Tue 27 Jun 2017
Archived Made-for-TV Movie Review: HARMFUL INTENT (1993)
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[3] Comments
HARMFUL INTENT. CBS, made-for-TV; 14 December 1993. Full title: Robin Cook’s Harmful Intent. Tim Matheson, Emma Samms, Robert Pastorelli, Kurt Fuller, Alex Rocco, John Walcutt. Based on the book by Robin Cook. Director: John Patterson.
Based on the movie longer, more complete title, I’m sure that Robin Cook’s only intent was to make a few bucks from it. All seriousness aside, it’s a pretty innocuous movie, when it comes down to it. An anesthesiologist makes a mistake in OR, is sued for malpractice, eventually gets convicted for second degree murder, then tries to clear his name while trying to avoid a persistent bounty hunter.
Emma Samms, as the widow of a former colleague, cheers him on, but she really doesn’t have much else to do. As the fugitive doctor, Tim Matheson quotes most of his dialogue as though it were formed from wood. Robert Pastorelli, as the no-holds-barred bounty hunter, complete with a wild, bushy hairdo and one long earring, was obviously having more fun than anybody.
June 27th, 2017 at 7:01 pm
Haven’t seen this.
In the early 1980’s I enjoyed some TV episodes directed by John Patterson, on what are today obscure crime series:
Spy on “Today’s FBI”.
Crimes of Passion, on “Our Family Honor”.
Then I lost track of Patterson, and have seen little since.
He’s very little studied, one guesses.
June 27th, 2017 at 7:53 pm
Patterson seems to have been a TV director almost exclusively. He did multiple episodes of CAGNEY & LACEY, HILL STREET BLUES, PROVIDENCE, and THE SOPRANOS, plus a long list of shorter or one-time assignments.
June 27th, 2017 at 9:55 pm
Harmful Intent was toward the audience.