The Strangers in 7A (1972)

Wonderful Movie

best movie i've ever seen.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

The Strangers In 7A are a group who plan to use this apartment as a headquarters while they plan a night time bank robbery. Susanne Benton rents the apartment and her male callers include Michael Brandon, James A. Watson, Jr., and Tim McIntire. All of them are Vietnam veterans and one of them, Watson is trained in demolition.When building superintendent Andy Griffith gets curious he and wife Ida Lupino get taken hostage. A lot of the film is taken up with their time as hostages. All of the robbers are social misfits, but Michael Brandon is truly psychotic.It's for you to watch this made for TV film to see how it all turns out. But let's say things don't quite go as planned. Brandon stands out in this film, a truly warped and hateful human being.Sadly the war in Vietnam being as unpopular as it became led to a lot of films of varying qualities casting Vietnam vets in all kind of psychotic roles. Terribly unfair I thought, then as now.Still The Strangers In 7A is still a tense action packed thriller that will leave you on the edge of your living room sofa seeing it on Amazon as I did.

One of the seemingly oddest pairings in film history is Andy Griffith and Ida Lupino as a Manhattan apartment super and his wife in this watchable but predictable and instantly forgettable TV movie. If it wasn't for the veteran actors in the leads, this would be a film to pass over. Lupino's heading to her sister's, and Griffith heads to a bar where he meets a young woman who talks her way into their apartment, setting up Griffith being held captive by a group of bank robbers, some of whom are quite deranged. The sudden return of Lupino creates more tension, but in just 73 minutes (obviously formatted for the 90 minute movie of the week), it's obvious how this will play out.Griffith, a Broadway trained serious actor, was far more complex a talent than the small town widowed sheriff he played on TV. He's the focus here, but I refuse to believe that his character would be this gullible, even if tempted by a much younger woman. A bit of interesting detail shows him trying to interact with tenants and pretty much getting the cold shoulder or just plain rude. In that aspect, it's a realistic view of Manhattan, seemingly set between the meat packing district and Union Square. Lupino's dowdy housewife claims she never went to high school, a useless reference that tries to dumb down her character, not something I associate with Lupino in any character she ever played.Definitely a curiosity for a look back at the type of TV entertainment adult audiences went for in the early 1970's, it tries too hard to be hip and relevant which instantly dates it. That aspect makes it actually pretty disturbing on some aspects, cheapening Griffith's seemingly decent hard working middle aged man and turning him into an unwilling letch. The actors playing the gang do their work as directed, but add no nuances to make them interesting. Ranks as a below average antique in the early years of the history of TV movies.

