Vengeance: The Story of Tony Cimo (1986) (TV)

User Rating:

4.5/10   

Director:

Marc Daniels

Writer:

James Lee Barrett (writer)

Release Date:

1 November 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Self Justice | Based On True Story | Character Name In Title

Cast

Brad Davis	...	Tony Cimo
Roxanne Hart	...	Jan Cimo
Brad Dourif	...	Lamar Sands
Michael Beach	...	Rudolph Tyner
Wayne Tippit	...	Bill Moon
Frances McDormand	...	Brigette
Chuck Patterson	...	Leroy Skelton
Cass Morgan	...	Rene Benton
Joyce O'Brien	...	Kim Moon
William Conrad	...	Jim Dunn
Fritz Bronner	...	Dean Benton
Jill Featherstone	...	Terry Cimo
Marcey Leshay	...	Sheryl Cimo
Jody Wilson	...	Myrtle Moon
Gregg Parrish	...	Marshall

Runtime:

USA:90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Jacksonville, Florida, USA

Company:

Nederlander Television & Film Productions

True story.

Daniels starts from nothing, nowhere, a rural market and gas station by the side of the road down South. This is where the murders shortly occur. It's all kept very simple and cut rather dry, until the beneficent appearance of William Conrad as a friend of the family and retired public defender.

You will think this is a feature film, so leisurely and spacious in a sense is Daniels' treatment, after his lickety-split zeroing-in on the problems of series production. His shots are generally close-cropped. When the camera moves, there is an ample sense of precision. An exterior conversation between Brad Davis and Conrad reveals a continuity of technique, they might be Ricky and Fred.

The peculiar constellation of this work depends on script, direction and actors telling less than they know. As organized by Daniels, the story is told in a kind of suspension between them.

Lighting constructions, for example, carry a very technical weight, but serve a dramatic purpose. The foreground in the gardening shed is left unlit for Davis's fit of pique, a dark house under construction is lit from behind by daylight when he proposes his vengeance. The master convict (Brad Dourif) is unobtrusively haloed in red by a neon curio on the wall of his cell.

The game is realism (it's a true story), but a good deal of merciful reserve is applied to make the point. Hence the close cropping, a small detail of some larger picture.

Daniels' control is so perfect that only once does he deliberately let the gears slip, so that Conrad's plane is seen to land while he's promising on the telephone to board it.