A Tattered Web (1971 TV Movie) User Reviews

Tense B Drama with powerful performances

[robert-temple-1 · 7/10 · 13 June 2008]

This film is a low budget drama which is chiefly remarkable for containing one of Broderick Crawford's finest performances, as a befuddled drunk who has murdered his best friend but doesn't remember doing so, and an intense and convincing performance by Lloyd Bridges (father of Jeff and Beau). Bridges plays Police Sergeant Ed Stagg who is obsessively devoted to protecting his grown daughter, whom he raised alone after her mother ran off. He discovers that his daughter's husband is having an affair, and he orders him to stop it. Things get out of hand and someone ends up dead by accident, but dead is dead, and a cover-up is necessary. So we get involved in a whodunnit where the who is concealed, and will this all unravel? Bridges is rather terrifying in his obsessive love for the dreamy and over-protected daughter, and the extremes to which he will go. He reveals terrible things about his own childhood as the story progresses. It is an engrossing film.

Not bad...until the very end.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 26 April 2021]

Sgt. Ed Stagg (Lloyd Bridges) is a tough cop who has a son-in-law who is cheating on his wife (the sergeant's daughter). When Stagg finds out about it, he goes to see the mistress to scare her into abandoning the man. But things get out of hand and soon Ed knocks the lady across the room...and she dies.

When the body is discovered, Ed and his partner are the detectives called to investigate. Now it's not surprising that Ed would protect himself from being a suspect, but oddly he also shields his son-in-law, as although he hates the guy he doesn't want to see his daughter hurt. But there's a problem...witnesses have seen the son-in-law with the dead woman and he's a prime suspect. So, Ed has to find someone to pin this murder on in order to make the case go away. It all seems too easy...but it isn't.

I generally liked this movie as well as the creepy close relationship between Ed and his daughter. However, all this good is undone a bit at the end, as the ending is poorly handled and even a bit silly. Not a bad made for TV movie....but the ending left me feeling disappointed.

A father's, obsessive , love

[sol-kay · 6/10 · 7 October 2005]

Finding his son-in-law Steve Butler, Frank Converse, cheating on his daughter Tina, Sallie Shockly, brought the worst out of LAPD Sgt. Ed Stagg, Llyod Bridges. Following his son-in-law at the beach strolling with his secret love Louise Campball, Anne Helm, and later camping outside of Louises apartment in the city Sgt. Stagg give her a call telling her not to have anything to do with him or else.

Back home Steve is everything that Tina could want a loving husband caring and sensitive to her needs with the only exception to a perfect marriage is of him being late most nights when he's together with Louise. Sgt. Stagg for his part has a dark and secret past that goes back to when he was a teenager by having an abusive father who constantly beat him and his mother.

One night when Ed was 15 he tried to stop his father for beating his mom ending up clubbing him to death with a hammer. Shocked at what he did and even more upset that his mom, who he thought he was helping, threw a fit at him which caused Ed to run away from home. Ed's mom never reported what he did to the police and his father death was ruled an unsolved murder.

Even his married life was a disaster for Ed Stagg with his wife leaving him and his, at the time, ten year daughter Tina. It was after that that Sgt. Stagg took it upon himself to see that Tina would never go through what he did as a son and husband. When his threats to Louise didn't have any effect to have her split up with Steve Sgt. Stagg showed up at her apartment, just after Steve left. Sgt. Stagg trying to get her to break up with Steve knocked Louise against the wall that ended up killing her.

In a state of shock Sgt. Stagg realizing what he did tries to hide all the evidence that would connect him with Louises death but unknowingly leaves a glass that he used to revive the dying Louise on the coffee table in full view of the police who later came to investigate her death. Sgt. Stagg is so well thought off by his fellow colleagues at the LAPD that his friend Sgt. Marcus, Murray Hamilton,who's on the Louise Campball case assumed that he accidentally touched the glass leaving his fingerprints on it not realizing that it in fact was Sgt. Stagg who killed her.

