Tomorrow Never Comes

Viewed this film only because Susan George had an appearance and I am sure that the director and producer used her to bring people to the box office in 1978. In the early 1970's Susan George was a very hot and steamy actress from England who drew plenty of people to see her in "Straw Dogs" and many others. Stephen McHattie, (Frank) plays the role as a boyfriend and lover to Janie (Susan George) and just goes off and leaves her all by herself and then returns and finds out she is being a kept woman by a very rich man who owns lots of business enterprises in town. Raymound Burr, (Burke) makes a very brief appearance along with Oliver Reed, (Jim Wilson) and both give great supporting roles. There is a scene where Frank asks Janie to go take a shower and make herself clean and then a few close ups of Frank drying her off and telling her how much he loves her and asks her how could she ever sleep with another man. This film is not much of a story and is very drawn out right to the very END; it is only 68 minutes long.

Well worth seeing. The plot concerns the return of Frank (Stephen McHattie) to his home town, as he has been away working. In the meantime his girlfriend, Janie (Susan George) has moved out of their pokey apartment and into a beach-hut of a luxury hotel complex, owned by a rather unlikeable character, played by John Osborne (II).

Frank finds out she's been sleeping with the hotel's owner, and shoots a policeman who's been sent to the hut. Thus ensues a seige, with Raymond Burr, Donald Pleasence, and Oliver Reed sent along to help out.

I don't really know what exactly it is that I like about this film - possibly the naiive and innocent way Frank lives his life; by simply walking into one brick wall after another. Or maybe it's the "one man picnic" Oliver Reed has, where he decides to stage an impromptu beer commercial outside the hut (after they've cut off it's water supply).

Either way, if you've never watched this film before, I recommend you do. It also has an unhappy ending; for some reason, I prefer unhappy endings aswell.

I wrote in my review about The Penthouse (1967) that director Peter Collinson's favourite two themes were violence and aggression. This is another Collinson offering, and once again his emphasis seems to be on the more brutal elements of the story. Tomorrow Never Comes is a mediocre siege-thriller, helped by its surprisingly high calibre cast but hindered by its frequent reliance on viciousness.

The story is essentially a rougher variation on an earlier French movie entitled Le Jour Se Leve. An unbalanced young guy, Frank (Stephen McHattie), goes bananas when he discovers that his girlfrind Janie (Susan George) has been unfaithful. He holds her hostage at gunpoint in a beach cabana, and his plight worsens when he shoots a cop who happens by. Local cop Jim Wilson (Oliver Reed) - on his last day in the job before retirement - must try to defuse the situation before someone else gets killed.

Though the film is far from great, it still features a handful of taut moments. Also, the performances are pretty good, with McHattie, Reed, George and Donald Pleasance all in commanding form. Why did I use the word mediocre to describe the film earlier in this review? Well, unfortunately much of the good work is undone by Collinson's sour, nasty tone. The ending is somewhat grim and, while I don't always like happy endings, this film needed a light climax to relieve the claustrophobic siege scenes that had gone before. The pacing becomes problematic, with too much chat surplus to requirement at the points where excitement should be peaking. And beyond the four really strong leading performances mentioned above, there are an awful lot of weak and under-written supporting performances further down the cast list.

Oliver Reed was one of the all time great drunks in fact he died of a heart attack in a bar after finishing 3 bottles of Captain Morgan's Jamaica rum, 8 bottles of German beer, and shots of Famous Grouse whiskey and Hennessy cognac, while also beating 5 Royal Navy sailors at arm-wrestling. He was 62. I was thinking of this the whole time I watched the movie because during the film he looked like he needed to get drunk in the worst way. I thought he was excellent as Jim Wilson a Canadian police detective on his last day who has to deal with a hostage situation. He looked like a cop. His hair had a little gray, but he still had that famous Oliver Reed barrel chest. What was good about the film is he isn't a Dirty Harry type of cop who shoots first and doesn't bother to ask questions. He is thoughtful and doesn't care for violence. Raymond Burr is good, Susan George is cute, and veteran John Ireland is excellent too. Doanld Pleasance gives a poor performance as does Stephen McHattie, but I recommend this film. It's not a great movie, but it"s good.

To describe this as a B grade movie is to insult the best efforts of people who make B grade movies. Tomorrow Never Comes has a niche' somewhere down the alphabet. The characters are so stereotyped that the acting has no option but to appear wooden. Actions taken by the movie's characters often seem incongruous with their persona and there are scenes that simply have no logical place in the movie.

When i first stumbled across this movie it was 4.00am on free to air tv. No wonder! Yet, I must say that as bad as it was, it had me transfixed to the screen. I found it funny and couldn't help but reflect on Leslie Nielsen and The Naked Gun movies. Don't take it seriously and you may enjoy it, probably even laugh your head off. I know I did.