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Recently, I finished watching a limited-run series on Max called, Full Circle. In it, a kidnapping plot results in the abduction of the wrong person. How coincidental, then, when my favorite plot point in the 1977 TV-movie, Murder at the World Series, happened when a disgruntled young man named Cisco (Bruce Boxleitner) abducted the wrong person.
Believe me, Murder at the World Series comes nowhere near the quality of Full Circle; but, in a way, I got more of a kick out of it because I knew beforehand that he grabbed the wrong girl. Thinking he can hold her for a hefty ransom from the MLB, it turns out to be just another thing that goes wrong for the unlucky villain.
When your motive is that the Houston Astros didn’t put you on the team after your tryout, you probably don’t have the wherewithal to pose as much of a threat. Thank goodness for the tenacious reporter (name and actress unknown) who makes events public so there’s pressure to pay the ransom regardless of who it was kidnapped.
The unintended victim (again, name and actress unknown) suffers a bit of Stockholm Syndrome and makes plans to run away with her hunky captor after it’s all over. However, when he chains her in a van with a ticking time bomb, that probably doesn’t offer much hope for their future.
I don’t know how serious she was, anyway. She makes a career by traveling across the country sleeping with sports stars. She arrives in Houston after a fling with a rodeo champ and has her eyes set on… I don’t know, either Larry Marshall (Michael Parks), the on-his-way-down baseball player, or Frank Gresham (Cooper Huckabee), the on-his-way-up baseball player... maybe both. Oh, and did I mention she’s underaged?
Add Margot Mannering (Lynda Day George) as an actress making the trek to Houston to propose to her man, “The Governor” (Hugh O’Brian.) Sprinkle a bit of Karen Weese (Janet Leigh) as a woman who just learned she has cancer. How about just a pinch of Alice Dakso (Nancy Kelly), a woman who won a trip to the World Series, but doesn’t even like baseball.
Oh, so this is a disaster movie? The characters are all going to end up together in the stadium and Cisco is going to place them all in danger. No, it’s not, and he doesn't. The temporary threat he causes when he sneaks in with another bomb causes no trouble for most of them. What, then, is the point of the movie? Why do we care about their drama?
Guess what? We don’t, or at least I didn’t. The wannabe bad guy and his misadventures, as well as the investigation into locating him, is an average mystery, at best. Had the movie built more around that instead of it almost being a subplot, it might have been more suspenseful and entertaining. We’re left with good news and bad news. Spoiler alert! The Astros win; we don’t.
I found Murder at the World Series at Rarefilmm.com. Visit the TV Terror Guide: 70's TV Movies playlist at ClassicHorrors.Club TV on YouTube to watch other great movies from this series.
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