Kraft Suspense Theatre (TV Series) Rapture at Two-Forty (1965) User Reviews

The year of living Dangerously

[kapelusznik18 · 6/10 · 3 August 2014]

***SPOILERS*** What seems to be the very first of a string of movies and TV dramas about someone suffering form some unnamed and cockamamie fatal illness that will end up killing them in the very near future. Ben Gazzara looking as fit as a fiddle and trim as a martial arts expert is big time shyster Paul Bryan who gets the word from his doctor that he has no more then two years to live and thus decides to live out his remaining days to the absolute fullest.

Going to the French Rivera for fun & games Bryan falls in love with Leslie Thurston, Katherine Crawford, who loves skin diving and sky diving as well as car racing and gets involved in all those dangerous sports to impress her even though, besides his soon to become fatal condition, he doesn't know squats about them. Amazingly Bryan excels in all those endeavors to the point where he almost ends up getting killed in competing in them. It's after he was almost killed, in trying to avoiding a pedestrian, in a race car accident Bryan spills the beans to Leslie that he can't marry her and have children, she wanted ten, because he wouldn't live long enough to accomplish that feat!

***SPOILERS*** Hurt and disappointed Leslie is seen in the end of the episode leaving for home with her former big game hunter and now crippled dad Robert Thruston played by an almost looking like he's in his grave already Michael Rennie who was badly mauled in India by a Bengal Tiger, whom he foolishly tried to kill bear handed, kissing her goodbye. As the train pulls out up pops Paul Bryan with only his hand in a sling, after recovering from a near fatal car crash, ready to go back into action in risking his life without Leslie, who thought he was dead, having to risk her life along with him!

P.S This Kraft Suspense Theater episode was so popular that it lead Ben Gazzara to star in the TV series "Run for your Life" again playing shyster/lawyer Paul Bryan but this time around he life expectancy was extended from less then two to over three years, 1965-1968, which was the length of the series successful run.

Paul decides to go hang out with some real idiots!

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 4 October 2015]

When the show begins, Paul (Ben Gazzara) has gotten a second opinion from another doctor. Like the first, the next one also tells Paul he's only got a short time to live--about 18 months. So, Paul decides to quit his job as a lawyer and move to the French Riviera and live out his final months in style.

Soon after arriving, Paul falls in with a group of REALLY stupid and spoiled rich young people. They love to drive fast, sky dive and scuba to amazingly deep depths--all because they are bored and valueless. To keep up, he's willing to take all the risks--after all, what does he have to lose?

This is a rather dull episode despite all the crazy stunts. Much of it is because most viewers will have a hard time caring for the characters, as too many of them just seem spoiled and annoying. You could understand Paul--after all, he had nothing to lose. But the show just left me flat and isn't among the better episodes from the series. How they managed to make a spin-off series from this, I have no idea.

By the way, for non-scuba divers, when they talk in this episode about diving to 240 feet, this is TRULY insane. Recreational divers are today taught never to go deeper than 130 feet and the equipment was a lot more primitive back in the 60s! Without dive computers and old fashioned equipment, the chances of survival would be very, very slim and death would be very unpleasant! There would be no way a first- time diver could even come close to these depths and survive.

badly dated

[ctomvelu1 · 5/10 · 22 March 2013]

This pilot for a long-forgotten TV series stars Ben GAZZARA AS A RETIRED LAWYER WHO HAS A YEAR TO LIVE. HE DECIDES TO JOIN THE JET SET CROWD, which was pretty new in 1965, AND FLIES OFF TO THE RIVIERA, WHERE HE ENGAGES IN SKY DIVING, RACE CARS AND DEEP SEA DIVING. He MEETS a swinging lassie (Crawford) and falls for her. Eventually, he knows he will have to let her know about his condition, but for the time being, they have lots of jet set fun. Ugh. This was made when the world was changing -- the Beatles were big and and we baby boomers were starting to come of age. A show like this was made for a strictly white, middle-class, middle-aged audience, one that had lived through WWII and the Korean War, and that might wish to do what the lawyer does, but are shackled to their home in the suburbs, their 2.3 kids and dad's daily grind at work. Things on TV would change dramatically over the next decade, and this type of froth, shot completely on back lots of course, would mercifully disappear. I always liked Gazzara, but I prefer the Gazzara of later movies like "Road House," kin which he played a very convincing bad guy.