Along with David Janssen, Lloyd Bridges was THE male star of 1970s TV movies. He was everywhere during the decade, keeping busy with movies and series on the small screen. In THE DEADLY DREAM he appears in a challenging role in a surreal and disturbing film.
Professor Jim Hanley (Bridges) finds things are getting pretty strange when he sleeps. He dreams that he's being tried by a shadowy tribunal for an offense he can't identify. He finds himself pursued and persecuted by several people, and eventually the group includes his wife (Janet Leigh). The trouble is, he can't tell whether he's really being pursued or if the entire thing is a dream. The film ends with Hanley's death, but did he die in reality, in his dream, or both?
I really enjoyed Bridges' and Leigh's performances, as well as the rest of the fine cast (Carl Betz, Richard Jaeckel, Don Stroud, and Leif Erickson) but the distinction between Hanley's dreams and reality is so blurred that the film's climax is more confusing than explanatory. The muddled ending detracts from a great movie and I found myself wondering what really happened. Still, THE DEADLY DREAM is worth watching just to see Bridges' dramatic performance and to escape more conventional TV-movie plots.
Professor Jim Hanley (Bridges) finds things are getting pretty strange when he sleeps. He dreams that he's being tried by a shadowy tribunal for an offense he can't identify. He finds himself pursued and persecuted by several people, and eventually the group includes his wife (Janet Leigh). The trouble is, he can't tell whether he's really being pursued or if the entire thing is a dream. The film ends with Hanley's death, but did he die in reality, in his dream, or both?
I really enjoyed Bridges' and Leigh's performances, as well as the rest of the fine cast (Carl Betz, Richard Jaeckel, Don Stroud, and Leif Erickson) but the distinction between Hanley's dreams and reality is so blurred that the film's climax is more confusing than explanatory. The muddled ending detracts from a great movie and I found myself wondering what really happened. Still, THE DEADLY DREAM is worth watching just to see Bridges' dramatic performance and to escape more conventional TV-movie plots.