The Longest Night

I will never get bored watching American TV movies from the seventies. Plus, this one is directed by Jack Smight, the maker of HARPER. It is inspired from actual events. It is shocking, creepy, even today, in 2023, so imagine in 1972. And in the mean time, we have seen so many stories like this, for big and Tv industry - OXYGEN (1999) for instance among many others: a kidnapper "hides" his or her victim underground before asking for ransom. It is tense, gritty, riveting, excellent, and David Janssen - in the seventies he was at his very best, the over the top of actors for the TV industry - is leading the whole show. I highly recommend it.

I remembered seeing this movie on UK television a couple of times when I was very young back in the 1970s and since then it has vanished without trace.

Only in recent years, with the memory of a kidnapped girl being kept in an underground coffin refusing to go away did I search on the internet and manage to identify this film and at last I've got hold of a copy and been able to see it again after all these years.

I was surprised how many well-known actors are in it and the fact that this adventure is based on a real-life incident will always give it that extra 'edge'. However, I found it very pedestrian watching it in 2007. The scenes unfold in a very matter-of-fact manner and yes, there's a certain tension because an innocent girl's life is at stake, but that aside I found it almost uninvolving at times. There's really not much effort made to really get inside any of the characters. We don't get to know any of the chambers family before the kidnap takes place on screen (the very first scene) so the impact of this shattering intrusion on their everyday lives is lessened.

David Janssen goes through a lot of worrying as the father but at no point during the film is he ever seen with his daughter, so its harder for us to see how greatly he's affected by all this - we never witness what his normal routine was like, what kind of a character he normally is, what kind of a change he goes through. Maybe he's always worried? Without much depth to the characters its hard for the actors to make much of their roles - there's a feeling that everybody is just going through the motions.

Nevertheless, the opening scene when Mrs Chambers is tied up and the daughter forcibly taken away is still dramatic and I'm not surprised it stuck in my memory for 30 years.

Overall - it's interesting to watch, but its really a straight re-telling of the facts rather than a carefully-crafted drama. It would be done a lot better nowadays, I'm sure.

In an episode of "Quincy" a kidnapper buries his victim under ground with only a limited supply of oxygen. However, the kidnapper gets accidentally killed and Dr. Quincy is called in to piece together the clues in order to help the police figure out where that missing person is buried. Well, after seeing "The Longest Night", it became obvious that the writer of that "Quincy" episode 'borrowed' the idea from this earlier TV movie. Additionally, years later the Dutch film "The Vanishing" also has some similarities...though not nearly enough to assume the writer 'borrowed' from "The Longest Night". As for the story, the film acknowledges that the story is based on an actual kidnapping and it is conceivable that the writer for "Quincy" got the idea from the actual case and not the movie.

When this "ABC Movie of the Week" installment begins, a kidnapper is moving his female victim to a buried room not much bigger than a coffin. She'll stay there with oxygen and light for several days in this claustrophobia-inducing hole until after the ransom is paid and the clever criminal is sure he's in the clear. And, unlike in "Quincy" the guy isn't killed but there still is a huge hurry to get to the victim in time as there just isn't much air in this space...and the kidnapper doesn't seem to mind too much if she isn't found in time.

This is one of the more exciting and suspenseful movies from this series. Additionally, watching the policework going into the case was interesting as well. Combined with some nice acting, this film is well worth seeing and better than the "Quincy" episode.

Mercenary couple kidnap a young woman--the daughter of a wealthy businessman--from her hotel room and hold her for ransom; while they are awaiting the $500K in cash to arrive, they bury their victim underground in a ventilated 'capsule' with only enough air for seven days. Directed by Jack Smight and written by Merwin Gerard (from a true account, of which Gerard apparently recreated faithfully), "The Longest Night" hasn't a single plot twist or element of surprise--it's a textbook account, which is both pro and con. The filmmakers blessedly steer clear of histrionics (everyone keeps a cool head), but there isn't much action, what with the girl buried alive in a confined space and her father dealing with her abductor over the phone. Much of the film's success is due to the performances, and David Janssen (as the distraught father) and James Farentino (flashing his dimples as the kidnapper) are both solid. Smight mounts the story as a news reporter might; scene by scene is dictated by fact. The incident was revisited in 1990 for another TV-movie, "83 Hours 'Til Dawn".

Great cast and performances headline this virtual biopic, economical at less than 75 mins head to tail which still produces the nail-biting tension the premise promises to deliver. Director Jack Smight made a similar telemovie "The Screaming Woman" around the same time which I'd also recommend. Farentino is the standout here, and his partner in crime played by Skye Aubrey is also pretty convincing as the well-prepared kidnappers attempting to extort half a million from wealthy businessman (Janssen) for the safe return of his adult daughter whose trapped beneath the ground in a purpose built tomb with limited resources to survive. Smight keeps a lid on anything hysterical, a highly process-driven police response led by an ultra-conservative FBI team which includes Mike Farrell as the principal agent, whilst John Kerr and Jason Bernard (uncredited) are prominent and equally stony-faced in support. Overall this was an engaging and taut telemovie, no-nonsense with a very solid cast and safe-hands approach, worthy of a viewing.