Life, Liberation and the Pursuit of Death (1975) User Reviews (5)

Enough To Drive One Nuts

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 7 May 2012]

Two college punks who aren't happy about their grades, confront the professor and plan to blackmail him into changing his grades.

The problem: one of the dummies accidentally kills the teacher. Now the two of them, being the good citizens they are, decide to compound matters by dumping the prof's body into the water. Another problem: there is a witness to this, a stressed-out woman who hiding nearby in back of a truck.

The stress on her is her job, trying to succeed as an advertising executive. She's on medication and is ready to unravel.

Now the real story arrives for the rest of the episode. The witness "Lorelei" (Joanna Miles) comes forth to identify one of the men and while he's put away, the other begins a campaign of terror against the witness, trying to proves she's too unstable to talk at a trial. The show becomes very suspenseful as this woman is put through mental hell.

Miles is interesting as the witness. One of the young crooks ("Carey") was played by William Katt, who went on to TV fame about six years later in "The Greatest American Hero." He ain't a hero in this story.

One complaint and two comments

[Ralpho · 8/10 · 15 January 2022]

This is an above-average Kojak with all the familiar elements and an interesting murder story to tell.

I have one complaint and two comments.

Complaint: The professor's murder was filmed in far-less-than-realistic fashion.

Comment No. 1: At first I thought the ethereal, monster-movie-type music chosen for the theme was out of place here. Then it occurred to me that the music may be intended to imply that the psych students are monsters. If so, it's brilliant!

Comment No. 2: At one point the heroine Lorelei dramatically laments regret for divorcing a husband who wanted a family because she wanted a career. Were they getting preachy about a woman's place being in the home? Or were they catering to the program's target demographic?

The Gaslight Technique

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 21 January 2013]

Two kids of privilege William Katt and Jim Borelli aren't real happy with their grade. So in trying to persuade the professor to change it, these two privileged brats kill the man. Then when they try to dump the body, Joanna Miles spots them.

They've got the resources to find out about her and when she identifies one of them, the other wages a 'Gaslight' type plan to make her unravel as surely as Charles Boyer was trying to do that to Ingrid Bergman. She's in a high stress occupation in the advertising world and she gets set up in a number of cruel ways to guarantee she's a basket case come the trial.

Of course Telly Savalas and the Manhattan South Squad figure it all out. And you'll feel a great sense of satisfaction seeing these two get their's.

Not the best

[spyrite · 6/10 · 29 March 2024]

Below average for this series which I enjoyed a lot on the whole, the storyline initially was fine but became quite sketchy and laboured, the lady witness who was a highly strung advertising executive was poorly portrayed and a bit over the top, overall a disappointing episode. The acting was mediocre too and the way they got to the conclusion was flimsy to say the least , with little evidence and some wayward findings of the origin of a cardboard box from the Far East , the assumption to what it contained was a complete guess and a little far fetched to say the least by the finding a piece of copper pipe .

Omg so over the top!

[schwa88 · 3/10 · 10 September 2023]

What in heck has happened to this show? It has become a farce! What TV executive acts like this? Like it's played for laughs, but no one's acting like it's funny.

Combine this wacko over the top behavior (not to mention she's dumb as a box of rocks) with the the blatantly sexist undertones and this whole plotline is absolutely cringewothy.

Also, note to Set Design: What kind of bed is this executive sleeping on? It looks like a twin bed with a nightstand is a headboard.

Oh god now comes the "I shoulda stayed a nice housewife with my rich husband" line that is supposed to be a learning point -> So sexist!

Other comments: The opening Dark Shadows-y type music did not seem to fit with the episode. There was no element of the occult.

What is the reason for dark-haired criminal guy taking the risk of sneaking into the apartment when he's expecting her to die of the pills anyway?

Weird endng with Kojak trying to hose down an overly enthusiastic Crocker a la "Patience, Grasshopper"

Oddly, in my area they followed the episode with an 800 mental health hotline message.

I give this 3 stars due to the Incredulity Entertainment Quotient, otherwise it would be a 1-star!