Poor Jimmy Lydon. He doesn't get a break. Either its the fact that every time he tried to play a role other than Henry Aldrich (especially if dramatic), he was compared to his fictional series counterpart or the fact that here, his character of Steve Nordstrom ends up with amnesia after being brutally whacked over the head by the vindictive Timothy Carey who ended up with a scarred face because of Lydon. Jimmy (billed here as James in hopes of lessening comparison with Henry Aldrich) just got out of prison for his assault of Carey who had initiated the fight that left him scarred. Now traipsing around Southern California without an identity, James takes on a fake identity after a flirtatious waitress (an amusingly pathetic Meg Randall) decides that he reminds her of her first love, and ends up as a handyman for wealthy Ross Elliott whose trampy wife (Tina Carver) is carrying on with one of his best friends (John Bleifer). She sees Jimmy as a successful key to having her lover knock Elliott off, and with his amnesia, it is a sure bet he'll be framed.
The double bill era of American feature film was winding down, and with the second to last entry of this Bill Elliott series, the saga had perhaps its best. There are a lot of smarmy people about, and for poor Lydon, it all begins with the obviously psychotic Carey and continues with the sleazy marital triangle of the man whom he has allowed to help (as long as getting medical help for his amnesia isn't one of them). These characters are fascinatingly amoral, and as his sweet fiancée Claudia Barrett finds out, the road to matrimony isn't easy. Fortunately, the troubled couple have Elliott on their side, and he is certain that something nefarious has happened to Jimmy, later on certain that he's been framed for murder.
"Little House on the Prairie's" Dabbs Greer (Reverald Alden) is Lydon's doctor here, explaining to Elliott that even if somebody has amnesia, they won't do anything outside of their moral conscience, comparing it to sleepwalking and being put in a trance. The writing for this entry of the series is probably the slickest, giving little tidbits of the troubled nature of all of them. Randall, in particular, gets to show her resentful side of the character, obviously lonely and desperate for a man, accusing him of making a pass at her, something Elliott knows to be totally out of the question. The film moves at an extremely brisk pace, sometimes brutally violent (Carey's attack on Lydon is particularly gruesome, as is Elliott's demise, only imagined as it takes place), and will keep you on the edge of your seat. There is a great moment of humor at the end that is the explanation point on "The End!" that may leave you applauding in delight.
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