It’s Bess Armstrong!
Since today is the 11th, I thought we’d take a look at 11th Victim, a TV movie from 1979 that I dimly remember watching as a teenager. Bess plays a TV journalist in Des Moines who finds out about her younger sister’s secret life as an L.A. prostitute after said sister is murdered (she’s the titular eleventh victim). Apparently, the story was inspired by the Hillside Strangler case, itself dramatized several times since. With no video or DVD release, however, 11th Victim has become a bit obscure so there’s little chance of me seeing it again, which is a shame because it sounds like prime Anchorwoman In Peril fodder.
TV Guide said it “had potential, but was defeated by the usual TV-movie budgetary restrictions and desire to exploit rather than explore a ‘hot’ issue”. I know... Like exploitation is a bad thing! Anyway, I must have agreed on some level because I reviewed it in my own film guide at the time thusly: “Slick TV movie succeeds as an exploration of the sleazy side of life in Hollywood but, as a thriller, is flat and unexciting”. Did you know I’ve been keeping a record of all the films I watch since I was 13? Eat your beard off, Leonard Maltin!
1 comment:
My goal in life now is to find this movie.
I tried keeping a record of all the movies I watched but next to the titles of them, I'd always write something like "he's so cute," and that would be it! Not very helpful...
Post a Comment