretty much a must-see.

While this is not "Crime and Punishment," it's still kind of a neat story. Lloyd Bridges plays an LA cop with a sterling reputation, but he is carrying around lots of baggage. He is so overprotective of his daughter because he has been hurt so many times himself. In order to continue that protection, he horns in on an affair his son in law is having with a young woman. While threatening this woman, he inadvertently kills her. The rest of the movie involves his efforts to cover things up and draw attention away from his daughter's husband. There is a tug based on Bridges' hypocrisy in that he has hated his son-in-law from day one, just for being his son-in-law. The plot stands up pretty well. The police are dupes in all this because of the outstanding record of the sergeant. The one character that really doesn't do very well is the daughter. She comes across pretty dull and doesn't have any hard edge at all. Late in the movie, when another police detective is trying to talk to her, she does her own version of the "if I just hold my hands over my ears I won't hear anything bad" routine. No wonder the guy went to another woman. As I said, there's a lot of angst, some decent acting, some not so decent, but it will hold one's attention for an hour and a half.

The adage implies the reverse, or that crime cost or must be repaid. "A Tattered Web" is a good film with a message, and some good acting Lloyd Bridges as Police Sgt. Ed Stagg, Frank Converse as his son-in-law and fellow police officer, Steve Butler, are particularly good. And Murray Hamilton as Sgt. Joe Marcus, Ed's partner, is quite good.

The movie involves an accidental killing, adultery, an effort by Stagg to cover up the real truth and his role, a very dysfunctional past family life, and a dark past killing that was never reported but still weighs on Stagg's mind. Will justice be served in the end, and if so, how?

A subtle message of this film, that may not be so apparent with the specific case and situations, is the old adage that "crime doesn't pay." But more specifically, as this plot bears out is that no one can avoid a slippery slope when living lies.

A police sergeant in California, still grieving over the loss of his wife years before, follows his untrustworthy son-in-law to a woman's apartment and rightly suspects the two of having an affair; not wanting his incredibly naïve daughter to be hurt, the cop takes matters into his own hands--with tragic results. TV-made melodrama with a good set-up diffused by meandering, awkward results. There's nobody here to sympathize with: not the tortured sergeant (Lloyd Bridges, getting upstaged by his thick crop of hair), nor his randy in-law, the apathetic tramp, the clinging daughter...not even the detective's partner on the police force (who seemingly can't wait to bring his friend down!). There's a clever bit involving a thumb-print on a drinking glass, and Broderick Crawford does excellent work as a drunkard wrongly implicated in a crime. However, the remainder of the second-string cast is lackluster (though Bridges does try hard) and Paul Wendkos' direction is balky.

The most entertaining aspect about "A Tattered Web", I think, is the short description on the back of the Dutch DVD-release. Here it says about Lloyd Bridges' character: "he's a mean person, but we understand him...". Excuse me? Speak for yourself, will you! Bridges depicts a dictatorial patriarch who murders a girl in her own apartment, and then abuses his power and authority as a life-long police detective to frame an elderly drunkard for his vicious crime. I, for one, have absolutely no respect or understanding for anything this man does.

That being said, "A Tattered Web" is an obscure and inconspicuous, but nevertheless solidly engaging made-for-television thriller from the early 70s, with a simple but effective plot and competent people in front as well as behind the cameras. TV-regular Paul Wendkos ("The Legend of Lizzie Borden", "Haunts of the very Rich") directs steadily, and the cast contains a handful of familiar faces, including Lloyd Bridges (yes, in a serious role), Frank Converse, Murray Hamilton and Broderick Crawford. There's a fair amount of suspense to enjoy, especially when the titular web closes around Sgt. Ed Stagg and he's running out of cover-up options.