User Reviews

Film-critic Leonard Maltin called this "a poor man's In the Heat of the Night", which sounds like an easy way to dismiss a movie that is actually quite good on it's own terms, and not really anywhere close "In the Heat of the Night" story-wise (except for the part of white southerners learning to respect a black man).

In my opinion, Jim Brown is one of the coolest athletes-turned-actors of his generation. Sure, he's no Sidney Poitier, but who is? Here he's given one of the best parts of his career, and he even gets great support from a number of wonderful actors, notably the legendary Fredric March, who chews the scenery as a quarrelsome old mayor and George Kennedy as the former sheriff (and I guess this movie's equivalent to Rod Steiger if Leonard Maltin had a say in it). Don Stroud (whatever happened to his career?) is creepy as a racist ex-deputy and any fan of Clifton James should get a kick out of his part, as a leading klan-member who in the end turns out to be one of the main characters in the plot, and not such a bad guy after all.

A surprisingly engaging movie, at times quite gripping, with inspired direction by Ralph Nelson and a show of force from a first-rate cast.

7.5/10

Sure, if one is going to compare this film to the earlier "In the Heat of the Night", it can't quite measure up, but that doesn't mean that it's not a good film in its own right. It's a pretty effective story of race relations, in which a black man, Jimmy Price (Jim Brown) is elected the new sheriff of Colusa County. He's replacing the outgoing sheriff, white man John Little (George Kennedy). Jimmy is going to have a rough road ahead of him, but rises to the challenge, and enforces the law in a fair manner, showing no favouritism to either race. His job is made particularly difficult when he arrests a young man (Robert Random) who's killed a little girl in a traffic accident, and the mans' bigshot father (Karl Swenson) shows up to demand his release.

Brown is extremely good in this early lead role, playing a character of likability and integrity. Kennedy is also fine as the one white person willing to stand behind him. A lot of familiar faces fill out supporting and character roles: Lynn Carlin (as Littles' wife), Janet MacLachlan (as Prices' spouse), Don Stroud, Richard Elkins, Clifton James, Mills Watson, Bernie Casey, Anthony James (who was actually in "In the Heat of the Night"), Dub Taylor, and Barry Cahill. Stroud is utterly convincing as Littles' former deputy who's one of the biggest, creepiest racists in the bunch. All of the performers do fine work, but it's the great Fredric March (in one of his last film roles) who tends to steal the show as the aged, ill tempered mayor who's resistant to the idea of outside help.

Plenty of solid local flavour and a nice assortment of music help to make this decent entertainment. Director Ralph Nelson manages to milk some believable tension out of the scenario, especially near the end when it's believed that Swenson will be returning to town with all of his bigoted cronies.

Nelson does come up with an ingenious way to begin the action, with some of the townspeople literally frying an egg on the pavement while there is insistent ticking on the soundtrack. And there's a highly amusing exchange between our leads to end the film.

Seven out of 10.

This film is hugely under rated and deserved a clutch of awards.

"Racial tensions threaten to explode when a black man is elected sheriff of a small, racially divided town in the Deep South".

The movie is set in a time when race almost defined a nation. And the picture captures the period brilliantly illustrating the culture, language and music of the era.

There are stand out performances from George Kennedy-surely one of his finest- as the former sheriff coming to terms with unemployment and racism. The town mayor played by Frederic March, who gives a charismatic amusing performance. But the best of all and the one who steal the show is Clifton James who is apparently hostile to the new sheriff but events have a way of changing minds. Where he excels is his ability to convey his thoughts silently, a skill few actors possess.

All the cast are convincing as is the ultimate theme and outcome of the story.

Highly recommended:

8/10.

