She Cried Murder (1973)

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Telly Savalas is the only good thing about this film. Looked like a very bad "B" cop TV show. Acting is just a lame too, again minus Telly Savalas.So this woman is looking out of a subway train - right at the very beginning of the film. She sees someone push a woman right in front of the train. Naturally the train stops, she gets off, and sees Brody (Savalas) and he sees her. Inspector Joe Brody walks on. She reports what see saw and tries for the rest of the movie to convince the police that Inspector Joe Brody is the man she saw pushing the woman. Of course no 1970s cop show is complete without a few action chase scenes.I dislike these types of movies - even TV Movies filmed in this style. I am not a fan of action "B" police shows. I also dislike a boring story and this one is Bore-ring! 1/10

TV-made woman-in-distress nonsense starring Lynda Day George (practically a staple of the 1970s movie-of-the-week) involves a model in New York City, the only witness to a murder in the subway station, who realizes the killer is actually a cop once two police inspectors show up to get her story. Despite the work of four writers, tepid melodrama is seldom engaging because it is so brainless, with nearly every character behaving stupidly just to keep the plot in motion. Telly Savalas plays the crooked cop, looking pained--must have been from chasing Lynda up and down stairs and fire escapes, through a theater and a subway station, and across railroad tracks. Lots of leg-work, but no suspense.

TITLE: SHE CRIED MURDER aired on TV. on September 25, 1973 and the running time was 74 minutes.STARRING: Lynda Day George, Telly Savalas, Mike Farrell, Kate Reid, Jeff Toner, Robert Goodier, Aileen Seaton, Hope Garber, Len Birman, Murray Westgate, Richard Alden, Stuart Gillard. Directed by Herschel Daugherty.SUMMARY: The big city early morning commute on the subway. Actress/model Sarah Cornell is witness to the murder of a young woman pushed on to the tracks by a creepy (but not particularly discreet) assailant. She calls the cops and two detectives venture out to the set of her latest commercial taping to get her story for their report. She recognizes one of the cops – Joe Brody (Savalas) as the same creepy assailant whom she saw murdered the woman (a notorious call girl). She doesn't tell the other cop Detective Stepanec (Farrell) instead leaving a very vague description of the murderer – Inspector Joe Brody. As I said this murderer is not particularly discreet or even endowed with the kind of sense a headless chicken would have. It isn't enough that he made extended eye contact with Sarah in the subway after the murder, he just had to take the case investigating it and go to see her later that morning to watch as his colleague introduces him to her by name. Then after seeing her he just had to follow her to her kid's school, follow both of them to a restaurant, kidnap the kid but wait for her inside a nearby theater to find them before demanding she keep silent about what she saw. After the incident in the theater, one in which she ingeniously escaped with her son and left Brody concussed and unconscious though not dead, Sarah calls the police and relates the whole story. They think she is a few fries short of a happy meal but follow through on a search of the theater find nothing of Brody nor any sign than anyone has been there in years. Detective Stepanec meanwhile turns over the dead call-girl's apartment and finds irrefutable proof that Brody was there in the most intimate of positions with her and was likely being black-mailed by her, facts which Brody himself had recounted in mortifying detail inside the theater with Sarah Cornell and her son Chris. Brody evidently recovered from his mishap in the theater tracks Sarah. She thinks he is trying to kill her. Judging by his self-destructive pattern, he may merely be making sure she knows how to spell his name correctly. This leads to a dramatic chase through an apartment building and the subway system ending in an electrifying finale.MY THOUGHTS: I like this movie. It had a lot of action and drama that kept you interested. I thought Telly Savalas was good in his role as the evil bad cop. However, I bought this movie because of Lynda Day George and I wasn't disappointed at all. She was excellent in her role as Sarah Cornell. This movie show how good of an actress she was. The only problem I had with this movie is Lynda Day George was in the same outfit throughout the entire movie. Based on that and the action in this picture I give this movie 8 weasel stars.

It's pretty rare that I watch simple, straightforward thrillers, let alone particularly enjoy them, so She Cried Murder was quite a treat to me. As simple as they come, without a speck of fat, this is lean, keen stuff even by made for television standards, clocking in at around 66 minutes in length, a good six or seven minutes shorter than the average. The action starts immediately with model Sarah Cornell witnessing a man push a lady to her death in front of a subway train, and her nightmare really begins when encounters said murderer later, the nefarious individual being rather keen to keep her quiet after having seen her see him. From then on the film takes the form of a constant chase, mixed with a dash of paranoia and a few explanatory digressions providing context without slowing down the main pulse. The lovely Lynda Day George makes a good fist of the main role, she isn't the most convincing as an actress but looks the part and throws herself into the action with an agreeable determination that grows effectively frayed and desperate as her pursuer proves frightening tenacious. Telly Savalas is excellent as said pursuer, playing things low key, soft faced and even superficially charming, he menaces through the contrast of his actions and demeanour rather than playing things up as a baddie and is all the better for it. Nobody else really has big enough roles to make an impression, but Mike Farrel (BJ from M.A.S.H.) does have a nice turn as a sympathetic police officer. There's little more to say about this that would stray into the realms of spoilers, but director Herschel Daughtery does a sterling job with both the pace and set pieces, there are several moments of seat edge suspense and the finale is a minor marvel. At times the film is even somewhat reminiscent of Italian gialli, though the film only very seldom approaches the same heights of style and has almost none of the same twisted verve. As one might expect of a made for television production things are rather tame, and there are one or two nagging loose ends, but on the whole this is a splendid ride, one that never wears out its excitement and is hence well worth a look for vintage thriller fans.