There is no doubt in my mind. Marjoe Gortner is an excellent actor. He just is not an appealing one. His characters are some of the most vile creatures ever to walk the planet, and even if they're fiction, you long to see him get a violent end. Watching him in this film is the equivalent of seeing a car accident and watching all the bodies burn inside before taking off. It's hideous but you can't move your eyes away from it. An All-Star cast of excellent actors are among the staff and customers at a roadside cafe out in the middle of nowhere, emotionally and verbally harassed by Gortner before he turns violent. The cast,
featuring Candy Clark, Stephanie Faracy, Lee Grant, Hal Linden, Peter Firth, Pat Hingle, Audra Lindley, and Anne Ramsey (in a small role at the beginning) are excellent, but the subject matter, even just passed the crisis of a mad man holding a bunch of innocent people hostage, is very depressing and filled with moments when you wish someone would just pick up a knife and stab this man to a bloody demise. With all of those witnesses, no way would they be convicted.
I usually never write a review with such they just taste for a particular character where I described the end I want them to have, but in Gortner's case here, the fury I felt over just watching him became an outrage that made it difficult watching this. You're supposed to feel sympathy for him because he's a Vietnam veteran, and with many anti-vietnam films made at this time, there were many more veterans who deserves sympathy. Grant and Linden as an upperclass married couple who already have problems are very good, with Grant having an outburst that shows why she was one of the great featured actresses in the 70's and 80's, and Firth is outstanding as the night cook whose name, in addition to the comic book character, influences the title. I don't know if I can ever watch this as a stage play, having seen other movie versions of plays with similar themes ("Petrified Forest" and "Desperate Hours" immediately come to mind) which did not anger me as much. This is a type of film where you can see why the actors work interested in appearing in it, but for the audience, it's the type of movie that just brings on depression and makes them want to stay out of rural communities and roadside diners where anything can happen as much as nothing can happen.
I usually never write a review with such they just taste for a particular character where I described the end I want them to have, but in Gortner's case here, the fury I felt over just watching him became an outrage that made it difficult watching this. You're supposed to feel sympathy for him because he's a Vietnam veteran, and with many anti-vietnam films made at this time, there were many more veterans who deserves sympathy. Grant and Linden as an upperclass married couple who already have problems are very good, with Grant having an outburst that shows why she was one of the great featured actresses in the 70's and 80's, and Firth is outstanding as the night cook whose name, in addition to the comic book character, influences the title. I don't know if I can ever watch this as a stage play, having seen other movie versions of plays with similar themes ("Petrified Forest" and "Desperate Hours" immediately come to mind) which did not anger me as much. This is a type of film where you can see why the actors work interested in appearing in it, but for the audience, it's the type of movie that just brings on depression and makes them want to stay out of rural communities and roadside diners where anything can happen as much as nothing can happen.