I'm regularly surprised to find out some of the vehicles Sam Waterston popped up in. The 'Law and Order' actor portrayed a Kiowa warrior named White Bull in the 1979 movie "Eagle's Wing", where he's pitted against an ex-foot soldier played by Martin Sheen. Talk about paying one's dues. Here he's a horror novelist and film maker, who purportedly is impervious to being scared by anything, at least that's what he claimed in an interview with Dick Cavett to open the story. But things suddenly take a dark turn when he arrives home that evening, as he begins to see a black clad intruder behind him every time he looks into a mirror or glances at a reflective surface. The sinister figure follows him the next day on his rounds, virtually immobilizing him, to the extent that he's arrested for seemingly attacking a parking lot security officer while acting hysterically.
I recall how it was around this time in the Eighties that TV and movie make-up was making great strides in the creation of horror characters, along with a still experimental concept called CGI. The phantom that scared the bejeezus out of Waterston's character was quite the piece of work; the close-ups of it's face (along with clips from Jordan Manmouth's films) were indeed on the hideous side, though perhaps made tamer looking by comparison with today's monsters. What it all boiled down to was Manmouth quickly losing his mind, and succumbing to a power of suggestion that made him go insanely crazy. Or was it? His confidante Karen (Helen Shaver) happened to see it too, leaving her rather breathlessly immobile as well, as he nose dived out of his upper floor window.
All that aside, I was equally surprised to go through the cast credits for this episode and discover who was behind the mask of the mysterious phantom. Just like Waterston and Sheen paying their dues in earlier vehicles, the guy who gave Jordan Manmouth palpitations of the heart was none other than Tim Robbins.
I recall how it was around this time in the Eighties that TV and movie make-up was making great strides in the creation of horror characters, along with a still experimental concept called CGI. The phantom that scared the bejeezus out of Waterston's character was quite the piece of work; the close-ups of it's face (along with clips from Jordan Manmouth's films) were indeed on the hideous side, though perhaps made tamer looking by comparison with today's monsters. What it all boiled down to was Manmouth quickly losing his mind, and succumbing to a power of suggestion that made him go insanely crazy. Or was it? His confidante Karen (Helen Shaver) happened to see it too, leaving her rather breathlessly immobile as well, as he nose dived out of his upper floor window.
All that aside, I was equally surprised to go through the cast credits for this episode and discover who was behind the mask of the mysterious phantom. Just like Waterston and Sheen paying their dues in earlier vehicles, the guy who gave Jordan Manmouth palpitations of the heart was none other than Tim Robbins.