George Kennedy has never been better as the frustrated outgoing sheriff, and Jim Brown is good also, as his disillusioned replacement. Pot boiling is kept on the high burner by Don Stroud and his band of KKK rednecks. When a White boy is arrested for manslaughter following his drunken car accident, things reach the time bomb stage of the film's title. Special mention must be made of the sound track that although somewhat inappropriate, is none the less excellent. Ultimately "Tick Tick Tick" comes across as a dark period of history, frozen in time by this wonderful film. Despite the good and plenty of stereotypes, the movie does not come across as preachy, but merely as an entertaining look into the past. - MERK

I can't rate it a 10 because of the music, the music did not go with the movie, happy go lucky in a racially tense movie, didn't make any scence to me, I guess when I first saw it, I didn't mind the music back then but now the music is stupid

"John Little" (George Kennedy) is the white sheriff of a small town in Colusa County, Mississippi who has just lost his position to a black man named "Jimmy Price" (Jim Brown) in a local election. Although most of the black people in the county are jubilant the white people residing there are horrified and to show their displeasure try to make it as difficult for the new sheriff as possible. On that note, they are also contemptuous of John Little because he gave up his position without a fight. In any case, Sheriff Price soon realizes that his new job is almost impossible without the help of the white community and things become even more heated when he arrests a white man for manslaughter. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a fairly good film made interesting in large part due to the racial tensions prevalent in the South during this particular time in American history. That being said, I thought that the director (Ralph Nelson) managed to capture some of the fear and hostility that definitely existed and for that reason I have rated this film accordingly. Slightly above average.

It's the last day for small town Sheriff John Little (George Kennedy) in the deep south. He's been voted out as the negro population help elect Jimmy Price (Jim Brown). A couple of arrests threaten to set the simmering racial tension to a boil.

Jim Brown is a limited actor. He's help by the great George Kennedy. The white kid is good villain material. The movie doesn't need the balancing from the black prisoner. It's more compelling to concentrate on the Braddock kid. The black prisoner seems to be there only to show Jimmy's impartiality. There is potential for higher tension and more intense confrontations. There are comedic tones which are ill-fitting. All in all, I like the feel of the characters and their reactions to their situations.

...tick...tick...tick is the story of a county somewhere in the Deep South undergoing some radical changes in the wake of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of the Sixties. A new black sheriff has been elected as a result of the Voting Rights Act and the organizers who came down from the North to see it enforced. But now that Jim Brown has the job, the organizers have gone back North and what to do now in a tense racially divided situation.

One person trying his best to deal with things is Mayor Fredric March who is a southern politician of the old school, but by no means a stupid man. March recognizes the old order is gone and the thing he fears the most is interference from the federal government. He will govern his town as best he can without any outsiders, thank you.

The key in the situation is former sheriff George Kennedy who is a good old boy, quite comfortable with the white power structure, but also an honest and fundamentally decent man.

Things come to a head quickly when a punk kid from another county runs down a little girl who happens to be white and leaves the scene. When Brown arrests Bob Random the kid's father who is a bigwig in the neighboring county threatens to invade Brown's jurisdiction, the new sheriff has a crisis on his hand. What will ALL the residents of Collusa County do in this situation?

In many ways this film is something of a successor to In The Heat Of The Night which covered many of the same issues. In The Heat Of The Night takes place in a time right on the cusp of the changes being voted in Washington. ...tick...tick...tick take place after those changes have taken place. Sad to say that the Academy Award winning In The Heat Of The Night has overshadowed this film, especially after it became the basis of a television series. ...tick...tick...tick in my opinion could also be readily adapted to the small screen.

One thing that In The Heat Of The Night has way over this film is a superior musical score. Whose brilliant idea was it at MGM to have Jim Brown chase Bob Random through the woods with the Mike Curb Congregation singing Gentle On My Mind? It was so out of place.

The three leads are superb in their performances and such folks as Clifton James, Dub Taylor, and Don Stroud play some of the good old boys who deal with the crisis in Collusa County in their different ways. Janet MacLachlan and Lynn Carlin are the supportive women in the lives of Brown and Kennedy respectively. And Bob Random plays one nasty little redneck punk.