It was bad enough that Sgt. Stagg killed Louise and covered it up but he later goes one step down the road to destruction when in an effort to tie up all the loose ends together on Louises death he tries to frame a poor homeless derelict Willard Edson, Broderick Crawford, who had confessed to killing his friend in a drunken rage to also confess to killing Louise.

Llyod Bidges as the tortured soul Sgt. Ed Stagg is at his best with an in-dept performance of a man truly at the end of his rope with his life falling apart because of his misguided actions to save his daughter marriage. Holding back his true feelings about Steve and what he did to break up his affair with Louise drives poor Sgt. Stagg to the brink of insanity and suicide.

Frank Converse as the cheating husband Steve Butler showed that he was indeed a decent man and good husband when he tried to brake up with Louise, not knowing that she was dead. When he found out that Willard Edson, who Steve knew was innocent, was arrested for her death Steve went out of his way to save him from a trip to the gas chamber. Steve was more then ready to do that even if his secret life, with Louise, is uncovered to Tina by doing it.

Then there's Murray Hamilton as Sgt. Marcus who's the big surprise in the movie as the troubled and hard nosed cop and best friend of Sgt.Stagg. Sgt. Marcus is forced to accept the fact that his best friend and fellow LAPD officer is no better then the criminals that he deals with every day and night on the mean streets of L.A.

Unhappy characters tortured by guilt...

[moonspinner55 · 4/10 · 28 July 2010]

A police sergeant in California, still grieving over the loss of his wife years before, follows his untrustworthy son-in-law to a woman's apartment and rightly suspects the two of having an affair; not wanting his incredibly naïve daughter to be hurt, the cop takes matters into his own hands--with tragic results. TV-made melodrama with a good set-up diffused by meandering, awkward results. There's nobody here to sympathize with: not the tortured sergeant (Lloyd Bridges, getting upstaged by his thick crop of hair), nor his randy in-law, the apathetic tramp, the clinging daughter...not even the detective's partner on the police force (who seemingly can't wait to bring his friend down!). There's a clever bit involving a thumb-print on a drinking glass, and Broderick Crawford does excellent work as a drunkard wrongly implicated in a crime. However, the remainder of the second-string cast is lackluster (though Bridges does try hard) and Paul Wendkos' direction is balky.

A Little Overacting

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 16 November 2006]

While this is not "Crime and Punishment," it's still kind of a neat story. Lloyd Bridges plays an LA cop with a sterling reputation, but he is carrying around lots of baggage. He is so overprotective of his daughter because he has been hurt so many times himself. In order to continue that protection, he horns in on an affair his son in law is having with a young woman. While threatening this woman, he inadvertently kills her. The rest of the movie involves his efforts to cover things up and draw attention away from his daughter's husband. There is a tug based on Bridges' hypocrisy in that he has hated his son-in-law from day one, just for being his son-in-law. The plot stands up pretty well. The police are dupes in all this because of the outstanding record of the sergeant. The one character that really doesn't do very well is the daughter. She comes across pretty dull and doesn't have any hard edge at all. Late in the movie, when another police detective is trying to talk to her, she does her own version of the "if I just hold my hands over my ears I won't hear anything bad" routine. No wonder the guy went to another woman. As I said, there's a lot of angst, some decent acting, some not so decent, but it will hold one's attention for an hour and a half.

Entertaining If a Bit Silly

[Michael_Elliott · 20 May 2010]

