User reviews

My how lucky I was to have taped this off of NBC television back in 1988. The real time for this mini-series is four hours and 23.5 minutes. My Beta recording was still perfect after 19 years. I am writing this at 4:12 AM. I could not leave my television set until the production ended. The casting of Ronny Cox and John Mahoney was also perfect. I enjoyed this movie even though I could see bits and pieces from movies as diverse as DAVE and THE DEAD ZONE. James Whitmore gives his role a very sincere and strong performance. Harry Hamlin who portrays a "scrungy" US Senator leaves you with the feeling that you should wash your hands if you had shaken his hand. Linda Kozlowski's performance throughout the film is very remarkable. Her final scene with Lance Guest as agent David Ross glues the viewer to the television. I hope that the producers re-release the mini-series in its entirety. I noticed that a VHS tape was available, but that only ran 115 minutes instead of the full 264 minutes.

I really enjoyed Steve Sohmer's book and this is one of the few movie adaptations that is just as fine as the book was. This is the best political thriller since The Manchurian Candidate. It is really bone chilling as a matter of fact. Linda Kozlowski deserves so much more credit then given, she is an awesome actress. The best performance in this film however, is Robert Loggia's as Agent Mancuso. This man is one of the best actors in the business who has never been given the credit due him. He is excellent as the tired, cynical agent who still has courage and idealism and a willingness to fight for what is right. There is not another actor who could have played this role better. He dominates every scene he is in. There was a tv series called Mancuso FBI that came on the air shortly afterwards to continue Loggia's great character only it was cancelled (!). Loggia's Mancuso is a lot like Jack Klugmans Doctor Quincy because he showed how one ordinary person who cares can make an extraordinary difference.

Unbelievably good script. Really shocking and unexpected in parts, especially the double-crosses. Linda Koslowski was excellent and so different from her Crocodile Dundee days, and Loggia is also very good. A relative of Manchurian Candidate.

I am a big fan of Steven Sohmer and the fact that he wrote the book and produced the movie is a big plus. The movie was produced faithfully from the book.

All in all, I enjoyed it.

I don't give a rating to this VHS film, not because it isn't a high-calibre thriller with excellent performances by the cast, but I saw the original Television series and I was puzzled after watching the tape. I bought the VHS because I remembered what a stunning (not perhaps by today's standards) series it was and wanted to see it again. It had a lot of holes in it--the VHS version. I was happy to read the comment by Peter22060 - February 25, 2007. I knew there had to be at least an hour of material missing because the film on the tape version gave no reasonable idea of how or why Sally Crain was a nut-case. Some idiot(s) got the rights to copy the series and even though it retains the remains of an excellent film, it had the guts removed. Thus we have a central character manipulating the highest agencies and politicians in this country with no real idea of what is driving her. Thank you Peter22060. I wish I had copied the original.