...tick...tick...tick still has great entertainment value and it's a portrait of the new emerging American South, one of the best done by the American cinema.

Similar plot-line to the past and future, TICK TICK TICK pays homage to IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT while foreshadowing a dramatic version of BLAZING SADDLES since there's a new sheriff/lawman in a small Southern town from the late 1960's, and Jim Brown replaces a surprisingly upbeat, open-minded George Kennedy backed by semi-progressive mayor Fredric March: one winding up the black man's deputy, the other a semi-mentor...

What plays out more like a TV-movie or series pilot than a theatrical motion picture, TICK is also the beginning of Brown's racially-driven foray into 1970's low-budget blaxploitation flicks after co-starring in the previous decade's blockbusters or crime potboilers: from THE DIRTY DOZEN and ICE STATION ZEBRA to THE RIOT and THE SPLIT...

Here in a scorching hot town with racist locals - in particular future SLAUGHTER'S BIG RIP-OFF Don Stroud and rich kid Richard Ransom with signature background hillbillies Dub Taylor, Mills Watson, Clifton James and Anthony James countered by aggressive black Bernie Casey and Brown's passive sidekick Richard Elkins - right as thing's get seriously heated and violently riled up, the sparse programmer's over...

Which is bad since the story needed more punch beyond a foot chase and some gun-play, and good for never outwearing its welcome, perhaps deliberately titled TICK TICK TICK since a proverbial explosion hardly occurs in what's more a build-up thriller than a high-octane action vehicle.

This by no means is a sequel to the much more critically acclaimed 1967 In the Heat of the Night starring Academy Award winners Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger. Mind you both the cinematography and musical score are top notch, but where In the Heat of the Night rose to fame bringing racial tension to reality through strong acting performances, this film, ...Tick...Tick...Tick... leaves me with an empty feeling of just another film trying to piggyback off the established fame and success of another racially toned film.

Similar films such as "Billy Jack", "Return to Macon County Line" and of course, "In the Heat of the Night" allowed their audiences to feel the cruelty of either racial tension and/or law versus disorder, of their townsfolk and their local small town police station. Jim Brown did his best to carry this movie alongside the versatile actor George Kennedy. (Who can forget George Kennedy's stellar performance as the prisoner named Dragline in Cool Hand Luke?) But a good film needs a good script and this film is not going to explode as the films' title may indicate. Instead it implodes, and instead of being suspenseful, I would have rather the title be delete...delete...delete....

The music score is a harmonized track that is more relevant to a film like Midnight Cowboy than to this film. Sorry Jim, you were good in 100 Rifles, even better in Ice Station Zebra, but ...Tick...Tick...Tick... stopped time completely 20 minutes in to the film and never really started for my taste.

I give it a 3 out of 10 IMDb rating and another pass.

This was one of my most memorable movies from when I was a kid. It seems to be about real people, who move from humor to fierce tension back to humor again. Northern organizers help a southern black man get elected sheriff in a small town (which feels like a lot of small towns down south) in the 60's, and he gets to deal with the reality of being elected. The movie sets up quite a few stereotypical characters; for some of them, it knocks down the stereotype, and then for others it lets it stand. People (black and white) in the town have to choose between their traditions, their comfort, and their values, as tensions rise when the new sheriff tries to do his job.

It's not high drama, but it's real.

This movie isn't typically my genre of choice, since it's predictably depressing, but I watched it for love of Fredric March. Even in his old age, in one of his last movies, he managed to turn a throwaway part into a memorable one. He plays the mayor of a Southern racist town, and he takes a healthy bite out of all his lines.

Freddie isn't the star of the movie, though. Jim Brown is, playing a new sheriff in town. Even though no one wants him to take the job, and his pregnant wife begs him to step down, he thinks it's important to take a stand. He gets heckled, his wife gets threatened, and he nearly loses his life in a routine arrest, but still he won't quit. Depending on your point of view, you'll either think him admirable or not prioritizing the right things.