Tattered Web, A (1971)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Silly but entertaining made-for-TV thriller has Lloyd Bridges playing Sgt. Ed Stagg. He learns that his son-in-law (Frank Converse) has been having an affair so he goes to the woman to make her put an end to the affair. Stagg accidentally kills her so he must protect himself but also try to keep the police from finding out who her boyfriend was. I've come to expect a certain amount of silliness when it comes to these made-for-TV flicks from the 70s. It really doesn't matter what they're about but the majority of them are entertaining but also very campy. That's pretty much the case here as we get a pretty good story but it's mixed in with some very dumb moments. One of the biggest killers of this type of film are how over dramatic they can be and this here usually happens right before we go to commercial as the music blares and we get a silly zoom shot towards the guilty person. We get quite a bit of that here but we also get some very silly moments including the scenes at the start when Bridges busts into the woman's house and just keeps insulting her and calling her a tramp. I couldn't help but laugh at this as well as some of the more sillier moments including a priceless sequence where Bridges is trying to protect his daughter yet he never realizes that he's just putting a burden on her. The entire "protecting the daughter" is driven into the ground here as we get countless dialogue scenes with Bridges expressing his love for his daughter, which is fine but at times they are way too cute and over the top. With that said, the story itself is a pretty interesting one and I thought it was also rather clever as we had Bridges trying to do two things at once. I think it goes against his character that he'd do so many wrong things to try and clear everything up. As for the actor, he's great fun to watch here as he really gives it his all and keeps the film moving from start to finish. We also get a great supporting cast that includes Murray Hamilton, Broderick Crawford, Val Avery, Whit Bissell, John Fielder and Anne Helm as the other woman. The daughter in the film has to be one of the dumbest characters in the history of film as you'd think you were watching a 2-year-old. She can never figure things out and is constantly coming off either stupid or just downright ignorant and one can't help but grow frustrated with her. If you're a fan of the genre then this here is pretty much a must-see.

Father knows best

[Chase_Witherspoon · 5/10 · 19 February 2012]

Average TV movie concerning cranky cop (Bridges) whose son-in-law (Converse) is having an affair with local harlot (Helm) that threatens to de-rail his marriage to Bridges beloved daughter (Shockley). Bridges tries to convince both Converse and Helm (separately) to end the infidelity, but goes too far, resulting in the title woes.

Murray Hamilton is reliable as Bridges' loyal police buddy, concerned by his colleague's apparent carelessness in handling aspects of the murder case, while familiar faces Walter Brooke, James Hong, John Fiedler and Whit Bissell have small roles. Broderick Crawford has a key supporting role as a drunk fingered for the crime, but Hamilton's not convinced by the forced confession obtained by Bridges. In my opinion Shockley, as the almost child-like daughter of Bridges over-protectiveness, does an outstanding job, neglected by her two-timing husband, but knowing more than she appears to comprehend.

Small-scale thriller moves at an economical pace with solid performances and some moments of suspense. Experienced TV and movie director Wendkos knows how to fashion a taut thriller for 70 minutes, but where there was the promise of a tense climax on two occasions (in both the bedroom scene and cliff-edge confrontation with Converse), neither comes to fruition, instead, the conclusion is tepid and ultimately disappointing.

Before "The Stepfather", there was ...the Father-in-Law!

[Coventry · 6/10 · 4 October 2021]

The most entertaining aspect about "A Tattered Web", I think, is the short description on the back of the Dutch DVD-release. Here it says about Lloyd Bridges' character: "he's a mean person, but we understand him...". Excuse me? Speak for yourself, will you! Bridges depicts a dictatorial patriarch who murders a girl in her own apartment, and then abuses his power and authority as a life-long police detective to frame an elderly drunkard for his vicious crime. I, for one, have absolutely no respect or understanding for anything this man does.

That being said, "A Tattered Web" is an obscure and inconspicuous, but nevertheless solidly engaging made-for-television thriller from the early 70s, with a simple but effective plot and competent people in front as well as behind the cameras. TV-regular Paul Wendkos ("The Legend of Lizzie Borden", "Haunts of the very Rich") directs steadily, and the cast contains a handful of familiar faces, including Lloyd Bridges (yes, in a serious role), Frank Converse, Murray Hamilton and Broderick Crawford. There's a fair amount of suspense to enjoy, especially when the titular web closes around Sgt. Ed Stagg and he's running out of cover-up options.

One should endeavour to miss this one.

