City in Fear
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''City in Fear'' is a 1980 American
made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made fo ...
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...
directed by
Jud Taylor Judson Taylor (February 25, 1932August 6, 2008) was an American actor, television director, and television producer. Early years Born in New York City, Taylor graduated from the University of California, Berkeley. Career Taylor is perhaps best ...
, under the pseudonym Alan Smithee, and written by
Peter Masterson Peter Masterson (born Carlos Bee Masterson Jr.; June 1, 1934 – December 18, 2018) was an American actor, director, producer, and writer. Life and career Masterson often worked with his cousin, writer Horton Foote. Acting from the mid-1960s ...
based on a story by Albert Ruben. The film, starring
David Janssen David Janssen (born David Harold Meyer) (March 27, 1931February 13, 1980) was an American film and television actor who is best known for his starring role as Richard Kimble in the television series '' The Fugitive'' (1963–1967). Janssen also ...
(in one of his final roles),
Robert Vaughn Robert Francis Vaughn (November 22, 1932 – November 11, 2016) was an American actor noted for his stage, film and television work. His television roles include the spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s series '' The Man from U.N.C.L.E.''; th ...
,
Mickey Rourke Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke Jr. (; born September 16, 1952) is an American actor and former boxer who has appeared primarily as a leading man in drama, action, and thriller films. During the star of the 1980s, Rourke played supporting roles i ...
,
Susan Sullivan Susan Michaela Sullivan (born November 18, 1944) is an American actress. Sullivan is best known for her roles as Lenore Curtin Delaney on the NBC daytime soap opera '' Another World'' (1971–76), as Lois Adams on the ABC sitcom '' It's a Livin ...
and Perry King, follows a newspaper's attempts to sensationalize the killing spree of a psychopath. Filmed in mid-1979, ''City in Fear'' premiered in the US on ABC on March 30, 1980, one month after Janssen's death.IMDb release dates
/ref> The film won an
Edgar Allan Poe Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...
.


Plot

Vince Perrino is a frustrated, cynical, alcoholic, chain smoking newspaper columnist who is hired by a wealthy publisher, named Harrison Crawford III, who hopes that Perrino can revamp a small Los Angeles newspaper agency that Crawford just bought out when a series of murders of young women begins all over the city. Crawford wants Perrino's expertise to make the killings front-page news. Meanwhile, the killer is revealed to the viewers to be a dangerously disturbed grocery store employee, named Tony Pate, who is one of several suspects that LAPD detectives John Armstrong and Raymond Zavala, are investigating. Part of the plot is loosely based on the Son of Sam murders and shows a deep insight into how newspapers and television news will go to extreme lengths to sell papers in order to exploit a time of a local crisis.


Cast

*
David Janssen David Janssen (born David Harold Meyer) (March 27, 1931February 13, 1980) was an American film and television actor who is best known for his starring role as Richard Kimble in the television series '' The Fugitive'' (1963–1967). Janssen also ...
– Vince Perrino *
Robert Vaughn Robert Francis Vaughn (November 22, 1932 – November 11, 2016) was an American actor noted for his stage, film and television work. His television roles include the spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s series '' The Man from U.N.C.L.E.''; th ...
– Harrison Crawford III * Perry King – Lt. John Armstrong *
Mickey Rourke Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke Jr. (; born September 16, 1952) is an American actor and former boxer who has appeared primarily as a leading man in drama, action, and thriller films. During the star of the 1980s, Rourke played supporting roles i ...
– Tony Pate * William Prince – Harrison Crawford II *
Susan Sullivan Susan Michaela Sullivan (born November 18, 1944) is an American actress. Sullivan is best known for her roles as Lenore Curtin Delaney on the NBC daytime soap opera '' Another World'' (1971–76), as Lois Adams on the ABC sitcom '' It's a Livin ...
– Madeleine Crawford *
William Daniels William David Daniels (born March 31, 1927) is an American actor, who is best known for his television roles, notably as Mark Craig in the drama series '' St. Elsewhere'', for which he won two Primetime Emmy Awards; the voice of KITT in the t ...
– Freeman Stribling *
Pepe Serna Pepe Serna (born July 23, 1944) is an American film and television actor and artist. Serna's first break in movies came in 1970 on the Roger Corman directed film '' The Student Nurses''. Over the years Serna has appeared in over 100 films. In ...
– Raymond Zavala *
Allan Miller Allan Miller is an American stage, film, and television actor. Biography Miller was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Anna (née Diamond) and Benedict Miller. He served in the U.S. Army after World War II during the occupation of Jap ...
– George Weller * M. Emmet Walsh – Sheldon Lewis *
Christopher Allport Christopher Allport (born Alexander Wise Allport Jr.; June 17, 1947 – January 25, 2008) was an American actor. Biography Alexander Wise Allport Jr. was born in Boston. His acting life began at the age of nine in New Canaan, Connecticut, ...
– Kenny Reiger *
Lane Smith Walter Lane Smith III (April 29, 1936 – June 13, 2005) was an American actor. His well-known roles included newspaper editor Perry White in the ABC series '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'', Walter Warner in '' Son in Law'', co ...
– Brian * Frank McRae – Captain Madison *
Mary Stuart Masterson Mary Stuart Masterson (born June 28, 1966) is an American actress and director. She has starred in the films '' At Close Range'' (1986), '' Some Kind of Wonderful'' (1987), '' Chances Are'' (1989), ''Fried Green Tomatoes'' (1991) and '' Benny & ...
– Abby Crawford


Production

The film was inspired by a conversation between two friends,
William Goldman William Goldman (August 12, 1931 – November 16, 2018) was an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He first came to prominence in the 1950s as a novelist before turning to screenwriting. He won Academy Awards for his screenplays '' ...
and Pete Masterson. Goldman got the idea when he came home one afternoon to find that his daughter, then about twelve, had tried to dye her hair because the real life serial killer, Son Of Sam, was said to be killing dark-haired women. Goldman was horrified that exploitive press accounts had reached into his home and frightened his daughter and saw a story in the interplay of killer and press. "That's how pervasive women's fear became," said director Jud Taylor. Goldman told Masterson "this would make a terrific TV movie" and they hired Albert Rubin to write a script and novelist and friend Linda Stewart to write a novel based on the idea. The novel was published by Delacorte under the title "Panic on Page One" to solid reviews in the New York Times (October 28, 1979) and the L.A. Times (September 16, 1979) among others. For the ABC-TV movie, Taylor cast Mickey Rourke as the killer. "It was one of Mickey's first big parts, and he was extraordinary, and conveyed just the sense of casual menace -- he was a bag boy in a Los Angeles supermarket, for God's sake -- that we wanted." Director Jud Taylor later made '' Out of the Darkness'' based on the policeman who investigated the Son of Sam case. Taylor had his name removed from the film. "After I left, the producers filmed four more point-blank murders without asking me, and I was offended," he said. Stewart, called in to do a rewrite of the script " to make it closer to the novel" also removed her name when her changes were changed.


References

3.New York Times review of Panic on Page One https://www.nytimes.com/1979/10/28/archives/crime.html


External links

* {{Jud Taylor 1980 films American drama television films 1980 drama films Films scored by Leonard Rosenman Films credited to Alan Smithee Films directed by Jud Taylor 1980s English-language films