NIGHT WALK

US, 1889, 90 minutes, Colour.
Robert Urich, Lesley Anne Down, Mark Joy.
Directed by Jerrold Freedman.

Night Walk is an entertaining, if routine, telemovie thriller. Lesley Ann Down is a wife estranged from her lawyer husband, wanting time to reassess her life, evaluate the advice she gets from a therapist who goes on vacation and witnesses a murder on a beach. At first she is not believed. Then the police inspector (Robert Urich) believes her, some of his fellow officers are killed, there is a pursuit of the criminals - and a twist at the end of the film. It is entertaining - with a touch of character study, suspense, romance.

1. Entertaining thriller? Murder mystery? Police investigation? Marriage and marriage break-up? Romance?
2. The beach settings, the south, the houses, the chases? Action and special effects? Musical score?

3. The focus on Geneva, her profile and her analysis? The tense relationship with her husband? His not wanting her to go on holidays? Her love for her son and relationship with him? On vacation, the chance encounter with the policeman? The walk on the beach, witnessing the murder? Police interrogation and their disbelief? Her being guarded? The attraction towards the policeman, talking with him, sharing the experiences? The deaths of the police? The chase in the car, rushing through the forest? The shooting? The transfer and the siege of the house? The revelation that the murdered man was not dead? The final confrontation? Listening to the phone and the discovery of the truth?

4. The police officer, the widower, the slouch, his two sons, getting over his wife? Chatting with the waitress? With the artist and getting his advice about Geneva? The interrogation, suspicions? Fellow officers and their mockery of Geneva? The deaths of the policemen? Transferring her? The relationship with her? The final dangers, his being shot? The truth?

5. The husband, the lawyer, always successful? Tension with his wife? Dominating her? The phone calls? The irony of the ending? The sketch of her son and his love for her?

6. The policeman, doing their jobs, dangers, deaths? The criminals, the staging of the murder, the headquarters, the shoot-outs? Deaths?

7. Plausibility of the plot? Audience interest in characters? Situations? Development?