Dying Room Only (1973)

Touches You

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

best movie i've ever seen.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Fine performances abound in Dying Room Only, when you are left wondering what happened to Jean Mitchell, played by future Dancing with the Stars performer Cloris Leachman. It's quite tense, and Dabney Coleman (who was great in 9 to 5 several years later) draws a lot of sympathy from the audience as he searches for his wife. This was Ned Beatty's post-Deliverance movie and he seems to have recovered well from the pig squealing experience thankfully. Here Ned, who plays Tom King, is a menacing figure big time. Incidentally, Ned isn't related to Warren Beatty. This movie deserves a reboot big time. I'm thinking Stephen Tobolowsky in the Dabney Coleman role, Renee Zellweger in Cloris's role, and Dustin Diamond in his comeback role as Tom King.

Apparently there was enough interest in "Dying Room Only" that made Warner Bros. release this on DVD on 1/19/10. Its on a web-site called www.warnerarchive.com. This is also a re-mastered print which isn't too common for made-for-TV-movies. I just ordered mine and it is definitely worth the investment. TV airings of this movie have all since passed and probably won't get the time of day any longer, so the DVD is worth it's weight in gold. ($19.99) It is crystal clear and the movie is un-cut. There aren't any extras or special features but it is still a treat. Kudos to Warner Bros!! (who has the Lorimar Productions library of movies).

It seems that the seventies was a good period for made for TV horror films, and this film helps to prove it. Dying Room Only will be familiar to anyone who has seen the excellent 1997 Kurt Russell thriller 'Breakdown' as it's obvious that this film was it's inspiration. The plot focuses on bickering couple Jean and Bob who stop at a diner while travelling through the desert. Bob gets into an argument with the owner, and when Jean returns from the bathroom, her husband is nowhere to be seen! The way that this film plays out is very similar to the later 'Breakdown', except this time it's the woman that is looking for her significant other rather than the man; which is actually a shame because Dabney Coleman has a more interesting character than Cloris Leachman, and I feel the film would have worked a lot better had it been the other way round (obviously the makers of Breakdown did too!). The mystery that is presented builds well and the film makes good use of its seventy five minute running time. I can't say that it's enthralling for the duration, but the film never becomes boring and overall, Dying Room Only is a very nice little made for TV flick.

I just saw "Dying Room Only" for the first time in over 30 years, and this is a typically great 70's TV-movie thriller. A couple (Cloris Leachman looking pretty good, and hubby Dabney Coleman) stop at a lonely desert cafe (in the daytime, not the nighttime as the summary here states) and the husband disappears as the wife is in the ladies room. The only two possible witnesses (the cafe cook and customer Ned Beatty, in a great sleazy role) are saying nothing. What happened? Where did the husband go? The movie then takes off to have Cloris Leachman trying to figure it out, since she is getting almost no help at all from anyone. Is even the local cop in on it, whatever "it" may be? Everyone is suspect. Nighttime comes, and danger looms....I do agree with the reviewer that stated this film could have been better in the second half. The first half is amazing - very suspenseful and thrilling. The second half kind of veers into "typical" fare but is still decent.A bunch of familiar 70's faces round out the small cast. Especially since the film is fairly short at about 1:13 (most TV-movies back then were 90 minutes with the commercials) this is definitely a fun watch.