Along Came a Spider

I based my vote solely on the 1970(TV) cast and if anyone can advise me as to how I can acquire the TV version, I'ld be very grateful. The 2001 version is an example of contemporary garbage with the usual four-letter words thrown in occasionally (as early as four minutes into the movie).

I'ld be willing to trade my DVD movie for a copy of the 1970 TV production (VHS or DVD).

This Along Came A Spider was a TV movie based on a play with another name. The Morgan Freeman theatrical movie was based on a James Patterson novel.

Lately Fox Movie Channel has been showing some of these old chestnuts, and I can't get enough of them. "Along Came a Spider" is vintage 1970 - it's a mystery TV-movie, very popular back then, and the cast is a treat for baby-boomers - Suzanne Pleshette, Ed Nelson, Brooke Bundy, Andrew Prine, Richard Anderson, and Milton Selzer.

The story concerns a bright student (Pleshette) who becomes involved with a science professor (Nelson). However, she's a woman with an agenda.

That's all I'll say rather than spoil it. The twists keep on coming. All in all, it's totally convoluted but so much fun. Pleshette is beautiful and gives her usual honest performance.

Mysteries are my favorite genre. I saw all of these when they were first on TV. "Along Came a Spider" was fun to re-watch.

Television drama, based upon the play "Sweet Poison" by Leonard Lee, has Suzanne Pleshette in good form as the widow of a once-prominent scientist, a man apparently killed after an intense experiment with neutrons and radiation went awry. She goes after her late husband's rival--now a physics teacher at the university--whom she believes is responsible for her spouse's death...but is he guilty of anything? And, if not, will she be able to undo the damage she causes? 'Groovy' atmosphere gives the production a "Room 222"-like feel, which might be amusing in a different context. Here, the pedestrian direction and poor-choice score both feel like elements from substandard TV, and the twisty plot suffers as a result. Still, there are a couple of good surprises here, along with some general overacting and a limp finale presented unceremoniously.

At 33, Pleshette still looked luscious but that rear low camera shot in the courtroom that showed her legs turned chubby was a mystery. Granting that the director didn't notice, was the film editor asleep when he cut the film? Suzanne acquits herself well in this movie as the steel-nerved widow out to avenge her husband's murder and get away with it without being convicted of murder.

I saw it not as a TV movie but as a theatrical release in the Philippines and it was well worth not having the usual distractions at home. I liked it so much that I remembered it for many years (30) so that when the 2001 movie with Morgan Freeman was released, I thought it was a remake.

The Freeman movie was nice too but I liked the one with Pleshette a little better. I hope to catch it again on a re-run on TV or on DVD.