Night of the Wilding

The story is not great. The acting is not inspiring. The direction is OK but not believable. This movie suffers from what many films can't shake. They needed to fill some time so you let the heroes do very stupid things nobody would really do, just to get to the car wreck or the shooting or the fight.

Watch for Richard Munchkin as the jury foreman at the end of the movie. Richard directed many action movies. I used to do stand up comedy with Richard in Las Vegas in the 1970s.

Speaking of the jury, you will notice that there are two different trials separated by a year or longer in this movie, and yet it is the same jury but they sit in different chairs.

Robert Dickey is the best part of this film. His character has some dimensions and is not just always the same level of hostility. He finds some decency in his portrayal. Robert had teen idol good looks and a great voice.

The car wreck is, as some have noted, just preposterous. It should be exciting, but it just looks silly. Eric is OK. The scenes of downtown L.A. are nicely filmed. Dialog is something a sixth grade student might write for an essay. Each speech is about the same length. Even the courtroom drama is kept at a Barbie Doll mentality.

It is an OK movie that has some nudity and violence, but not anything that will get your heart going.

Tom Willett