Amnésia

Watched this film on a dull Sunday afternoon and the story was able to capture my attention for a few minutes. Robert Urich,"Clover Bend",'01, gets himself involved with an accident that puts his mind in a state of not being able to remember anything about himself or even the accident. Urick no sooner wakes up in the hospital when Michael Ironside (Det. Carl Madsen),"On That Day",'05, starts pestering him for information about the accident which involved a murder. Carl Madsen begins to suspect Urich of committing a series of murders which are performed by a hammer slamming into the skull of a person's head. Kay Lenz, is a shrink detective, who was once married to Carl Madsen. Kay tries to help restore Urich's memory in more ways than one, first, making hot sex with him, which never stops and two, trying to uncover his horrible nightmares. Robert Urich was a good actor, however, he was called to the higher stage in life very early in his life.

Murder By Night is a made for television thriller with just the right amount of mood and atmosphere. Blue lights and fog are used brilliantly to capture the dread of this main character. Urich is brilliant as a man who was attacked but can't remember what happened. Ironside is also good as the cop pressing Urich for information. Lenz is a good love interest for the main character. You cannot go wrong with this group of actors and writer Alan B. McElroy. This is a very well made film that fans of mystery will love. The killer actually may be obvious, but the ride to get to the reveal is well worth it.

This is surprisingly good for being a thriller with Robert Urich, whose thrillers tend to be rather slow and heavy and far-sought in their intrinsic psychological plots, but this one is a masterpiece. Urich himself as the lead makes a splendid performance of convincing anguish constantly exacerbated by the stress and treatment he is subject to as he is totally at a loss without a memory and dangerously susceptible to any form of manipulation in extreme vulnerability, but he plays the part with astonishingly convincing power, especially as he even himself starts doubting his own sanity and reliability. The film is cleverly written with great twists to a tricky tale, and you'll never suspect when the next shock will attack you from behind. There are some inconsistencies of course, the writer and director has to be able to trick his audience sometimes to stress some effects, but in spite of all the messy blind alleys it ultimately all makes sense. This is the best Robert Urich film I have seen.