[rsoonsa · 1/10 · 4 October 2002]

A critically important component of virtually all successful cinema is suspense, a perception of uncertainty within the viewer as to what may ensue from the events occurring upon the screen, whichever genre, present even when we know an outcome (Apollo 13) if the work is done well; all of which is meant to point to a total absence of suspense in this weakly directed feature, which dully plods from scene to scene until its flat ending. Lloyd Bridges, cast as police sergeant Ed Stagg, has discovered that the husband (Frank Converse) of his daughter Tina (Sallie Shockley) is dallying with a local chippy and during Stagg's attempts to end the adultery, he accidentally commits a murder, upon which he forges a plan to place responsibility for the crime upon a local inebriate, tangentially providing a question of the title: was Scott's "What a tangled web we weave..." (Marmion) the intended source, inaptly transposed into "tattered"? (an amendment that would be of a piece within this poorly crafted affair). The film is steeped in cliché, hampered by a witless score, and the acting from the three mentioned leads is often embarrassingly bad, notably in the case of Bridges, which might be attributed to the hackneyed script if it were not that Anne Helm as the doxy and Murray Hamilton as Stagg's partner manage to make something of their material, while Broderick Crawford rises above his during his few scenes.

"You killed her Pop, and you know it!"

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 22 October 2010]

Those words didn't come from Ed Stagg's (Lloyd Bridges) daughter, or even his dysfunctional son-in-law. It was the Sarge himself trying to convince Broderick Crawford's derelict drunk to take the fall for the accidental death of Louise Campbell (Anne Helm).

Here's an idea - how about tracing the call made to the police station from Campbell's apartment at the time she was killed? Didn't anybody think of putting THAT two and two together? And with twenty five years on the force, the person on the phone at the station didn't recognize Stagg's voice?

Maybe Broderick Crawford should have been in charge of this case like he was in the prior year's TV flick, "Ransom Money". On second thought, that one didn't turn out so well either. That might have been the one that drove him to drink.

One of the great underrated actors of all time save this from being your typical maudlin movie of the week.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 21 April 2020]

Today, most people remember Lloyd Bridges either as the father of a younger brood of actors or from his comical performances in "Airplane!" and other films. They forget that Bridges was one of the busiest actors on film and television from the 1940s on up. For this television film, he picked the wrong week to follow son-in-law Frank Converse around, finding that he's having an affair on wife Sally Shockley with the trampy Ann Helm. Confronting him, he accidentally kills her, and rather than report what really happened, then cleans up his fingerprints, leaves the apartment building and conveniently frames a homeless drunk, Broderick Crawford, who has already confessed to one murder. but fate always plays a twist in this, and the more he schemes to both keep himself from being exposed and make his son-in-law pay for his affair by arranging for suspicion to be reverted from him, the more he digs his grave.

This movie of the week is your typical B movie melodrama, nothing spectacular, but certainly featuring a compelling performance by the always terrific Bridges. Helm is fascinating in her brief appearance as it is obvious that she is simply out to get as much from Converse as she can get financially, and when Bridges tells her that he can find a replacement right outside on the street, she viciously slaps him across the face, sending up her own ending. She's the archetype for every film noir floozy whoever manipulated a man, and you can't help but think of her for the rest of the film.

Unfortunately, Shockley is either too cherry or whining in her performance, and up against Bridges, comes off as amateurish. Converse makes an excellent cad. and character actor John Fiedler is recognizable as helms neighbor who helps provide some evidence. The great character actor Murray Hamilton is outstanding as Bridges' confidant and longtime best friend at the apartment, adding additional class to this predictable, pedestrian production.

