Pursuit *** (1972, Ben Gazzara, E G Marshall, Martin Sheen, William Windom, Joseph Wiseman) – Classic Movie Review 12,963

Debut director Michael Crichton’s 1972 American made-for-TV drama film Pursuit stars Ben Gazzara, E G Marshall, Martin Sheen, William Windom, and Joseph Wiseman.

Pursuit is a tense and involving ABC Movie of the Week disaster movie, in which a rich political extremist terrorist, far-left businessman James Wright (E G Marshall), plots widescale slaughter with a killer nerve agent gas in San Diego, California, at Democrat convention time, while State Department agent Steven Graves (Ben Gazzara) tries to out-think him.

Director Crichton, working from his own novel Binary (published under the pseudonym of John Lange), builds up the suspense and tension nicely, while a top cast makes an intelligent, credible, twisty script by Robert Dozier seem even better than it is.

Crichton recalled: ‘I was terrified at first by the actors, but I found the actors will help you every chance they get.’ Yes, and Marshall, Gazzara and the support cast give their tremendous best for him.

So why did Robert Dozier write the screenplay?

American businessman Barry Diller (born February 2, 1942) had created the ABC Movie of the Week, pioneering the concept of the made-for-TV movie through a regular series of films for television. Diller wanted to buy Crichton’s novel to make it an ABC Movie of the Week but Crichton would only agree to sell the film rights if he could direct.

Diller agreed but only if a more experienced writer, Robert Dozier, did the screenplay. Crichton recalled: ‘It was crazy, another writer doing the screenplay of my book for me to direct, but I was so anxious to direct I went along with it. He had a maiden director, he wanted a pro on the script.’

The score is by Jerry Goldsmith, his first for Crichton, followed by Coma (1978) and The First Great Train Robbery (1972).

The cast are Ben Gazzara as Steven Graves, E G Marshall as James Wright, William Windom as Robert Phillips, Joseph Wiseman as Dr Nordman, Jim McMullan as Lewis, Martin Sheen as Timothy Drew, Will Kuluva as Dr Wolff, Hank Brandt, Quinn K Redeker, Dan Ferrone, and Len Wayland.

It was shot over 11 days in April 1972 in San Diego, California.

It was first screened on the American ABC network as an ABC Movie of the Week on December 12, 1972.

Pursuit is directed by Michael Crichton, runs 75 minutes, ABC Circle Films and 2oth Century Fox Television, is released by ABC, is written by Robert Dozier, based on the novel Binary by Michael Crichton (published under the pseudonym of John Lange, is shot by Robert L Morrison, is produced by Lee Rich (executive producer) and Robert L Jacks, and is Jerry Goldsmith.

Michael Crichton (October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008). He wrote and directed Westworld, the first film to use 2D CGI. He also directed Coma (1978), The First Great Train Robbery (1978), Looker (1981), and the science fiction action film Runaway (1984) starring Tom Selleck. Several of his 26 novels were filmed, most famously Jurassic Park.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 12,963

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com