Someone I Touched

Great acting and drama....BUT....even in the 70's pregnant women were warned against drinking alcohol. How many times did she partake in this move? She miscarried before and her selfishness spoiled the entire movie.

TV movies generally deal with inoffensive (and often trite) subjects. Some are subdued horror films, many deal with relationships, and a few (especially in the 1970s) have sci-fi plots. However, this TV movie directly confronts STDs (referred to with the dated acronym "VDs") in a surprisingly frank way.

Children's book author Laura Hyatt (Cloris Leachman) and her bland businessman husband Sam (James Olson) discover that Laura is pregnant. However, Sam soon receives a most unwelcome visit from public health guy Mr. Berlin (an extremely sincere Andy Robinson) who informs Sam that he has Stage I syphilis. Meanwhile, nubile young college student Carrie (Glynnis O'Connor) also receives a visit from Mr. Berlin with the same shocking message. Carrie and Sam had a recent one night stand, so the rest of the film describes the various hard feelings and character interactions related to a number of syphilis cases. The film ends with a surprising plot twist involving Laura's boss Paul Wrightwood (Kenneth Mars, very good in an unexpected dramatic performance).

Over the years, many people have laughed at this film or slammed it as poorly made, but I thought it was pretty good. Leachman, Mars, and a very young O'Connor are excellent, while Olson spends most of his onscreen time looking very serious and worried, wondering how he's going to get out of his predicament. Andy Robinson, who often played psychos during the 1970s, perfectly captures his role of a concerned but direct public servant.

The movie's subject matter may turn some people off, but the cast and performances are very good. I think it's well worth watching.

1970s exploitation TV movies are a lot of fun and this is among the best! From a time when people at least pretended to have some class and morals.

Captures the betrayal that only a wife can feel quite vividly. The focus on VD and what it meant in 1975 made me think back to how I felt that same year. Cloris Leachman is truly one of America's underrated actresses, and to prove her range, she also SINGS the title song herself!

Who knew Syphilis could be so melodramatic?

This is a made-for-TV movie worth watching just for the entertaining camp value and the inclusion of the glorious and underused Cloris Leachman.

This movie is a quasi fascinating time capsule. Chock full of 70's speak.

Bad 70's clothes. Bad 70's home decor. Fluffy male hairdo's and mustaches. Huge ugly 70's cars. This movie has it all, baby!

The cashier who Cloris's husband sleeps with looks all of 15 which adds a whole level of creepiness to the proceedings.

Cloris sings the title song.