The typical drama made for TV but that we could find in a movie picture as well, the kind of topic in which many audiences could imagine themselves involved with. A young girl declares to her parents that she is pregnant from a married man, just before she disappears. A girl who also tried to take her own life. So the girl's father decides to take care himself of the case and goes to meet the married man - Guy Stockwell - but he realizes that won't be enough to find his daughter. His only remaining lead is a doctor who is known to practice abortions: Richard Boone. SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS He will finally find his daughter, talk with her and try to teach her some philosophy of life...A case which, I repeat, many people could know around them, could be personally concerned with. It's not an uninteresting story, but compared with the others, I find it weak.
2 Reviews
A brilliant episode, and Bochner at his best
lor_8 October 2023
Lloyd Bochner gives a commanding performance in a great role in this well-written drama by John Haase, who also wrote the memorably surreal episode "Wall to Wall War" of "The Richard Boone Show". For me, this Bochner showcase also demonstrates the virtues of this experimental repertory theater for TV concept Boone pioneered.
Luxury cars set the scene as wealthy engineer Bochner arrives home to a very normal family, but immediately faces a BIG problem. Haase's story is front and center about abortion, a topic in 1963 that hardly could be dealt with on a typical TV series, but is ripe for treatment in the one-off format of an anthology show.
What really impresses here beyond Bochner's perfect enactment of a dominant, take-charge, can-do male (remember, he's an engineer) is Haase's formulation of the best argument I have ever heard from the anti-abortion movement. I disagree with this right-wing, religious-centered crusade which has gotten our country (and its women) into such an awful position in 2023, but listening to Bochner's impassioned pitches to his suicidal, pregnant daughter (poignantly played by Susan Harding, in her first important role in the acting company, not coming until the tenth episode of the series) his humanist arguments are awfully convincing.
Tightly directed by Lamont Johnson, this is a "problem drama", which in 1963 was often the subject of exploitation films, which could deal with controversial material by virtue of their not being covered by the restrictive censorship of the Production Code, which made all mainstream films G-rated before the MPAA ratings system was created five years later. (This was an era when foreign films were so popular in Ameica's art theaters, thanks to their lack of such censorship, ranging from Ingmar Bergman to tough British dramas.)
Each supporting role here, played by a familiar member of Boone's troop is vivid, ranging from Bethel Leslie as Bochner's wife, whose point-of-view is completely stifled by Lloyd as he whips into action to "solve" the problem and emerges as a very negative character in the first reel of the show, before we see him as a complete person later on. Fine little turns by Robert Blake, as a "salt of the earth" coast guard man and even Harry Morgan doing a dry run of his "Dragnet" cop role several years before Jack Webb hired him, all carry extra weight thanks to the repertory structure. Boone is terrific in a small, potent part as the sleazy abortionist.
This was made a decade before Roe v Wade, and 60 years before our post-Roe dilemma now. I suppose it could be revived by the anti-abortion jerks to defend their position, but instead it stands as a forgotten but powerful TV classic.
Luxury cars set the scene as wealthy engineer Bochner arrives home to a very normal family, but immediately faces a BIG problem. Haase's story is front and center about abortion, a topic in 1963 that hardly could be dealt with on a typical TV series, but is ripe for treatment in the one-off format of an anthology show.
What really impresses here beyond Bochner's perfect enactment of a dominant, take-charge, can-do male (remember, he's an engineer) is Haase's formulation of the best argument I have ever heard from the anti-abortion movement. I disagree with this right-wing, religious-centered crusade which has gotten our country (and its women) into such an awful position in 2023, but listening to Bochner's impassioned pitches to his suicidal, pregnant daughter (poignantly played by Susan Harding, in her first important role in the acting company, not coming until the tenth episode of the series) his humanist arguments are awfully convincing.
Tightly directed by Lamont Johnson, this is a "problem drama", which in 1963 was often the subject of exploitation films, which could deal with controversial material by virtue of their not being covered by the restrictive censorship of the Production Code, which made all mainstream films G-rated before the MPAA ratings system was created five years later. (This was an era when foreign films were so popular in Ameica's art theaters, thanks to their lack of such censorship, ranging from Ingmar Bergman to tough British dramas.)
Each supporting role here, played by a familiar member of Boone's troop is vivid, ranging from Bethel Leslie as Bochner's wife, whose point-of-view is completely stifled by Lloyd as he whips into action to "solve" the problem and emerges as a very negative character in the first reel of the show, before we see him as a complete person later on. Fine little turns by Robert Blake, as a "salt of the earth" coast guard man and even Harry Morgan doing a dry run of his "Dragnet" cop role several years before Jack Webb hired him, all carry extra weight thanks to the repertory structure. Boone is terrific in a small, potent part as the sleazy abortionist.
This was made a decade before Roe v Wade, and 60 years before our post-Roe dilemma now. I suppose it could be revived by the anti-abortion jerks to defend their position, but instead it stands as a forgotten but powerful TV classic.
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