A KILLING AFFAIR

US, 1977, 100 minutes, Colour.
Elizabeth Montgomery, O.J.Simpson, Rosalind Cash, Dean Stockwell, John T.Ryan.
Directed by Richard C.Sarafian.

A Killing Affair is an entertaining, if forgettable, telemovie, typical of the 70's.

It is a police story with a twist. The familiar ingredients are there: the policeman too ready with his gun relegated to investigation, the strong woman investigator, the fashionable robberies and the petty criminals who organise them, robberies and murder, detection, court cases. Dean Stockwell stands out in this regard as the robber.

However, the interest of the film is in the starring team of Elizabeth Montgomery and former footballer 0.J. Simpson. Elizabeth Montgomery is, as usual, very competent in her work as an investigator. However, she falls for her partner and has an affair with him. It has its emotional ups and downs, since he is married. She tries to do the right thing -and ultimately leaves him to go ahead independently. It is an interesting sketch of a strong woman of the 70's. 0.J. Simpson as the policeman too ready with the gun has his life complicated by his falling in love with his partner. He has a wife and son whom he loves but from whom he is periodically estranged. His affair with his partner brings his marriage to crisis point.

The film is particularly interesting (and persuasive) in its portrait of an inter-racial romance. Direction is by Richard C. Sarafian, a director of entertaining feature films as Run Wild Run Free, Fragment of Fear, Man in the Wilderness. he moved in the 70's in to the television series and telemovie field.