A solid and enjoyable 70's made-for-TV thriller

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 12 August 2009]

Gruff, hard-nosed Sergeant Ed Stagg (an excellent performance by Lloyd Bridges) discovers that his basically decent, but frustrated son-in-law Steve Butler (nicely played by Frank Converse) is having an extramarital affair with Louise Campbell (a brief, but memorable turn by the sexy Anne Helm). Stagg confronts Campbell and accidentally kills her. Assigned to the investigation of the homicide, Stagg tries to pin the murder on sad drunken derelict Willard Edson (a superb Broderick Crawford in a remarkably poignant characterization). Director Paul Wendkos, working from an intriguing script by Art Wallace, relates the compelling story at a snappy pace and develops a reasonable amount of tension. This film further benefits from sturdy acting by a tip-top cast: Sallie Shockley does well as Stagg's sweet and unsuspecting daughter Tina, the always reliable Murray Hamilton is likewise fine as Stagg's loyal partner Sergeant Joe Marcus, plus there are cool bits by veteran character actors John Fiedler, Val Avery, Whit Bissell, and James Hong. Moreover, the movie makes valid points about the abuse of power, the danger of taking someone at face value, and the extremely damaging consequences of certain bold actions. Michel Hugo's crisp cinematography makes inspired occasional use of slow motion. Robert Drasnin's moody score also does the trick. A neat little flick.

okay suspense film.... lloyd bridges vehicle

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 9 November 2016]

This one is all about Lloyd Bridges as "Sgt. Stagg". His daughter (Sallie Shockley) is married to muscley beach dude Steve (Frank Converse). Stagg catches Steve cheating on his daughter Tina, and is NOT happy. The poop hits the fan, bad stuff happens, and we're off to a who-dunnit. The music is SO 1970s ! the music could be from Columbo, or one of the psychological thinkers from that time. The plot could also have been an episode of Columbo. Ellen Corby is in here as Mrs. Simmons, who finds the dead body. Corby was Grandma, from the Waltons! Also John Fiedler, (Mister Peterson from Bob Newhart.) Fiedler was ALSO one of the voices of Piglet on Winnie the Pooh! Lloyd chews up the scenery, and way over-acts. I kept thinking of him as McClosky in "Airplane" ! Murray Hamilton is "Joe", the other cop trying to put the pieces together. Some great location shots around Los Angeles. Directed by Paul Wendkos, who did mostly TV stuff. About the only really big films he did were the GIDGET movies. Story by Art Wallace, who also worked mostly in television. It's not bad, but it ain't no Shakespeare. It made it to DVD, but I've never seen this one shown on TV or cable.

A Generic Made-for-Television Crime-Drama

[Uriah43 · 5/10 · 14 July 2022]

After his wife unexpectedly leaves him for another man, a police detective by the name of "Sergeant Ed Stagg" (Lloyd Bridges) is left to raise his daughter "Tina" (Sallie Shockley) all by himself. To that effect, he becomes extremely protective of her even after she grows up and marries a young man named "Steve Butler" (Frank Converse). So, when Sergeant Stagg learns that Steve is having an affair with a young woman named "Louise Campbell" (Anne Helm) he decides to go to her apartment and pay her a visit hoping end this relationship once and for all. Unfortunately, things don't go as planned as, not only does Louise refuse to listen, but in a fit of anger he accidentally pushes her against a wall--which results in in a fatal head injury. Needless to say, this unanticipated turn-of-events alarms him and, wanting to shield his daughter from both the consequences of his actions and her husband's infidelity, he decides to cover his tracks the best that he can. What he doesn't count on, however, is Steve becoming the prime suspect which, if known, will totally devastate his daughter to an extent he cannot allow. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was an okay crime-drama which suffered to a certain degree by the relatively familiar plot and the rather generic made-for-television format. Even so, I suppose it was worth the time spent to watch it and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Above average drama with good performance from 'Mike Nelson'.

[opsbooks · 9/10 · 23 October 2005]

I watched this movie with a girlfriend who HATES stories which give away the murderer in the first hour. However, by the time the credits rolled, we both agreed that it was well-acted (apart from the police sergeant's daughter) drama with a great deal of suspense, as neither of us guessed what Lloyd Bridges' character would do as his life began to unravel in the final minutes.

