83 Hours 'Til Dawn (1990) (TV)

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 particularly good, but decent, for a TV-movie

I haven't seen the original film, that this one is a remake of, but I guess it's better than this. This film is based on a true story, but I don't know how true to the facts it is. The plot is pretty good, but terribly predictable, partly due to the fact that the whole film is being told as a flashback. It's also slow, especially for a 90-minute movie. The acting is mostly decent at best, with a few exceptions. Samantha Mathis was pretty good, and Peter Strauss was quite convincing. However, pretty much everyone else was overacted and hardly believable. R. Lee Ermey was somewhat good, but since this is the same role that he always plays, it was to be expected. The characters are somewhat well-written. The dialog is bad and pretty cliched. The film is fairly boring, and hard to sit through, mainly due to the predictability of the plot and the bad acting. It does have some good sequences, though, and is decent overall. Due to the various bad factors of the film, it has little to no re-watch value, and is not worth owning, even if you can get it for virtually nothing. I recommend it only to fans of thrillers, and only if it's on TV, and there's absolutely nothing worth watching for those 90 minutes. 5/10