Any Second Now (1969 TV Movie) User Reviews

Don't get your hopes up, all you thriller fans

[gerdeen-1 · 7 October 2009]

This one hasn't been around much in recent years, and you may think you're missing out on something. Certainly the two stars -- Granger and Nettleton -- are better than average for a made-for-TV movie. The title promises a bit of excitement. And the basic plot sounds like a recipe for a real nail-biter: A man tries to kill his rich wife. She survives but has amnesia. He pretends to help doctors' efforts to restore her memory, meanwhile desperately looking for a chance to kill her before she remembers everything and points the finger at him.

But it's not nearly as suspenseful as it sounds.

The plot has more twists than those mentioned above, and as clever as they are, they get in the way of the story. After a fairly good beginning, things move slowly, as the couple's romantic relationship starts again from Square One. The ending is weak. And Joe Campanella's Mexican accent (he plays a doctor at the Mexican resort where the movie takes place) wouldn't fool the greenest gringo.

"Any Second Now" is no crime, but you can safely forget it.

Silver fox Stewart Granger, still a lady killer!

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 21 April 2020]

Or perhaps just attempted killer. He's a philandering husband who is obviously a serial cheater, shown purchasing flowers to meet up with his wealthy wife (Lois Nettleton) after ending a brief tryst before he gets on a plane to Mexico at LAX. when she sees him philandering at a party at their vacation spot, she decides to divorce him and tells him she will not leave him any of her money. He decides to kill her by arranging for her car to crash, but instead, she ends up with amnesia and the doctors identify her as the secretary she had hired who just arrived. If this isn't convoluted enough, he decides to hang around, seemingly either to romance her to win her back or at least win back her money or possibly kill her for real.

While still one of the most handsome veteran stats around in the late 1960's, Granger certainly isn't the romantic lothario of the 1950's, yet he seems to be able to seduce much younger women at will. Lois Nettleton gives a strong performance as the cheated on wife, and Katy Jurado is strong as the Mexican inn owner who befriends her. But Joseph Campanella offers giggles with his supposed Mexican accent that sounds more South American, and even then, it's ridiculous to picture him playing a Hispanic character. the scenery is gorgeous, but the script is pedestrian, and in the end, that makes this television movie of the week instantly forgettable.

Oh well

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 31 December 2021]

Gene Levitt wrote and directed The Phantom of Hollywood as well as creating Fantasy Island. Here, he's making a kinda sorta pre-Argento giallo in which Paul Dennison (Stewart Granger) tries to kill his wife Nancy (Lois Nettleton) but ends up giving her amnesia instead.

The problem? The amnesia she gets could go away at any time and then she'll remember that he was cheating on her, that she was going to cut off his cash and that he set her up to die. But until then, he's going to try and ride this out.

This isn't a classic of the small screen. That said, it has some nice locations and moves along quickly. It's innocuous and sometimes, you just need some old made for TV movies to get you through the day.