THE STRANGERS IN 7A – 1972 Andy Griffith, Ida Lupino, Michael Brandon, James A. Watson, Tim McIntire headline this rather unseen television film from 1972. Griffith plays a super in for a New York apartment block who gets himself in deep trouble. Griffith's wife, Ida Lupino, is going out for the night to stay with her ill sister. Griffith figures on a night out at the local bar for a few drinks, is in order.At the bar, he runs into Susanne Hildur. The leggy and well-built girl is soon hitting on the flattered Griffith. Hildur is down on her luck and needs a place to stay for one day. Griffith decides that maybe this is his lucky day to get a bit of strange, and offers her a place. He takes her to the apartment of a tenant who is off on vacation.Of course this is just too good to be true. Soon after Griffith takes Hildur upstairs, they are joined by Brandon, Watson and McIntire. The men tell Griffith that they also need a place for a day. Play along and everything will be cool. They will not tell his wife about him trying to step out. Griffith figures that what can one day hurt, and agrees.He returns to his apartment and finds that Lupino has returned early from her trip. He tries to play it cool, but Lupino can see he is nervous about something.Meanwhile, up in 7A, the men and Hildur are going over a plan to rob the bank located next to the apartment block. The trio of men are all Vietnam vets with plenty of explosives know how. They plan on going down the side of the building to the bank roof, then blowing their way in. They have been planning the caper for some time, and know all the Police patrol times etc.The next day, Griffith sees several of the group go out. He decides to have a look in 7A, maybe they have all left. What he finds is the plans for the robbery and all the equipment for the heist. Needless to say he is caught in the apartment by the thugs.Brandon, the leader of the bunch has Lupino brought up to join the happy little group. Brandon gives Griffith a sound beating and ties both Lupino and Griffith up.That night the men head up to the roof and down onto the bank. Hildur, still in the apartment, starts making fake emergency calls to the Police and Fire Department. She gives them the addresses of apartment buildings away from the area. This is to pull the Police patrols away.The three men now blow a hole into the bank and drop into the safe area. They stuff everything of value into their bags. They then start back up the side of Griffith's apartment building.The local foot beat cop though, has heard the explosions, and rushes to the sight. He sees Brandon, Watson and McIntire scaling the side of building. Out comes his revolver and he starts blasting. He nails McIntire and wounds Watson.Brandon and the wounded Watson head to the apartment to collect Hildur. Needless to say the Police are quicker off the mark and soon have them cornered in the building. Brandon has Watson place a bomb on the building elevator roof. He then sends Miss Lupino down to the Police with a message. Let them leave, or the whole building goes up in 20 minutes.Brandon, Watson and Hildur now grab up Griffith to use as a hostage. Brandon holds a sawed off to Griffiths while they wait for the elevator. Hildur now decides that this really is not her idea of fun, and refuses to go. Brandon laughs and shoves Griffith into the just arrived elevator. He then blasts Watson with the sawed off. A one way split sounds better, and besides, the wounded Watson would slow him down.Griffith decides to act and jumps Brandon. The two wrestle for the gun and Brandon catches a full load in the shoulder. Without giving any more away, the bomb still needs to be found and defused.The director here is big screen veteran, Paul Wendkos. Wendkos started out in 1957 with the Dan Duryea film noir, THE BURGLAR. He followed this with THE CASE AGAINST BROOKLYN and several of the GIDGET movies before switching to television work.With only a 74 minute run time, this entertaining television work moves along at a decent pace.

This little-known TV-movie would likely have forgotten forever if not for a recently produced bargain DVD which makes it available to a new audience more than 30 years after its initial airing. Griffith plays a laid-off factory worker doing time as an apartment building super with his wife Lupino at his side. One day, when she goes out of town to visit a sick relative, he is practically seduced by a young blonde who asks him for a place to spend the night. He arranges for her to stay in 7A while the tenants are away on a trip, but that's only the beginning of the story. It seems Brandon and his two cronies want to stay as well so they can use the building's location in a heist of the bank next door. Eventually, Griffith has to take on the thieves in order to save his, Lupino's and the tenants of the entire building's lives. This is not the Griffith of Mayberry. While his inherent goodness remains intact, he actually gets shirtless in preparation for adultery! His character here is more flawed and susceptible than most of the ones he's played on TV. Lupino is reasonably solid as his wife, wearing one of those awful 70's wigs that permeated so many TV shows and TV movies of that decade. She is 10 years older than her character, but at least she has that excuse. Griffith looks ten years older than his and he isn't! Brandon gives a typical cocky, yet unhinged, presentation of a Vietnam vet turned criminal. He isn't bad, but it had all been done before and would be done again many times. As his pals, Watson and McIntire aren't given a lot to do. Hildur is billed as "Introducing....", but she would fall off the televisual landscape almost instantaneously. She isn't bad, but does have a tendency to over-emote, especially in her fairly preposterous opening scenes. Despite the stark nature of the story and the dim settings, the film has more than a few laugh-out-loud moments, mostly thanks to the groovy aspects of some of the filming and the overwrought nature of some of the confrontation scenes. Still, the film is worth a look for fans of Griffith and fans of the old-style TV movies which were a breed to themselves. This one was produced by the same man (Mark Carliner) that supplied a pair of intense Shelley Winters vehicles. His flicks tended to be just a tad more serious and violent than the ones Aaron Spelling did (though Spelling's are undeniably entertaining as well.) Another plus is some kicky music by Morton Stevens, the man who gave the world the theme song to "Hawaii 5-O", notably in a "Shaft"-esque opening credits number that sets a nice tone for the rest of the film.