Final Jeopardy

A movie with tension from beginning to end, with an interesting method of fading to still black and white image every time there is a scene change or the location is changed.

This works all but once, when it is used in the middle of a busy chase scene towards the end.

If you like a movie set almost entirely at night, with some very lost and scared protagonists on the run and trying to make it back home, then this is one to check out.

Kudos to whoever put the great-looking restored version of this up on Youtube. This is one of those TV movies (the 80s had plenty of them) that were good enough that you'd remember at least part of them as an adult. Final Jeopardy is like a tense version of The Out of Towners, or some such fish out of water type story. It involves a yuppie and his wife visiting some big American city (not sure they even named which one, but it mostly seemed to be Chicago) for a job interview and maybe a nice dinner before heading home to some unknown suburb to get back to reality. Maybe it wasn't an interview. On second thought, the guy may have been just looking for an investor for a business venture. Anyway, it hardly matters by about 10 minutes in. The first guy he meets isn't interested, and the next guy he is supposed to meet never shows up at the bar he expected him to be. Oh, well... maybe he can meet up with his wife and have a nice dinner... oops. This is before American cities started with urban renewal and having any sort of entertainment open downtown after about 7:00 pm. No sooner does our couple rendezvous, then they quickly realize they are stuck downtown with no hotels/buses/cabs available to them. It gets worse as four-person gang of muggers begins chasing after them. Will the couple be able to find a safe place to hide for the night? Can they even find a cop? Someone helpful? Anything?

Although many details of how this couple becomes isolated are contrived, and a bit hard to believe, the tension is successfully established early on. You have to keep in mind that many cities might have been this deserted at night back then. Since I've been an adult, every city I've been in has at least some kind of nightlife downtown until at least midnight. Later on the weekends. But back then who knows. So I will reserve intense criticism for the mostly-deserted streets they encounter. The little street gang is not terribly intimidating. How one meek-acting yuppie and a limping wife can keep them at bay is one of this film's credibility issues. Everyone else they encounter is either rudely indifferent, clueless, or hostile. The gang appears and disappears randomly when the script needs to increase tension. The direction is above average and the acting is generally excellent for such an endeavor. Richard Thomas is particularly good as the yuppie protagonist. He's had a long career. You may chuckle when you initially see him, though. He looks like a young Principal Ed Rooney from Ferris Bueller's Day Off! The wife is well-played by the attractive Mary Crosby; one of Bing's many children. Some interesting casting for peripheral characters. The guy playing the bartender in an early scene is "the most interesting man in the world" from the Dos Equis commercials. Too bad the yuppie didn't order one of those! Nobody played a Chicago cop like Dennis Farina, but his role is way too small. I love any scene in the movie with a train in it, even if the one here is impossible to believe.

If you have time to check this one out, go ahead and do so. After a few minutes of it, you may find you remember it from 1985. Seeing it again as an adult reminded me of being stranded outside of Madison Square Garden during an August blackout in 2003. My first day ever in NYC and THAT had to happen! Lots of indifferent people there too, but at least there were lots of cops. I was told by more than one official to check with Port Authority to see if they could get me where I needed to go. What the heck is that, anyway?? 7 of 10 stars.

The Hound.

I started watching this movie right after it started, so I didn't know what it was called or anything. I was on a cruise ship, and it was 2:30 in the morning, and there were no commercials, so until I got back home, I had no idea what it was. Thank God for IMDB. Anyway, I thought it was a serious dramatic remake of "THE OUT OF TOWNERS". It had almost the same plot, only not played for laughs. Every thing was played for suspense, and with Richard Thomas in the lead it was even more dramatic. I like watching him act, but he is so over the top dramaticly. But that's why I like watching him. The movie wasn't great, but it didn't suck either. I had to stay up till the end, because I was interested in the outcome, so that says something.

It revolves around Thomas' character going to the big city for a job interview, and he goes to the wrong bar to meet his would be boss. By the time he finds this out, it's an hour after the time they were suppossed to meet, and his car is locked in the parking area until six the next morning. His wife comes to meet him, and before he can tell her to stop the cab she brought, it leaves, and they are stranded. Now why they just didn't walk back to a more populated area is beyond be. I've been to New York and Chicago, and you can always get to a populated area, especially at seven in the evening, and also the fact that Thomas drove his car to the bar, that alone should say he knows how to get back. But then we wouldn't have the next hour of the movie where they get chased by gangs, dogs, and other such riff-raff.

All in all, not a great movie, but like I said it didn't suck. Spideyy

I saw this at some point in the 80's, likely staying up late in school holidays or something. I remembered an exciting suspense filled movie - that I throughly enjoyed. As time (and my life) went on, on pretty much forgot about it, but would occasionally reflect on the unique presence of the film - wondering what its name was. 40 years later, a random internet search, a hit on Quora and Final Jeopardy and I are reunited!!

Alas, the romance was much better as a memory....

It's an interesting premise/plot and it actually starts off pretty well, but as the night sets in and the various dangers of the night are encountered by our leads... it soon becomes evident it's a pretty loose plot - with not much holding it together. It's available on YouTube for anyone out there with a nostalgic bent like I (thought) I had for this flick.

But seriously... consider washing your neighbours cat as a better use of time.

This movie was filmed in Chicago Illinois. I was unemployed and looking for work when I stumbled upon this movie being filmed. The movie underwent many title changes before it was released. I think the plot was original but the way it was laid out could have been better. During the filming of this movie, both of the leads walked around downtown without bodyguards and melted into the crowd. It was as if nobody knew there were celebrities around. I got to meet both leads and I talked to Richard Thomas but he went to a limo and fell asleep before I could get his autograph. On the other hand, they called Mary Crosby to the set for a scene in which they thought she was needed but she wasn't. She went back to her trailer and en route, I tapped her on the shoulder (ok not a smart move but it worked out) and got her autograph. She was very nice about it. I'm sorry they were stuck in such a somewhat lame movie especially since they are very good actors and deserved better. I saw the finished product on TV and was pretty disappointed considering how hard the cast worked to make the movie a good one.