One of the great parts of the film is George Kennedy, the retiring sheriff. He's always a solid, consistent performer, and he carries the energy of this movie from scene to scene. One of the lousy parts of the film is Jerry Styner's music. This is a serious movie akin to Hurry Sundown, and during some sequences, Styner wrote comical, cartoon-esque music. Was he told to lighten the mood, or did he have no idea what the movie was about? It's quite distracting, but if bad music won't hinder your enjoyment and you like George Kennedy, you can give this a shot.

This film had such promise. The story could have been very powerful. However, due to poor casting, the story just falls flat. It's a hard look at racism, which exists still today, more than 30 years later. The lead role, played by Jim Brown, should have gone to someone with more acting experience. Even George Kennedy doesn't do particularly well in this film. This was a waste of a good chance to show how truly ugly racism was (and still is). A pity.

Jim Brown takes over as a sheriff of a racially segregated southern town from George Kennedy in the 50's. Excellent human nature study of the time when a turn of events forces Brown to seek Kennedy's assistance with a tense situation. Outstanding performances by the entire cast. Believe Kennedy and Brown fans would be impressed with this film.

The movie are really good one.

I'm interested it is possible to buy soundtrack.

There is a one song I like very much. But I could not find out the song name or who is singer.

If some one can tell me where i can buy that soundtrack on CD? I'll appreciate that very much.

Theme from the move soundtrack was recorded by The Glaser Brothers. The song I like was at the end of the movie.

Trouble is the song was not very long, but the voice of the singer are really good.

I thank you in advance. Best regards Milo from Denmark

Ralph Nelson had already directed a number of films on the issue of racial tensions - LILIES OF THE FIELD, A HERO AIN'T NOTHIN' BUT A SANDWICH readily jump to mind - when he took on this project, TICK... TICK... TICK...

It opens well enough, giving one no option but to sympathize with outgoing sheriff George Kennedy and incoming black replacement Jim Brown, each facing a very different set of problems and social thorns pertaining to their duties.

The script runs emotionally over the top at times, and almost plods at other times, but the irritating musical score is there from beginning to end. Photography is strictly B standard.

I doubt I will give it a second watch. 6/10.

I saw this being filmed around 1969/70. Some scenes were filmed at a bar that was made to look like a gas station/store. I was 12 at the time. I would ride my bike down Feather River Blvd to the place they were filming. The fried egg on the pavement I saw. My mom has pictures of her and George Kennedy and Jim Brown on the set during a break in filming. I loved the film...of course I was a bit biased. It took me seeing the film when I was older to understand and appreciate this film. I have seen it several times and it doesn't get old. The actors played their parts well. It does remind someone of the old south and it's difficulties especially with people of color in that part of the country. Of course our town and Colusa could have been mistaken for a town in the south back then.

In reviewing this awful movie let us start with the awfully big story hole in James Lee Barrett's awful screenplay. Namely, how in the world could a black man be elected sheriff of the very segregated southern town of Colusa in 1970? Barrett makes no attempt at explanation beyond a vague reference to "organizers" who have "fled North" once Jim Price is in office. I wish Barrett had delved deeper into this paranormal phenomenon. It sure would have made for a more interesting film than this tired rehash of "In The Heat Of The Night" with all the small town, redneck cliches left in but any drama or conflict between the white and black lawmen sharply curtailed once Price's resentful Caucasian predecessor turns white savior about thirty minutes in. Throw in Jim Brown's usual stolidity, an embarrassingly bad Frederic March performance (hate to see a great actor like March at the tail end of his career doing a crappy Lionel Barrymore imitation), slow as hell pacing from director Ralph Nelson (let's just say that the film does not pay off on its title) and music, selected and arranged by a former Republican lieutenant governor of California, that is actually offensive...like a Glenn Campbell ballad sung right after we see a dead girl in the highway following a drunk driving incident...and you can see why this thing is lucky to rate a 4. Indeed, if it were not for the performances of George Kennedy and Lynn Carlin as a loving but somewhat distant husband and wife there would be nothing to see here. C minus.

