Gioco d'angoscia

I am surprised that no one has noticed that this film may have inspired 24 series, that's my own opinion at least. I appreciated this TV movie, very well paced but unfortunately too much foreesable, predictable. Good job anyway, no problem.

The made for TV thriller "Pursuit" has some interest in not only is it based on a Michael Crichton novel (written under a pseudonym), but that Michael Crichton directed it, making his directorial debut. But there is additional interest to be found here. What will strike many modern day viewers is that despite the subject matter, the tone of the movie is significantly restrained. There isn't a swift pace or a feeling that things are going to really fall apart at any second. Though that may not sound like the right tone, it actually is convincing; we see that the government agents are well trained and professional, so they of course are conditioned not to panic. The movie also works well because of its short length (74 minutes) - there's no padding on display here, and the story moves briskly as a result. The only real flaw the movie has is that it doesn't hide the conspiracy very well - most viewers will have a reasonable guess as to what is being planned long before the government agents find out. But even though you will probably guess what is happening early on, the movie remains very effective.

The iconic writer Michael Crichton had another book taken to screen about political fictional thriller, the premise is far-fetched by countless reasons, firstly for a politic extremist forego the democratic system to appeal to killing of thousand on political convention by hazardous gas stolen from US's Army, it sounds a bit weird to solve this neuralgic issue, second the cat and mouse game conceived by egocentric politician played by E. G. Marshall against the US' agent of intelligence Ben Gazzara to the extent of a character study upon psych profile.

The screenplay has plenty of noticeable holes, meanwhile E. G. Marshall sets free to built a bomb device thru an inertness of FBI's agents, looks like deliberate by pure foolishness to get a proper tension to hold the audience, to make it worst some oddities were appended in the lame plot, some catches wisely designed by the perpetrator in a bomb shut down process, it will raises the strain thru the countdown at last seconds, in the meantime the missing President is reaching in the crowed convention.

On the casting appears the upcoming star Martin Sheen at small role, someone wrote in his review that E. G. Marshall was miscasting to play a villain, whereby I agree, he doesn't fit well in this kind evil persona, the veteran actor often portraited a nice guy on serious character.

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Resume:

First watch: 1992 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-Youtube / Rating: 6.25.

E.G. Marshall is a political activist who intends to release nerve gas into San Diego, where the Republican national convention is being held. Ben Gazzara and his team are assigned to capture him and stop the gas from being stolen.

Written and directed by Michael Crichton, this was a low-budget TV movie, though it deserved better. What's always interesting about any films with a political slant -- even back to 1930 -- is that politics haven't changed, and most of the time, the speeches and situations remain timely. This movie is no different. Just listen to what E.G. Marshall has to say.

It was wonderful to see Ben Gazzara, William Windom, Joseph Wiseman, and a baby-faced Martin Sheen in this - all of them were very prevalent in the TV of my youth, as was Jim McMullan, who had dark hair then.

Very suspenseful.

How this movie doesn't get more acclaim is strange.

The prophetic and imaginative Michael Crichton ("Andromeda Strain", "Coma", "WestWorld" directs his own screenplay. Michael Crichton had a prescience in his vision and this movie is no exception. Getting hung up on setting the movie "in the future" never presented a dilemma for Crichton. He just uses contemporary settings to bring the movie closer to home. The technology may be beyond our means, but it still affects us all today.

The movie stars brilliant and eclectic Ben Gazzara ("The Killing of a Chinese Bookie", "The Big Lebowski"), Storied great E.G. Marshall ("12 Angry Men", "Creepshow"), Prolific Martin Sheen ("Apocalypse Now", "The Dead Zone") and Television guest star William Windom ("Star Trek: The Doomsday Machine", "Escape from the Planet of The Apes").

The musical score is even composed by composer-great Jerry Goldsmith. Its reminiscent of "Hawaii 5-0", "McQ" or "The French Connection" a typical, but lively, 70s-style action cop-show movie background score. I love background scores like this. Its a really good one. The sunset of actual orchestral background scores.

The story revolves around a political activist-millionaire-terrorist who steals a large supply of nerve gas and threatens to release it in San Diego, which is hosting the Republican National Convention.

Sounds simple. The movie is really thrilling for a TV Movie, the story has a familiar contemporary feel, the acting and musical score are good. The movie was filmed in early 1970s San Diego and for anybody who loves or lives in San Diego (like me), the movie is a great archive piece to record how San Diego was 40 years ago. Much more watchable than "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes".

Could the movie have been better? Sure it could. It suffered from low-budget syndrome. Michael Crichton's visionary writing shakes most of the deficiencies the move has and makes this a great TV-Special...certainly one of my top 10-made for TV Movies of all time.