Welcome Home, Johnny Bristol

Go get your hands on this movie, and do it now. Avoid getting sidetracked. Get this movie, get it, get it. This whole wonderfully compelling story maintained an extremely high level of plot progression, the plot fooled me all the way and the realistic moral lesson at the end hit me between the eyes. I applauded it for doing so. What an intelligent rush of a plot. You'll never see it coming, and I don't mean just the ending, which was itself a work of plotting genius. This was suspense and even psychologically scary without any gratuitous gore or that cheap "cat jumping out" shock lesser writers and directors use as substitutes for real fright-making. This thing will have you mesmerized and totally fooled, yet the whole plot and the incredible end piece were TOTALLY plausible and original. This is no comedy, yet sooooo much fun throughout. I lost myself in the plot. This is a--believe it or not-- 1972 TV movie. I know, I know, but it is so well crafted--perfectly--that has NOT become dated and, if it was somehow put into theaters even today, it could win an Academy Award for best picture. Martin Landau and others could win Oscars for their roles, also but, make no mistake, any actor would win when supported by such a well-constructed plot. This one is pure genius. I fell off the couch as this one revealed its secret. The story maintained such a high level of suspense all the way through and then it managed to reach an even higher plane for the spectacularly jolting (very cool) conclusion. Satisfaction to the highest, highest level. (This review is from a hardcore pessimist--so don't take the praise it gets lightly at all.)