La disparition

While watching Leachman in "Spanglish" yesterday, I happened to think of the "Dying Room Only", and the terrific job done by Leachman, Ross Martin and the rest. I can still feel the incredible tension that was created entirely by the good acting and dialog alone.....no special effects. Having a loved one disappear without a trace while stopped at a creepy, remote diner seemed so believable the way it was portrayed. Leachman's character displayed such courage and determination motivated by her love for her husband. As the movie develops, you can REALLY feel Leachman's character's desperation. I agree that Kurt Russell's "Breakdown" was a modern day remake of this movie. "Dying Room Only" was much more simplistic, yet still managed to create just as much, if not more, suspense! Does anyone know a way to see this movie again? Please let me know.

Well-received but unsatisfying movie-of-the-week written by Richard Matheson, expanding his short story about a married couple driving through the desert who stop at a roadside diner for a bite to eat. The husband goes into the men's room and never comes out, leaving his wife in the hands of the suspicious-acting staff at the diner and the unsympathetic local law. Matheson could have taken this plot any which way, but instead settles on the most obvious scenario. I was hoping for something along the lines of "The Twilight Zone", perhaps placing the husband in an alternate reality. Instead, it's Formula 101--the old abduction plot--and the obviousness holds no suspense for us. In the lead, Cloris Leachman does very well, although she doesn't have much to work with. A promising premise, but I was "Dying" for a better denouement.

Not many movies give great thrills/suspense like Dying Room Only or Steven Spielberg's Duel. A couple makes a stop in the Arizona desert at the Arroyo Motel, a shabby diner-like place with two hostile locals: a cook (Ross Martin) and a customer (Ned Beatty). When Cloris Leachman comes back from the toilet her husband (Dabney Coleman) has disappeared. Now she's on her own and does her best acting ever. A lady at the motel (Louise Latham) and the local sheriff (Dana Elcar) aren't much help either and no contact with home can be made. So Cloris must search the place herself... Eerie atmosphere and great suspense should teach modern movie makers how to save on budgets and do some real entertaining. The big mystery: why doesn't a great thriller like this one get reruns or gets out on DVD? Only crappy overpriced VHS tapes in the net can be found... ABC please please please spread this movie.

You've read the plot for this television film on this page. What can I add? A married couple pulls up to a seedy diner on the way home from vacation. They are smack in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in the desert.

They encounter a nasty cook and a goof-ball customer. Both enter the bathrooms to wash up. She comes out, but he does not. She knocks on the door calling to him. No answer.

The fun begins. Kind of spooky at times. Good entertainment. Cloris Leachman is very good in this film. So are Ross Martin and Ned Beatty. And Dana Elcar does a good job as the sheriff. Oh, and the husband is a very young Dabney Coleman.

I would love to see this one again.

All must view this priceless gem.It creates a delicious sense of dread. Cloris Leachman's performance is unequalled.