Blackout

Seriously? Not ONE single review for this mini masterpiece? That's an injustice which I intend to correct!

I'm guessing that the city with the power outage woes is New York despite there being no mention of the name of the city in the movie. But it looks like New York so we'll assume that it is!

'The Night The City Screamed' is a 1980 TV movie and was made at a time when these kinds of 'disaster movies' were very popular. Despite the TV production values and constrictions of a low budget, this follows the same formula as the others...

Introduce lots of characters, give them a few lines throughout the movie and spend half an hour at the end tying things up, by letting us know how things panned out for each of them.

It's both cheesy and preachy in parts but a patient viewer can probably forgive that because of the generally campy feel of the whole thing.

It works because of the fabulous cast. If any TV archivist is scrolling down the credits of this movie they'll be wetting themselves. The incestuous club of big- name buddies are wheeled out for this one and even if you don't know all the names, you'll recognize almost all the faces.

There are big guns like Raymond Burr, Robert Culp, and Don Meredith... an appearance by David Cassidy who owns a broken TV set and a horrible mustache... Jonathan Frakes is buried in here somewhere and dozens of other names and faces you'll recognize also show up.

You really could write a good book or make a documentary about this movie even though the flick itself isn't really that good.

'The Night The City Screamed' was watchable back in 1980 because it was a good TV movie and it can be watched again today (2017) because it isn't! There's a good quality copy of this on YouTube, so get over there with pens and pencils at the ready... how many faces can you put names to?

A blackout occurs in a city that is unnamed but looks a whole lot like Los Angeles and The Night The City Screamed is a picture of that night as seen from several points of view.

A whole lot of familiar faces are in this film who are from television. This comes at the end of the disaster movie cycle of the 70s and it hasn't the budget of some of the big screen efforts but the story is good.

Best of the story is the rivalry between Mayor Raymond Burr and the councilman who wants to replace him Robert Culp. Culp seeks to make political capital of the blackout. He;s quite a loathsome creature that even his aide Judy Agretti realizes.

Vic Tayback's segment as a store owner who tries desperately to save his electronic appliance business is also good. Taurean Blaque is also unforgettable in his scene and I'll let you see it for yourselves.

George DiCenzo as the power company proves to be the city salvation. Imagine if everyone just let him do his job.

Not many TV movies can translate as well as this one. You get a great introduction to the characters and a welcome look at their life's and issues. The cast is almost a who's who of TV star's. Vic Tayback, David Cassidy, Don Merideth, Raymond Burr, Robert Culp and Linda Purl. Each giving their own character a different feel. Though I do say that it does get a bit campy still holds up. The base is almost out of the headlines about a whole city blackout and the event's that actually happen in real life like looting. I was a bit amazed how the movie held up and worked despite the number of star's in it. Another thing that amazed me was it wasn't predictable like most disaster movies are. Only real miscast was David Cassidy playing a police officer. His acting is at most subpar. Overall this is a interesting movie that plays well after 37 years after it's original broadcast. The production is a bit weak but most TV movies are. Still I enjoyed the movie for all it had to offer

It's NYC. About what happened after the 1977 blackout.