...And Then She Was Gone

In a film made for television, Robert Urich portrays Jack Bauer, a comfortable corporate executive in the field of computer software manufacturing who unwillingly finds himself amidst an attempt to locate a missing girl whose photograph upon a poster he viewed in a subway, along with the child herself and her apparent kidnapper, after Jack is excluded from access to his automobile that is locked inside of a parking garage following a late work meeting, requiring him to use a public mode of transport. When he returns a doll dropped by the little girl, Carla, to her distressed mother Laura (Megan Gallagher), the latter pleads for his assistance with such fervour that, alien as such altruistic activity is to him, he reluctantly joins with her in a persistent attempt to find Carla, whereupon the pair discover that a rash of similar kidnappings is occurring throughout their city and soon Jack and Laura are privy to knowledge of a conspiracy involving selling of children. Despite reliance in the screenplay upon melodrama, continuity issues are few and a great deal of the dialogue is quite realistic and made even more so by skillful performances from cast members, notably the talented Gallagher, as well as from Urich, Isabella Hofmann, and Christine Dunford who contributes a topflight turn as a lady of the evening coerced into a child vending operation. Production values are pleasingly strong for the piece that is ably directed by David Greene to create an atmosphere of suspense with a dash of humour and a delightfully ambiguous ending, and the work also profits from an appropriate score from Peter Manning Robinson, burnished cinematography of Stevan Larner, and adroit set design by Steve Legner, all to the end of creating a film wherein attention to details generally counters well any clichés.

I did not think this was a good movie. The overly loud musical score is poured over it like cheap gravy and I suspect that the dramatization of this true event was anything but subtle – probably they thought they had to spice it up.

And yet, there is something deeply irritating about the whole affair that made it worth the watching time invested. The main character is oddly believable as a living doormat. I have to agree with other commentators that Robert Urich delivers a stunning performance. The man plays a big, intelligent fellow, a former football pro and a successful businessman, but people don't hesitate a second to walk right over him. The man seems to be outright plagued by an unhealthy kindness and, above all, an over developed sense of responsibility.

When a business partner sets an important meeting at a date when he is supposed to go on a long promised trip with his girlfriend he cancels the trip. When he wants to pass a found doll to a traffic cop who does not accept it, he takes it with him. When he tells his secretary she should send the doll to its owner by mail, the secretary refuses flat out and virtually orders him (her boss) to deliver it personally – and he does it. The result: he gets nearly lynched as a supposed kidnapper and then beaten up time and time again. This becomes all the more grotesque as the guy's wardrobe seems to consist only of two ill fitting business suits which become more and more tattered and dirty as the story moves along. He never even removes his tie! It is very odd and slightly surreal.

The man is coerced into helping to find a girl who disappeared by the girl's single mother, a waitress. She transfers part of her guilt and responsibility over to that stranger she had never met before and who has nothing to do at all with the kidnapping. And he accepts the transfer. This is beautifully shown in the scene where he stays in the woman's apartment because she can't sleep. She leans against him and falls asleep at last. In the morning they both awake, the woman refreshed the man (unshaven, in creased business suit and limp tie) with a numb side against which the woman had leaned. But the masochistic climax is definitely the moment when the woman storms into a restaurant where the afore mentioned important business meeting takes place and tells the guy to go with him. He tells her he will, when the meeting is over. But for her it cannot be in a few minutes, it has to be RIGHT NOW. The urgency is clearly irrational but he dithers and dithers and then obeys. Oh, it was hard to bear.

The bottom line: This movie shows that different genders have different agendas and priorities and how not to deal with that issue. The rather downbeat ending is very telling in that aspect.

Although it's an excellent thriller mounting up to some awesome complications and thrilling finale, it is not without flaws. The charitable business kidnaps fatherless children to bring them out of the slum and possible prostitution, to send them on to better families like this one in England, for a better future, but while she is detained waiting for transport the little girl is entrusted with a prostitute for relieving her of her mother, a real injecting drug addict, which doesn't quite fit into the charity scheme. In the end the director makes a speech for his defence, which although reasonable is impossible to accept, which he realises himself and takes the consequences. Robert Urich makes a great performance as the regular business man who gets mixed up in this, pulling him deeper into trouble for every confrontation, but the greatness of his performance consists entirely of understatements. After the drama is over he goes back to business, leaving us wondering about what he will do next about his two relationships, both more complicated than any of his business. Megan Gallagher also makes a great performance, and every inch of her desperate actions is perfectly convincing and credible: any mother would act in the same way. It's a great film on a small scale, but the drama does in fact reach Hitchcockian proportions, considering especially how well it is built up, from a mere trifle of a baby doll getting our poor business man constantly knocked about, to the revelation of very advanced business in the field of human trafficking.

I watched In a Stranger's Hand before Shakma on Christmas eve and enjoyed it. I remember when I first watched this on Lifetime and Shakma on either Showtime, HBO, or Cinamax after I graduated from highschool. This was the first movie that I became familiar with Brett Cullen and then was Prehysteria, Complex of Fear, and Apollo 13. Plus, I like watching Megan Gallagher and others too. The music in this movie is suspenseful and so are certain scenes. Robert Urich plays a partner in a software expert business who becomes unexpectantly involved in a search for a missing girl. The deeper involved he becomes in the search, the more truth involving the girls disappearance is explained. Overall, this is a excellent movie for those who love suspense.

Classic. If you're into bad early 90's 'made for TV' movies. This one involves a child that vanishes. I had trouble paying attention (I have ADD) and combining attention defecit disorder with a bad early 90's TV movie makes for a rough situation.

It's awful. No two if ands it's or buts about it. But, if you laugh at horrible lines and a plot that any mildy intelligent person can pick apart within the first ten minutes, then this is for you. I have trouble giving a vote on this, because although being awful as it so obviously was, I was sickly drawn into watching it unfold. Like a book I've read 20 times, I knew every 'twist' and 'turn' involved. There weren't many to begin with, but a slow plot can sometimes be refreshing.