Tuesday's Overlooked Films: "Are There Any More Out There Like You?" (Kraft Suspense Theater, 1963)

Since the July Fourth holiday weekend is coming this week, I decided to run my blog post a little early. After watching a lot movies of late, I've grown to enjoy the work of the exceptional character actors. Dan Duryea and Elisha Cook, Jr., are but two (though I'm sure they were lead actors on occasion, such as Duryea was in The Burglar). I've always been a fan of Robert Ryan's work and try to catch whatever he starred in. This 1963 episode of Kraft Suspense Theater is such a production. I don't have a memory of Kraft Suspense Theater when it ran, but it looks like it was a winner. Anyway, four half-drunk college kids take off from a motel on a rainy Christmas Eve night and hit a pedestrian who dies. Of course, the cops want to charge the driver of the car, but the kids decide to claim their collective amnesia prevents them from remembering who was behind the wheel. One of the college kids is Ryan's spoiled rich daughter played by Katharine Ross who has a beautiful smirk. She would go on to bigger and better things. Ryan makes the 45-minute drama work as he plays the affluent and conflicted father. Things get more complicated when the seedy motel proprietor claims he saw and knows who was driving the car and wants to bribe Ryan. Ryan always makes for a convincing tortured soul without being melodramatic about it. This is an enjoyable show for other fans of the actor.