I thought Lloyd Bridges put in an excellent performance despite the limitations of the script. The story overall was good and there was nothing that wasn't believable, unlike 'Murder Once Removed', for example (though I enjoyed that movie as well).

The test of an good movie has to be that you don't leave your seat until the end, and neither of us did.

Great human drama of right and wrong and human relationships

[clanciai · 9/10 · 28 July 2022]

Paul Wendkos made quite a few humanly profoundly interesting psychological thrillers, and this one is about an over-protective father with great traumas and guilt complexes from his childhood. He is a police officer with one happily married daughter, and he wants to keep it that way at any cost. So when he finds out his son-in-law is seeing another doubtful young girl, he reacts and over-reacts, which naturally leads to his not being quite responsible for his actions. Lloyd Bridges makes a great performance as the father, seconded by Murray Hamilton as his colleague, who knows his senior colleague well enough to guess at the truth at an early stage and still keep it admiringly cool all the way, letting Lloyd Bridges and his son-in-law do the settlements. Although a police thriller, there is no violence here but a few hard fights by knuckles. So although a psychological drama, it is not without action. Broderick Crawford also makes a great performance as an old drunk who gets framed for nothing, and you will probably remember him best from the film. It's a great human drama that should be kept out of the ordinary crime entertainments for going deep into the human heart, probing into tremendous complications of human relationships.

Gripping And Unique Ideas; Let Down By Sluggish Production.

[brett-peake · 8/10 · 29 January 2021]

This is a clever and unique forgotton gem of a movie with a taught perfomance from uner-rated movie vet Bridges. Sadly it has poor production values and less than stellar direction working against it. The movie is certainly a tattered web at the beginning with a very slow build up. Spiders can spin even a tattered web faster than this! But there are gripping moments here and there are, building to the suspenseful and memorable scene in which Bridges cold blooded cop tries to convince a pathetic drunken bum he has committed the murder Bridges cop perpetrated - using an almost svengali like form of persuasion ... truly disturbing to watch. A Tattered Web is a vintage seventies tv movie worth sticking with - for all its flaws.

"I Don't Pay Social Calls On Tramps!"...

[azathothpwiggins · 1 September 2021]

Sergeant Edward Stagg (Lloyd Bridges) is a tough cop with a son in-law who won't stop cheating on his daughter. So, rather than deal with him, Stagg pays a visit to the homewrecking "tramp" herself in order to give her a good talking to.

Uh oh!

It seems that Stagg is a bit high-strung, and within minutes the woman is dead! So, he naturally decides to cover the whole thing up. This causes him increasing agita, especially when he and his partner (Murray Hamilton) are assigned to investigate the homicide!

A TATTERED WEB is a fine made-for-TV movie. Bridges is wonderfully intense and maniacally driven in his role. There are also a lot of familiar faces like Broderick Crawford, John Fiedler, and Whit Bissell to look for along the way...

Dad, The Bad Cop

[cutterccbaxter · 6 March 2024]

Lloyd Bridges plays an uptight cop in A Tattered Web. He's so uptight his idea of a good time is to harass his son in-law's mistress (Anne Helm). But at least he apparently does his harassing when he is off duty.

His obsession with bothering Anne Helm is so manic that he misses singing "For She's A Jolly Good Fellow" at his daughter's (Sallie Shockley) birthday party. As if this weren't bad enough, he later accidentally kills Anne Helm, which allows Minneapolis, Minnesota's James Hong to have a brief scene as a coroner.

Lloyd goes to a lot of trouble to avoid becoming entangled with the justice system, even framing a booze addled Broderick Crawford. Crawford's acting is so good it seems like he's trying to be the first actor to win an Oscar for a Made For TV movie. Eventually Lloyd's guilty conscious gets to him on the edge of a California coastline cliff. We the viewer hope Lloyd will take advantage of the cliff and fall off of it. Instead, he expresses anguish over his crime and ends up with messy hair. As the story winds down, faith in law enforcement is restored and Lloyd promises to be a better dad, even if he has to do it from behind bars.