I disagree with an earlier post that criticized this film as not being very well made. Having grown up in the South, I felt that the film conveyed the ugliness of racism very well. I think that this was a very well made film. Jim Brown was excellent in the role of a newly elected black sheriff. This film showed a side to racism that most people outside of the South didn't see.

I will agree with the previous reviewer on one point, though. Racism is, and was, a very ugly aspect to life in the South at the time that this film was made. While society has made many advances in stamping out racism, there is still much to be done.

...tick...tick...tick... (1970)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Interesting drama about a new black sheriff (Jim Brown) who takes over duties in a Southern town where the KKK aren't too happy about his election. The Mayor (Fredric March) doesn't want any violence because he doesn't want federal men in his town but after a white man is arrested for murder, some of the good ol' boys don't like the idea of a black man arresting him. The former sheriff (George Kennedy) decides to step in and try to help but soon all sorts of racist types are coming in. I think it's fair to call this movie a wannabe IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT but the three lead performances make it worth viewing. I think the weakest thing is the screenplay, which tries too hard to be like that previous film but in the end it really can't come close to the tension in its story. I think the one thing that really does work well here is that the racial tensions against Brown are because he's black but the interesting thing is that those sides turn against him for crimes dealing with the same race. The white man is arrested for drunk driving that kills a white girl and the black man arrested is for raping a black teen girl. I think the fact that this film tries to stay away from a race riot was something rather refreshing and I liked how the film didn't solve the race issues but instead simply tried to get both sides to fight for a common cause. Brown is very good in his role and I really liked the laid back approach that he brought to the role. There's no screaming and there's no tough, macho action but instead he plays a man with morals and I thought the actor did a very good job with the part. Kennedy was born to play the good-hearted redneck and he too does nice work here. March certainly overacts a bit in his next to last film role but he's always fun to see. The supporting cast also step up with everyone fitting their roles quite nicely. ...TICK...TICK...TICK... isn't the greatest race drama out there but I think there are enough interesting aspects to make it worth viewing.

I have the unique experience of watching the movie and also watching the movie being made. I am from Sutter county California which is where a great deal of the filming was done. Also, my father had a bit part in this movie. Some of the best memories was during meal times (which was provided by the MGM studios). The filming crew members and actors (my dad also) ate together. During the set meal time My brother got to set on George Kennedy's lap for a short time and interact with several actors. This film did not bring in a lot of money at the box office but was a really good film. Cinematography, direction and acting are great. The message of how the south had(was)having a hard time with accepting racial equality may have been the reason for the movies less than stellar box office attraction...America was tired of the Vietnam War and of the civil rights struggle... it seems that it was time to move on. This is Just my opinion.

Good drama movie about racism.This film is very under rated due to it's message hitting hard with few punches pulled.Brown gives a very good performance here and so do all the other actors.I like the cinematography color here,very crisp and eye pleasing.The screenplay is a little bland but does not ruin the movie at all.Not for people who do not like seeing the truth about the ugliness of prejudice and corruption from BOTH races.....

tick...tick...tick..., is a really good film in some ways, well if it had been in the right hands it would have been fantastic, one of the films problems is the bad screenplay and the cheaply used colour which makes it look dated and cheesy, which at times it is. However it tackles it's subject matter considerably well, though at times too strongly. Also, Jim Brown (The Dirty Dozen) gives a good performance as the police officer, who becomes along with his sidekick (who is being a policeman so he can get married) get dollops of racial abuse dropped on them by a guy who looks like Sean William Scott (From American Pie), though this was 29 years before. Good for it's targeted audience, but dull for many.

Slightly Under-rated, **1/2 out of ****