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Film / Isn't It Shocking?

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Isn’t It Shocking? is a 1973 Made-for-TV Movie with black comedy, horror, and mystery elements, directed by John Badham four years prior to his commercial breakthrough with Saturday Night Fever. First aired on ABC as part of the network’s Movie of the Week series, the film was written by Lane Slate as something of a companion piece to his theatrically-released They Only Kill Their Masters. Alan Alda – who'd recently gained fame as Hawkeye Pierce on M*A*S*H – co-stars with Louise Lasser, Will Geer, Edmond O’Brien, and Ruth Gordon.

The small New England town of Mount Angel undergoes a series of unexpected deaths involving elderly citizens. The first two of them appear to be simple heart attacks, albeit unusual in that both of the victims are found nude, which seems out of character for them. But it becomes apparent that something more sinister is afoot when all the victims turn out to be graduates from the same 1928 class of the local high school.

Dan Barnes (Alda), the town’s police chief who's having a quiet affair with innkeeper Ma Tate (Patricia Quinn)note , takes notice of the case and investigates, with the assistance of his receptionist Blanche (Lasser) and the father-daughter medical team of Lemuel (Geer) and Doc Lovell (Dorothy Tristan).

As they’re about to learn, the killings are being carried out by Justin Oakes (O’Brien), who’s got a grudge and an electroshock machine. He’s especially got his sights on Marge Savage (Gordon).


Aren’t Tropes Shocking?:

  • Artistic License – Law Enforcement: Barnes has been offered the job as sheriff in another town, but sheriff is an elected position in most places, and he hasn’t stood for election.
  • Crazy Cat Lady: Marge Savage’s ramshackle house is overrun with cats.
  • Final Girl: For personal reasons Marge is Justin’s true target, and is also the final survivor from the group of people he targets.
  • Hollywood New England: Two of the victims are said to live just over the border in Vermont, so Mount Angel can be inferred as located in New Hampshire. Coincidentally or not, Alda’s M*A*S*H character Hawkeye Pierce was also a Northern New Englander, from Crabapple Cove, Maine.
  • I Choose to Stay: Barnes has been planning to take a job as sheriff in another town, but decides at the end to stay in Mount Angel and his current job.
  • Manly Tears: Barnes cries when he finds the body of his deputy Jesse, one of the victims.
  • Modesty Bedsheet: Ma Tate covers up with sheet and blanket while Barnes is getting dressed to leave. In a big screen movie from this period she might not have bothered.
  • Not Staying for Breakfast: Chief Barnes always says “Gotta go” after sleeping with Ma Tate, then takes off. She calls him out on it. Part of the reason seems to be her sons, whom she wants him to act as a father but towards whom he regards with something between indifference and antipathy.
  • Pun-Based Title: The deaths are both surprising and caused by electrical shock.
  • Sassy Secretary: Blanche makes a lot with both jokes and come-ons, and trolls Barnes by pretending to have seen rare birds from his birdwatcher’s guide.
  • Sinister Sweet Tooth: Oakes has a candy bar in hand while doing his killings and while observing the police. In one scene he drowns his pancakes in maple syrup.
  • Small Town Boredom: Blanche and a few others note that all the young people are abandoning Mount Angel, likely due to a combination of this and limited economic opportunities.


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