Escape (1971) (original) (raw)
Synopsis
A scientist's experiment could lead to the first man-made, functioning, living organism. An elite escape artist-private investigator is working to stop him.
Cast
Popular reviews
John Llewellyn Moxie, the director behind things like Psycho-Circus (1966) and The Night Stalker (1972), first served audiences this telepic on April 6, 1971, another failed pilot concerning Christopher George (Day of the Animals, City of the Living Dead) as Cameron Steele, a (adjusts readers)...former escape artist-turned-private investigator who, along with his trusty sidekick, Nicholas Slye (Avery "Doritos" Schreiber, at perhaps his hammiest) solve crimes from their secret digs (did I see a conversation pit with fireplace? Outta sight.) inside a Vegas nightclub with a psychic and occultist clientele, appropriately named "The Crystal Ball". Get it? The bartender? Only Huntz "Satch" Hall, of Bowery Boys fame. This particular adventure involves a pair of scientist brothers; the good one is William…
Christopher George as an escape artist / private investigator chasing John Vernon through an amusement park, including a haunted ride and a roller coaster finale. Definitely recommend but only if you can watch a better copy than I did on YouTube
TV pilot movies ask you to consider things like “how much would a hopeless Gen Xer pay for an ESCAPE lunchbox?” “would the half-hearted Lalo Schifrin theme be on all those TV HIT THEMES cds?” “who would’ve been in Grizzly or Pieces or City of the Living Dead if Christopher George had become a TV star?” and the ultimate old TV movie question “where do I recognize that guy from?” (in this case the that-guy is Avery Schrieber). This one’s pretty good with lots of fistfights and stars of the past like Huntz Hall and Gloria Grahame so fans of TV movies won’t mind that the print that’s up on YouTube is all washed out. The show was supposed to…
This made for TV movie has it all.
Christopher George as “Cameron Steele” is an escape artist detective (!) who runs across a plot to make Evil Goo. The goomakers are none other than John Vernon and William Windom who almost reprises his unhinged Commodore Decker.
This has two Trek actors and the OG Gorn costume is visible in one scene. It's a Paramount show so that makes sense.
Loved the cast, and this has some half decent ideas on the boil but never really goes all the way. Tries to go for a kind of Bond/Flint approach but its too cheap looking to cash in. Look out for some reckless stunts on carnival rides near the end.
Ends up being an interesting oddity with some fun bits.
Film #194 of 2024.
John Moxey directs this failed pilot. Christopher George is a former escape artist turned private investigator, and he’s caught up in a conflict between two scientist brothers. William Windom is the more noble and principled brother, while John Vernon is the wicked brother. They’re essentially struggling over an experiment in artificial life.
The three leads are good, but it’s the same problem that plagues a lot of these kinds of movies and shows from this era. There’s too much talking and not enough action.
It’s only about 73 minutes, and it feels longer than that. Towards the end, Moxey does a nice job with a set piece involving an elevator and a chase through an amusement park, but it just feels like everything (especially before this climactic chase) should be bigger.
Really quite taken with this gleefully shameless Bond rip-off MOTW. That title sequence! The scarred villain and his lair! The fact that our hero (Cameron Steele - top hero name) announces that he's drinking a martini for no discernible reason! Excellent stuff.
Beyond all the blatant plagiarism, there is a genuinely fun energy to Escape. He's no... well... any of the Bonds, but Christopher George is a warm, likeable lead, and sells some of Steele's ludicrous backstory (just how does a man become an escape artist private detective!?) better than many would. There are some enjoyable action sequences, and hearty attempts at world building too - I would have absolutely watched this if it had gone to series! Alas...
