House on Greenapple Road (1970) (TV)

Director:

Robert Day

Writers:

Harold R. Daniels (novel)
George Eckstein (writer)

Release Date:

11 January 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

A detective investigates the disappearance of the promiscuous wife of a timid salesman, and finds that everything is not quite as it appears.

Plot Keywords:

Morley Cigarettes | Based On Novel

Cast

Christopher George	...	Lieutenant Dan August
Janet Leigh	...	Marian Ord
Julie Harris	...	Leona Miller
Tim O'Connor	...	George Ord
Walter Pidgeon	...	Mayor Jack Parker
Barry Sullivan	...	Chief Frank Untermyer
Keenan Wynn	...	Sergeant Charles Wilentz
Peter Mark Richman	...	Sal Gilman
William Windom	...	Paul Durstine
Burr DeBenning	...	Bill Foley
Lynda Day George	...	Lillian Crane
Joanne Linville	...	Connie Durstine
Edward Asner	...	Sheriff Muntz
Eve Plumb	...	Margaret Ord
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lawrence Dane
Geoffrey Deuel
Paul Fix
Alice Jubert
Paul Lukather
Tina Menard
Ned Romero
Olan Soule
Rees Vaughn
John Ward

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Quinn Martin Productions (QM)

Trivia:

Originally made for cinemas, it was cut by nearly 30 minutes and went straight to ABC-TV on January 11, 1970 where it was a big ratings grabber.

Quotes:

Chief Frank Untermyer: [as August starts to leave the room] Where are you going?
Lieutenant Dan August: I'm a detective. I'm going out to detect.
[Leaves]
Sergeant Charles Wilentz: A detective. That's what I want to be when I grow up.
Chief Frank Untermyer: There's no money in it.

Movie Connections:

Spin off "Dan August" (1970)

Terrific set-up, routine mystery

TV-movies, especially those from the late-'60s and early-'70s, are an under-appreciated breed (probably the least-respected in the film industry). Leonard Maltin has all but dropped them from his annual review books and you never hear about anybody trying to preserve Barbara Eden in "Let's Switch!" or Kim Novak in "The Third Girl From The Left". Every once in awhile, a TV-movie gets mentioned with respect (such as "Brian's Song", "Sunshine", or "Queen of the Stardust Ballroom"). I've always thought "The House On Greenapple Road" could've been a theatrical film, it is produced with such style and has a great, scary set-up: a young girl gets dropped off from school, runs up the driveway to her house, opens the door and finds the entire place ransacked, with blood spattering the walls. This sequence terrified me as a little kid (I was amused to discover years later that the young actress was "Brady Bunch"'s Eve Plumb!). Onto the mystery, which surrounds a missing lady (Janet Leigh) and the investigator on the case (Christopher George playing Dan August). The character of August later got his own series (starring Burt Reynolds), but this flick is more than just a pilot, it has twists and turns and a sophisticated script. The ending doesn't cop-out, although I must say it followed a rather routine development. Overall, a neat little yarn, and Janet Leigh is just gorgeous.