Goodnight, My Love: A Made-for-TV Film Noir

The ABC Movie of the Week was unique among made-for-TV movie franchises in that its films spanned a wide variety of genres. It presented family dramas, thrillers, comedies, horror pictures, and even a kung fu movie. One of its most unusual efforts was Peter Hyams' homage to film noirs: Goodnight, My Love. Made in 1972, it's set in post-World War II Los Angeles and stars Richard Boone and Michael Dunn as a pair of gumshoes whose primary concern is the source of their next meal.Embed from Getty Images Richard Boone, Michael Dunn, and Barbara Bain.

Business starts looking up for Francis Hogan (Boone) and Arthur Boyle (Dunn) when the slinky Susan Lakely (Barbara Bain) saunters into their low-rent office. She wants the two private eyes to find her boyfriend, whom she claims has been missing for several days. Hogan is unenthusiastic about the case, but Boyle is hungry so they take the job.

Somehow, the boyfriend's disappearance is linked to a missing briefcase and a shady nightclub owner named Julius Limeway (Victor Buono). Limeway's henchman, Lakely's lies, and a couple of corpses muddle the clues as Hogan and Doyle try to uncover the truth--and get a decent dinner.

Richard Boone, who flashed plenty of charisma as Paladin in Have Gun--Will Travel, is surprisingly low-key as possibly the grumpiest detective in the history of cinema. It works, though, thanks to his castmates who elevate their game. Michael Dunn shines as Boone's witty sidekick, delivering his quips with style--even when he's not on camera. In one scene, when Susan expresses concern about Hogan's safety, the detective reassures her: "I'm a big boy. I can take care of myself." Offscreen, Dunn's sidekick adds: "I'm not so big."

Barbara Bain, who looks fabulous in the 1940s fashions, plays her femme fatale with a knowing wink, but never crosses the line into parody. The same applies to Victor Buono, who is ideally cast as the white suit-wearing villain who would have been played by Sidney Greenstreet once upon a time. Embed from Getty Images

I had the opportunity to interview Barbara Bain in 2019. When I asked her about Goodnight, My Love, she told me:

"I just loved doing that movie with Richard Boone and Michael Dunn. It was interesting to play this woman about whom we find out all kinds of things by the end. She's all 'poor me' in the beginning and not so 'poor me' by the end of it. I received extraordinary compliments about my performance. I spent some time with (director) Peter Hyams in the last year or two and we recalled making the film. Lee Strasberg (the famous acting teacher) said I was just wonderful. I can't even say it. I can't quote somebody else talking about me without being a little embarrassed. But after all these years, it was very nice to hear that from one's master teacher." Embed from Getty Images

For many years, it was hard to find a quality print of Goodnight, My Love. Fortunately, one of my Twitter friends (@CED_LD_Guy) has made it available on Rumble (a free streaming platform like YouTube). Click here to watch it.

Goodnight, My Love may not rank with the best of film noir, but it's an entertaining, well-made homage. It's also a great example of the kind of creative filmmaking that made the ABC Movie of the Week appointment television for those of us who grew it up in the late 1960s and 1970s.

Savage Season: I'll Have a Little Salt of Platinum to Spice Things Up

The handsome and affable Ron Harper was one of the busiest actors in 1960s television, starring in four television series. Yet, like many of his peers, his big screen career was sadly limited to a few films. He had a rare leading role in 1971's Savage Season (aka The Wild Season), playing a cynical south-of-the-border adventurer involved with shady folks, a pretty metallurgist, and stolen platinum.

The film gets off to a fine start when Steve Blane (Harper) finds the aforementioned metallurgist (Diane McBain) wearing nothing but sunglasses and a towel on his hotel room floor. Instead of taking advantage of the situation, the weary Blane quips: "If I cut myself shaving, I'd be too tired to bleed." After some lively banter between the two, it turns out that Steve is less tired than he thought--after all, that's a blonde-haired Diane McBain in that towel!

Diane McBain as a blonde.

She wants to recover a ton of stolen platinum from the nefarious criminal that murdered Steve's little brother. Steve agrees to help, of course, and goes to see big-time smuggler Jason Fatt ("That's Fatt with two T's," he tells Steve). Fatt (Victor Buono...channeling Sydney Greenstreet) tells Steve that his brother's killer is dead and buried.

