83 Hours 'Til Dawn (1990) (TV)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Donald Wrye

Writers (WGA):

Barbara Jane Mackle (book) and
Gene Miller (book) ...

Release Date:

4 November 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller

Plot:

A wealthy man's daughter is kidnapped and placed in a box with air for only 83 hours.

Plot Keywords:

FBI | Psychopath | Ransom | Gagged And Bound | Kidnapping

Cast

Peter Strauss	...	Wayne Stracton
Robert Urich	...	Bradley Burdock
Paul Winfield	...	Doctor Dantley
Elizabeth Gracen	...	Maria Ranfield
Kevin Kilner	...	Bobby Dankworth
Shannon Wilcox	...	Janet Burdock
R. Lee Ermey	...	Glen Fairling
Samantha Mathis	...	Julie Burdock
Cameron Bancroft	...	David Burdock
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tom Allard	...	Whitewood
Jacqueline Axton	...	Mrs. Dankworth
Victor Brandt	...	Sorella
Christopher Cass	...	Chadway
Ancel Cook	...	Woodmere
Danny Dayton	...	Morgan
Joseph Della Sorte	...	Larwin
Bill Dunnam	...	Man
Randy Hamilton	...	Rankin
Lance Hubp	...	Fownes
Terry Israel	...	Frank
Erik Kilpatrick	...	Georgia Policeman
Adrienne Meltzer	...	Lisa Halberstam
Charles D. Miller	...	F.B.I. Agent
Richardson Morse	...	Salesman
Zachary Norman	...	Agent
Lawrence C. Polson	...	Tracker
John Rensenhouse	...	Afferton
Andrew Rohrer	...	Prideman
Bob Roitblat	...	Plainclothes Cop
Jimmie Ray Weeks	...	Dan Armada

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence and terror, and some sexuality.

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Iceland:16 | UK:12 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Long Beach, California, USA

Company:

Consolidated Productions

Trivia:

Based on the 1971 autobiography of Barbara Jane Mackle, who was kidnapped in 1968 and buried alive for eighty-three hours in a wood-and-fiberglass capsule.

Movie Connections:

Version of The Longest Night (1972) (TV)

Not very special TV-movie but still good

Peter Strauss is a delinquent who kidnaps the daughter (Mathis) of a millionaire (Urich) and keeps her closed in some kind of coffin buried on a forest and provides her with water, food and oxygen for 83 hours (from here comes the title).

Everything is very predictable, especially because the story is told by Strauss from jail (in a big flashback). What makes it good is the originality of the kidnapping itself, the way they hide the girl that increases everybody's tension: her family (of course), the cops and even Strauss and his female accomplice (who have a not very good relationship).

Summarizing, a good entertainment, the chance of watching Strauss in a good character and performance, and the joy of watching an early role of that great and very underrated actress called Samantha Mathis.