LOVE'S DEADLY TRIANGLE: THE TEXAS CADET MURDER

Holly Marie Combs and David Lipper

LOVE'S DEADLY TRIANGLE: THE TEXAS CADET MURDER (aka Swearing Allegiance/1997 telefilm). Director: Richard A. Colla. 

In the late nineties in Texas, two young sociopaths -- Diane Zamora (Holly Marie Combs) and David Graham (David Lipper), high school students with plans for the military and marriage -- decide to do away with another young lady, Adrianne Jones (Cassidy Rae), in order to wash out the sin of her sleeping with David, an event that may never have even occurred. Love's Deadly Triangle is a telefilm that was rushed out even before Zamora and Graham were put on trial (both received life sentences.)

David Lipper as Cadet David 

Frankly, Love's Deadly Triangle, although absorbing enough, is another example of a true crime movie that is sort of pasted together in a hurry and lacks any kind of depth of characterization or much else. True, there isn't much to Zamora or Graham aside from severe pathology. In spite of this Combs gives a good performance as the jealous Diane, while Lipper is effective, although a cut or two below his co-star in acting ability. Dee Wallace is fine as Adrianne's heartbroken mother. True crime shows, such as American Justice, that have focused on this tragic case and present the real participants are generally more interesting than this TV movie. Graham at first denied that he murdered Jones, then later not only admitted that he had killed her but that he and Adrienne had never even slept together. Zamora had a brief jailhouse marriage to another man that ended in divorce, and essentially failed a lie detector test on Dateline. Apparently both of these creeps are right where they belong. 

Verdict: Sad case, interesting story, so-so telefilm. **1/2. 

THE THIRD TWIN

Jason Gedrick times two 

THE THIRD TWIN (1997 two-part telefilm). Director: Tom McLoughlin. 

Dr. Jean Ferrami (Kelly McGillis) is exploring criminal behavior by doing research on twins. She meets a man named Steve Logan (Jason Gedrick), who is later accused of raping Jean's assistant, Lisa (Lisa Vidal). Lisa makes a positive identification of Steve, who insists he is not the rapist. There is a man who looks just like Steve, but he's been in prison for months. Falling for Steve -- with some admitted trepidation -- Jean determines to find out the truth. When she travels to a certain fertility clinic with Steve, he attacks her on the highway, but her landlord insists that Steve never left Philadelphia. Could there possibly be a third "twin" out there, but how could such a thing be possible? Jean's boss, Barrington Jones (Larry Hagman), may have the answers. Could these lookalikes all be clones, and how many of them are there? Worse, is Jean getting too close to the truth? 

McGillis and Holbrook

The Third Twin is a very entertaining, fast-paced sci-fi thriller which plays up the suspense aspects much more than the science fiction. Jason Gedrick gives an excellent performance -- or should I say performances -- as a variety of duplicates, all of whom have their own personal style and way of speaking -- a great showcase for a talented actor. Kelly McGillis can really do little than play off of Gedrick's intensity and sex appeal, and she's okay on that level, but this is Gedrick's show. Hagman does his usual variation on J. R. Ewing, Marion Ross is unconvincing as Jean's Alzheimer's-afflicted mother, but Hal Holbrook really scores in a terrific portrayal of Jean's lovable mountebank of a father. Based on a novel by Ken Follett, this is a little far-fetched but memorable.

Verdict: Slick and exciting telefilm. ***.  

THE NIGHT STALKER COMPANION: 25TH ANNIVERSARY TRIBUTE

THE NIGHT STALKER COMPANION: A 25th Anniversary Tribute. Mark Dawidziak. Pomegranate Press; 1997.

A major "fan boy" if ever there were one, Dawidziak has put together a new edition of his Night Stalking: A 20th Anniversary Kolchak Companion with more information. The book is an entertaining look at the history of the character, portrayed by Darren McGavin, and the two telefilms and TV series that he starred in. Like most fans, Dawidziak could be accused of overstatement and slavish devotion to Kolchak, but on the other hand, in a section when he looks at opinions of the TV show and well-known people who represent both positive and negative sides, he admits that the one-season series Kolchak: The Night Stalker was not all it could have been. (The naysayers towards the show include Stephen King and Darren McGavin himself!) Dawidziak also looks at the trials and tribulations of Jeff Rice, who wrote the original novel that became The Night Stalker and was treated abysmally by Hollywood and even by his own agents. The book could have used a more eagle-eyed copy editor but it has loads of photographs. There are chapters on the two telefilms and synopses and critiques of all of the twenty TV episodes. The book was published before the short-lived 2005 reboot of the series which cast Stuart Townsend as Kolchak.

Verdict: Fun read for Night Stalker fans. ***.