FINAL JEOPARDY

US, 1985, 100 minutes, Colour.
Richard Thomas, Mary Crosby, Jeff Corey, Dennis Farina.
Directed by Michael Pressman.

Final Jeopardy is a melodramatic story about two out-of-towners, caught in the paranoia of the big city and its menace. Richard Thomas and Mary Crosby come to the city for a business deal. By a series of mistakes, they find themselves isolated in a strange and deserted area. The film shows their struggle, a long night's journey into day. The film capitalises on the stories about the inner city and its menace - and uses them for frightening the audience.

The film is well-made of its kind - and while the dangers might be real, piling them on so high gives a certain atmosphere of unreality. However, the film is a cautionary tale about the contemporary American city.

1.The impact of the telemovie? The dangers of the city - for the wide television audience? Americans? Non-Americans?

2.The use of the city, daylight and night? The neighbourhood? The streets and the buildings, the subway? Ugliness, light and shadow, darkness?

3.The title, the city, dangers, paranoiac fear?

4.Martin and his wife, ordinary citizens, their arrival, the car, hopes for the deal, Martin and the rejection, the arrangement for the drink and the meal? His wife and her shopping? The taxi?

5.The mistakes and their consequences?

6.The neighbourhood: the bar closing at 7.00, the car locked in the lot, the dogs and their pursuit, losing the key? Being lost, trying to get a taxi and the taxis unwilling to come? The street gang, the chases and their menace? In the telephone box? The empty theatre and finding the dead man? The old man, his madness, his money, going in the sewers and getting lost, coming up at the same place? The phone boxes, the calls to the police, the gang attacking? The car driver frightened to drive them? Into the subway, the violent chase and self-defence?

7.Emerging into the sunlight? The ordinary day? The ironic comments of people? Their decision to go back home?

8.The point being made about ordinary citizens and the menace of the city?