Trapped

Forget "Marcus Welby"! When I think of James Brolin, I instantly recall a host of movies he made consecutively between 1972-1973: "Skyjacked", "Westworld", the TV-film "Short Walk To Daylight", and this compact thriller, another movie-of-the-week. After being mugged and knocked unconscious by teenagers in a department store men's room, Brolin wakes to find he's locked in alone after closing time. This might sound like a shop-a-holic's dream come true, but Brolin has to fight off vicious guard dogs all night, sometimes in clever ways. James Brolin was the perfect TV substitute for Charlton Heston: stalwart and determined, with a firm jaw and a survivor's instinct. The film doesn't amount to much--the viewer and Brolin are in much the same spot, biding time until the store reopens--but the general scenario is a good one.

An early entry in the glory days of TV movies that stands well alongside other TV movies on the era. Well acted, very well edited and scored and most importantly written and directed by Frank De Felitta. It ages pretty well and of course has real dog attacks rather than CGI junk animals. For some reason this quality of TV production died out almost entirely in the 1980's when all the elements of craft that this film has vanished really until X Files and other shows brought back film type story telling to TV.

The story unfolds very well and is believable and involving, this should be on DVD and certainly is among the handful of memorable TV movies of any era, it's like a very good episode of the Hitchcock series or Thriller--the Boris Karloff series. Someone at Univeral get this out on DVD like it deserves. This movie will having you making sure you're home before any store closes. James Brolin sweats and suffers with the best of them.

Trapped is better than you might expect. After all, it's an early 1970s TV movie starring James Brolin, so it doesn't exactly sound like an undiscovered masterpiece.

The story tells of a man who recovers consciousness following a mugging in the toilets of a large department store. When he comes round, the store is closed and he finds himself trapped overnight, having to evade the vicious doberman dogs that patrol the store.

It's a reasonably tense offering. Inevitably, the thinness of the story results in occasional tedious patches, but in fairness the film contains more than its fair share of taut moments. It's the kind of thing that could happen to anybody, so in many ways the audience is able to identify with the hero and place themselves in his position. I spent much of the film wondering how I would cope under the same circumstances. The scenes involving dog attacks are quite well filmed, without being too graphic or grisly.. I like this film.... it's definitely worth trying to catch.

I saw this movie many years ago and have always wanted to see it again. It was very suspenseful, wish I could find it to buy. Great idea for a movie plot, man gets attacked in a men,s room of a department store, the guard doesn't realize someone is still in the store so the poor guy is stuck in a store with attack dogs... I would die. I love a good movie and years ago they had better "made for TV movies". I would recommend this movie, that is if you could find it any where to rent or buy, I haven't seen it on TV since the year it first viewed. Funny how some movies stay with you. If you liked Trapped you would like: "Night Terror" with Valiere Harper full of suspense. I love movies that make me jump, both of these did...

This review is murky because the last time I saw it was when it aired in the 70's. James Brolin in a department store facing man-eating security dogs. The movie scared me more than if the store had mannequins that came to life. I will not give away the ending or key parts. There are plenty of suspenseful moments. Remember this was in the days predating cellphones and electronic security systems. Brolin's character was s.o.l. The things Brolin does to ward off the dogs rivals that of MacGuyver. ABC needs to package this and other movies-of-the-week as a DVD compilation. As an adult, I'm still afraid of scary dogs.