With his dubious partner Tony, Steve keeps poking around and finds the stolen platinum--which has been dissolved into powder called "salt of platinum." The plan is to transport it and reconstitute it into valuable metal. (Yes, platinum can be dissolved with chemicals, but I have no idea whether it can be reconstituted into its original state--still, it's an interesting premise). There are the expected shootouts, double-crosses, and plot twists before the poorly-titled Savage Season reaches its conclusion. Heck, even Slim Pickens pops up unexpectedly in a cameo.

Ron Harper.

Ron Harper holds it all together with just the right amount of toughness, cynicism, and humor. Charles Bronson revived his career in the 1970s, playing similar roles in European films like Red Sun and You Can't Win 'Em All. Harper certainly had the potential to replicate that kind of success. Indeed, he had already proven as much on the small screen in the underrated 1967-68 TV series Garrison's Gorillas (which was inspired by The Dirty Dozen). He teams up nicely with Diane McBain,who brings a welcome light touch to the typical tough girl role.

It's pretty hard to see Savage Season these days. I think there's a DVD with Spanish dialogue, though it's hard to find. I was fortunate enough to see the original version (with the American actors speaking English!) in 16mm at the Western Film Fair and Nostalgia Convention. Ron Harper, who still looks good at 79, sat in the chair next to me.

31 Days of Halloween: Grande Dames take on Grand Guignol in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?"

Sibling rivalry gone amok is at the heart of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (black & white, 1962). The film opens early in the 20th century, when vaudeville was still in vogue. Baby Jane Hudson, a spoiled, demanding and apparently none-too-gifted child star is the apple of her cloying father's eye. Her older, envious sister Blanche tends to smolder in the wings as Jane garners the shrieks and applause of her fans...but times change. Cut to a dark night and a fateful "accident" many years later...cut again to the early 60's, when former child star Jane (Bette Davis) and former movie star Blanche (Joan Crawford) now share a decomposing mansion...and some ugly memories. Blanche is crippled and wheelchair-bound as a result of the earlier "accident," and Jane is equally crippled, though her malady is psychological and fueled by alcohol.

Director Robert Aldrich (Kiss Me Deadly, The Dirty Dozen) spins a beautifully twisted tale, adapted by Lukas Heller from Henry Farrell's novel, and creates a suspense-driven, enduring classic filled with macabre and gruesome set pieces and memorable moments. Bette Davis inhabits the title role of the aged, demented "Baby Jane." Inappropriate in every way, Jane flounces around the house and neighborhood in vintage wig, makeup and clothing that recall the era when she was a young star. Joan Crawford portrays the long-suffering Blanche who managed to achieve stardom on her own but harbors a secret and is now completely dependent upon her increasingly disturbed sister. When Jane discovers that Blanche has plans to sell the mansion and put her in a home, the situation turns deadly and the suspense takes off. It doesn't let up. And, in the tradition of some of the best of the genre, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? delivers a plot twist, though a poignant one, at the end.

A sleeper that became a sensation when it was released, the film sparked a trend in casting one-time Hollywood leading ladies in horror/thriller melodramas. However, none of those that followed were on a par with Baby Jane: Crawford in Strait-Jacket, Berserk, etc.; Davis in Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte, Dead Ringer, etc.; Olivia de Havilland in Lady in a Cage (and Charlotte with Davis and Joseph Cotten)...and even Joan Bennett in the gothic TV phenomenon, "Dark Shadows." But the film did more than make money (it was the first Hollywood film to earn back its budget in one weekend) and set a trend, it was also nominated for five Academy Awards and won for best B&W costume design.

This film is celebrated for many reasons, but it is the performance of Bette Davis that cements Baby Jane's place as a classic outside any genre. Davis "kicks out the jams" and gives a bravura portrayal, one of fascinating depth. Her Baby Jane Hudson is a grotesque, yes, she's over-the-top and she is terrifying at times...but she also has comic elements...and she is also a tragic, even touching figure. Crawford deserves attention, too, for bravely going toe-to-toe with Davis and turning in one of her most interesting performances, and Victor Buono is also notable for his magnificently repellent rendition of the corpulent accompanist Jane hires when she decides to return to show business.

This is one film that was literally meant to be seen on Halloween - it was released on October 31, 1962...