You'll Never See Me Again (1973)

Such a frustrating disappointment

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Ned Bliss is an architect and Vicki is his wife. They are happy but one day Vicki gets a call from her mom but they argue a bit, they hang up. Vicki decides to go to see her mom. The next thing you know both are at each other's throats. He's got his routine, his work. Vicki wants to see her mom. He decides to go with her but Vicki keeps at him, he grabs her hands to calm her down, she bites his hand then he slapped her hard enough to make her nose bleed. She leaves him with "you'll never see me again". He noticed that she left her clutch purse on the coffee table with money left in it. He waits for her to call or show up but nothing, tries calling her but her mother but she says Vicki is not there. He calls their friends - no Vicki. He tries hotels - no Vicki. He goes to the bus station, show the man her photo and he say yea he remembers her but see never did buy the ticket, she seemed to not have enough money then I saw her lingering outside looking as if she was going to hitch a ride. The police can't help because it hasn't been 48 hours, unless they have a reason to suspect foul play. Ned tells the police it might be foul play involved. The police think find her in the hospital - but it's not Vicki. From that point on it looks more and more like Ned murdered his own wife. But Ned drives up to see Vicki's parents and things get stranger, more suspenseful. What happened to Vicki? Pretty darn good mystery movie. Very suspenseful - surprisingly.8/10

A real delight, for the often ugly early 70's decor, the cheesy stereotypes, and the unexpectedly good job done by David Hartman. It is a simple premise, with a few holes. But as the tension and suspense escalate, we see his desperation and worry build nicely. The wife, who is high maintenance, and dumb, is adequate, and by the resolution has the sharp edges knocked off her. Likewise the husband has his very typical bullheadedness beaten out of him, as he really discovers the truth, and his deep love for his new, and highly strung wife. Direction above average, and economic, and very good by the TV movie standards of the decade.

Adapted from a pulp novel by Cornell Woolrich, YOU'LL NEVER SEE ME AGAIN features a rare performance by David Hartman, best known as a long running host of GOOD MORNING America. Truthfully, Hartman's calling as an on-screen talent was probably better suited to host rather than actor; here, he comes across as sort of a poor man's Jimmy Stewart, and never really seems comfortable on screen (though he does seem rather creepy when his character gets angry). Jess Walton is certainly lovely to look at, even if her performance seems a bit wooden (but that could also be due to the rather skimpy lines she's been given to read). One or two twists in this adaptation are Woolrich-worthy, but on the whole, it's probably a bit predictable for a modern audience, and ultimately rates as standard fare for an early 70s TV movie...even with direction by Jeannot Szwarc (a veteran of TV and feature films). All that being said, I'm still glad to have this one in my collection.

This couple had just married (David Hartman and Jessica Jones) and they had an argument and her husband hit her so she slammed the front door and said...... "YOU`LL NEVER SEE ME AGAIN". He just tapped her a little but it hurt her deeply so she left and then things started happening. He went to the police to report her missing and they came out and found blood on her coat, that she left in there car where she had slept that night. The cops thought he killed her but she went back to her mothers home. He was climbing the wall looking for her and her mother said she hadn`t seen her but it wasn`t her real mother, she had died and being a builder he noticed the room off center...I would like to see this and other good MOVIES available on video.