When you really sit down and think about outcomes in your life good or bad, the waiting aspect seemed the most difficult. A personal story comes into relevance here, Mother's Day 1975. My parents went away to Pennsylvania to visit my sister. They left me their station wagon for the weekend. My Father said, Don't do anything stupid with the car." I was working for a florist and it was my turn to deliver flowers that morning. I had 13 stops on my run. I started in Queens and worked my way to Nassau County. I figured I would be done by One o'clock in time to watch the New York Islanders playoff match on Television. With two stops to go in Valley Stream, the clock was spinning faster as one o'clock was shortly approaching. I had to make time so I stepped on the gas and slammed into a car which forced my car into a traffic pole. Thank goodness the seat belt saved me from smashing my face against the windshield. Within minutes the police showed up and the neighbors came out and surrounded the car. Thank goodness for my cousin Ira, who came to my rescue as we miraculously got the disheveled car started. I drove the car home and waited for my parents to return. The front of the vehicle looked like twisted steel. Oh, the waiting was excruciating. I've watched this Classic over and over again and I never get tired of watching this "group" hostage thriller. Basically, Three trigger happy, cold-blooded convicts escape to the Nevada desert taking hostages along the way. They end up in a Nevada ghost town, unfortunately, located near ground zero for an experimental nuclear blast, which is set to go off at 6 am depending on the weather. One of the three is wounded with a bullet in his gut. Bart played by Paul Kelly winces in pain as our villainous leader Sam Hurley (Steve McNally) barks out the orders wielding his pistol at the quartet of victims. The hostages are, recently divorced Kay Garven (Alexis Smith) and her newly acquired lover Arthur Ashton (Robert Paige), reporter Larry Fleming (Keith Andes), and the woman he just met Dottie played by Jan Sterling. An old weathered prospector who looks like he came out of a time Machine named Asa Tremaine (Arthur Hunnicutt) also joins the group. Richard Egan also appears in the film. Time and tempers grow short as the countdown begins in this hostage thriller. Physical violence and murder along the way, but the question is, will our hostages get far enough away in time? Strong performances from the cast as Steve McNally plays another heavy in a film. Arthur Hunnicutt tells tales of the west to his fellow captures as he goes on to break the stress of the impending doom. Alexis Smith plays a woman with zero integrity. Frank De Kova who plays the mute as part of the evil three convicts, you might recognize as Chief Wild Eagle on the comedy Show F-Troop. As for my situation and my Parent' return trip from Pennsylvania, The first thing they noticed was the wrecked car in the driveway. Despite another failure on my part, My Father was grateful I wasn't injured and no one else was hurt. When I think back it was the two hours of waiting that was the most painful.
Review of Split Second
