Wayne Rogers is a company executive who has been getting tired of it, for a long while now and has been car racing on the side for the thrill of the race, the danger, for the high of living on the edge and taking risks. What's life if you don't take chances? That's what he tells his wife, Adrienne Barbeau. They have not been getting along lately, and she goes off to restart her singing career, when talking to him about his obsession becomes monotonous. After Wayne has to fire a long-time employee, he finally quits and decides to go to Lake Placid to enter the U. S. Olympics bobsled race. Apparently, he lived there before, as he meets Paula Prentiss, who he went with in their much younger days, and Gary Lockwood who is now married to her. Elke Sommer is manager of the ski lodge, along with husband Mel Ferrer, who is very sickly. Sonny Bono has a supporting role, and, frankly, once he follows Wayne to Lake Placid, his predicament of needing a job but having to be a ski instructor when he's never been on a pair of skis is ridiculous, like an episode of "Three's Company." That is my biggest complaint, that his subplot was unrealistic, the irony of him being in this movie notwithstanding. Aside from that, this production, based on an Irwin Shaw story, was excellent with a great study of the human element. The people here, particularly Wayne, Adrienne, Paula and Gary Lockwood were very real. One could relate and empathize with all of them. They had dreams, regrets, passion. The highlight of the TV movie for me was when Paula told Wayne she had wasted her life continuing to love him, after he had left her. And, also a little later when she told Gary she never loved him, NEVER loved him, despite the fact he had always loved her. She had always loved Wayne. In fact, Wayne seemed to be a magnet for women; they love him. Even Mel Ferrer's character was incredibly real, and he usually comes across a little wooden in productions. Elke Sommer was good, but her character was not as three-dimensional as others. But Paula Prentiss seemed to steal all the scenes she was in. What an actress! All in all, I was very impressed with the writing and depth of this TV movie, despite the corny Sonny Bono plot. I guess that was for levity. And Rae Dawn Chong has a small part in this. She sings, and she's really good. I looked for this, because I had memories! of seeing this when I was almost 10 in 1980. Unfortunately TV movies like this are not on TV anymore. So, it's unlikely you're ever going to see this, unless you try some dvr website. If you do, "Top of the Hill" certainly makes for an entertaining time and a satisfying drama, on the whole.
Review of Top of the Hill
