Kicks: A Review

Kicks
aka Destination Alcatraz
[TV movie]
(Mar 11, 1985)
Drama/Thriller
Directed by William Wiard
Written by David Levinson

Cast:
Anthony Geary as Martin Cheevers
Shelley Hack as Maggie Pierson
Tom Mason as Caleb
Ian Abercrombie as Barnes
Susan Ruttan as Rosemary
James Avery as Stanley

Plot (spoilers):

Thrill-seeking San Francisco university professor Maggie Pierson lives for the next big thrill and her boyfriend Caleb just can't seem to catch up. At one of her escapades, skydiving, she is spotted by another thrill-seeker, multimillionaire Martin Cheevers, who takes an interest in her. Cheevers aggressively goes after Maggie who is equally enamored by the glamorous, mysterious and powerful businessman. As the two pursue their ever-escalating thrills, their ever-escalating kicks, Caleb is pushed to the background and out of Maggie's life. But Cheevers's escapades slowly turn dangerous and their final escapade, breaking into a jewelry store, ends with Cheevers committing murder. Maggie is shaken and wants out, but Cheevers has her by the neck. He has video evidence that points to her as the murderer. And he puts this in a box, leaves it one of the cells at nearby Alcatraz for her to retrieve and destroy while he hunts her down like game. As it turns out, he had handpicked her from the very beginning and everything they went through was planned to culminate in this, HIS ultimate thrill. But Maggie is smart and resourceful. And with the help of Caleb, she foils Cheevers plans and turns the table on him.

Summary:

This 1985 TV movie takes viewers into the world of thrill-seeking. As a thrill loses its kick, an escalated version of the original takes over. The question is, “How far is one willing to go for the thrill?” Martin Cheevers is definitely willing to go all the way, but Maggie Pierson realizes her limit. The plot is interesting and the pacing is quick enough, but as soon as viewers discover Cheevers's intentions, the movie seems to lose its edge. A little more action and at-the-edge-of-your-seat suspense during Cheevers's hunt for Maggie would have helped bring home the bacon. But all in all, not bad.

Shelley brought an intellectual quality to her characterization of Maggie Pierson. Appropriately so, since Maggie is a learned university professor. But what's really impressive is, during the restaurant scene she shared with Anthony Geary (Cheevers's and Maggie's first “date,”) she displayed what intellectual sexy is all about. The way she sat, her demeanor, her voice and her delivery of line was just sexy intelligent. It's really very striking, uncommon and quite hard to accomplish. She did a sensational job.

Also, viewers can sense the obvious chemistry between Shelley and Tom Mason. In fact, in their very first scene together, they came off as a couple who have been around for quite some time. Tom's everyman attitude was the perfect foil to Shelley's intellectual sensibilities. After seeing this, it's not surprising that a year later they both get their very own TV series (which was Jack and Mike.)