Classic Horrors Club

As we resume with Nowhere to Run (1978) after putting this series about 1970s TV movies on pause, it’s a good time to remind you that not all these movies will be horror films. Most will be thrillers, but some will slip in like this one, that aren’t really either, regardless of how exciting they sound when you read about them.

The only horrific thing in Nowhere to Run is Marian Adams, played by “Special Guest Star” Stefanie Powers. She’s a shrew of a wife to Harry Adams (David Janssen) a mild-mannered engineer who conveniently travels for work when the in-laws are in town. Why doesn’t he just leave her?

Well, he’s going to escape; it just takes him 15 years to plan it. He’s developed a “system” for winning at Blackjack and is stuffing envelopes of money into a locked credenza in his office. He’s found a way to fake suicide and leave San Francisco without breaking any laws, plus he’s promised himself he will stop gambling when he makes $500,000.

This is revealed over the course of the film by Herbie Stoltz (Allen Garfield), a down on his luck private investigator that Marian hires to follow Harry to learn if he’s having an affair. Of course he’s not, but Herbie instead learns something Harry already knew: Marina is having an affair with his buddy, Joe (Anthony Eisley.)

It all sounds like it could be thrilling, but Nowhere to Run (horrible title, by the way) takes a different approach, throwing a few kinks into the plan when Harry and Herbie become best buds. There’s not enough time for Harry to teach Herbie his system, but he has a few hours to play in a high-stakes game with some people to whom Herbie owes money.

Later, they’re the only ones from whom Harry is even remotely “on the run.” He’s a smart guy, though, and has learned the secret of Clark Kent’s glasses. Just like the comic book hero removes them to become Superman, Harry shaves his beard and is able to avoid recognition when he coincidentally runs into one of the bad guys at the casino. 

All of this happens in probably the first three quarters of the movie. Then, after Harry’s escaped, fallen in love with Amy Kessler (Linda Evans), and hopped on a plane with her to Israel, the plane is hijacked and the last one quarter of the movie deals with his fear of being discovered and two lookalike briefcases, one of which contains Harry’s $500,000.

Nowhere to Run is an engaging movie. Janssen is likable and we’re rooting for him all the way. His relationship with Herbie is sweet and we want to see where it leads. I’d like to have seen the story spread a little more evenly, though, with equal time to pre-escape plan and post-escape plan. It’s worth a watch, even if it’s not very thrilling.

You can watch Nowhere to Run by visiting @ClassicHorrorsTV on YouTube, then navigating to the TV Terror Guide: 70’s TV Movies playlist.