Sunset Limousine (Telefilm)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: D Telefilm: C+
As the TV movie went into swift decline in the early
1980s, they got either sillier or outright lame. A good percentage of them also were made with the idea of serving
as a pilot for a TV series and that is what Sunset Limousine might have
intended. John Ritter, around the time Three’s
Company became Three’s A Crowd and was a long dead series to begin
with, plays a would-be stand-up comedian who finds himself separated form a
wife (Susan Dey) who wishes he would grow out of his dream and be a “serious”
father.
He winds up as a limousine driver and a caper involving a
valuable that could get him and his client (Martin Short, less funny than
usual) is the subplot. Too bad this is
so pat and even Paul Reiser, Lainie Kazan and brief appearance by Martin Mull
cannot save the Dick Clement/Ian La Frenais teleplay. This is just feel-good 1980s fluff with little point, but the
untimely passing of Ritter had this issued on DVD. At least Shanachie will kill people’s curiosity about the
project.
The full frame, color image is a little soft, but not too
bad for its age. The old TV monophonic
sound is rendered about as well as it could be in Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono. There are no extras and that makes this a
basic DVD of a very basic TV movie.
Only huge fans of any of the stars should be concerned.
- Nicholas Sheffo
