A married couple are traveling on a deserted desert road at night. They stop at a diner and the husband goes to the men's room. He never returns and the wife begins to suspect serious foul play.
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I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
A Major Disappointment
Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast
It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.
No other writer was ever able to take an ordinary setting and turn it on its head the way Richard Matheson could. DYING ROOM ONLY is about as perfect an example as I can offer: a roadside diner in the middle of nowhere, a couple who stop for directions- let the games begin. Cloris Leachman is at her harried best, here, and her slowly dawning realization that something's not quite right is 100% believable- as is her subsequent fury and then abject fear when she understands exactly just how FAR from the beaten path she really is. Ross Martin was never slimier. The third act is about as logical as it gets, in this context. If you want to see just how bad it COULD'VE been, I refer you to the Big Screen rip-off BREAKDOWN, with Kurt Russell. DYING ROOM ONLY isn't Richard Matheson's BEST- far from it- but evidence enough that he was a Master Storyteller.
"Was soll das?" is German and it means something in the neighborhood of: What the heck is the matter with you, doing this c-p?" Why does a film like this get produced? I guess the answer is that if you are a redneck and/or a republican, then you are automatically switched off from everything worth while, since everything worth while is not just a story for the sake of being a story and instead a story in order to illuminate some point to be made. There is no point in this story. It's just a story for no other reason than being a story, like the weather report when you don't give a damn about the weather.This story leaves nothing behind for afterthought. I guess some people like it that way. I don't.
This TV movie is obviously the inspiration for the 1998 Kurt Russell thriller, "Breakdown". But in this earlier version the story is told from a distaff point of view as a woman (Cloris Leachman) desperately searches through a grim little community for her missing husband. Menacing locals Ross Martin and Ned Beatty get to play bad guys for a change and do a great job as they stymie Leachman's efforts at every turn. The music is well arranged and atmospheric. The final showdown is reasonably suspenseful. Oh, and you get to see a young Dabney Colemon as Leachman's husband- well, for a minute anyways as he soon vanishes in the first act. Trouble with this movie is, like his rather pedestrian work in "When Michael Calls", director Phillip Leacock's uninspired direction doesn't bring home the thrills that this interesting story (written by Richard Matheson, author of "Duel") had the potential of delivering. A great premise, but not a great movie. If you want to see a superior version of this story, just rent the unofficial remake, "Breakdown".
You've read the plot for this television film on this page. What can I add? A married couple pulls up to a seedy diner on the way home from vacation. They are smack in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in the desert.They encounter a nasty cook and a goof-ball customer. Both enter the bathrooms to wash up. She comes out, but he does not. She knocks on the door calling to him. No answer.The fun begins. Kind of spooky at times. Good entertainment. Cloris Leachman is very good in this film. So are Ross Martin and Ned Beatty. And Dana Elcar does a good job as the sheriff. Oh, and the husband is a very young Dabney Coleman.I would love to see this one again.
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