GUENOT PHILIPPE I am surprised that no one has noticed that this film may have inspired 24 series, that's my own opinion at least. I appreciated this TV movie, very well paced but unfortunately too much foreesable, predictable. Good job anyway, no problem.

blanche-2 E.G. Marshall is a political activist who intends to release nerve gas into San Diego, where the Republican national convention is being held. Ben Gazzara and his team are assigned to capture him and stop the gas from being stolen.Written and directed by Michael Crichton, this was a low-budget TV movie, though it deserved better. What's always interesting about any films with a political slant -- even back to 1930 -- is that politics haven't changed, and most of the time, the speeches and situations remain timely. This movie is no different. Just listen to what E.G. Marshall has to say.It was wonderful to see Ben Gazzara, William Windom, Joseph Wiseman, and a baby-faced Martin Sheen in this - all of them were very prevalent in the TV of my youth, as was Jim McMullan, who had dark hair then.Very suspenseful.

JoeB131 Okay, who knew Nixon was going to turn out to be a crook, besides anyone who watched his career.Actually this isn't bad for an early 70's made for TV movie. Personally, I've always wondered why 1970's TV was so fond of brown cars and dull colors. It seems in the 1960's, they discovered color was this new thing and were very flamboyant about it, but in the 1970's, they went with "earth tones" and got bored wit the thing.The plot is that an eccentric millionaire steals some Army Nerve gas, so potent they have to store it in binary form. Realizing a clever FBI agent is on to him, he sets up a series of contingencies to make sure his weapon goes off in San Diego when Richard Nixon (never specifically mentioned but obviously implied) is making his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention.The battle of wits between these two guys is very interesting, and this is before Hollywood learned how to milk such scenarios for every ounce of suspense.

mrwizard1000 I saw this movie on TV when I was 12 years old...missed the start of it but couldn't stop watching it once started. I never new the name, or have seen it since. BUT, I forever wanted to see it again from start to finish. I saw enough of the plot and *especially the ending* to make me a lover of action thrillers for life! *****spoiler!!!*****The ending occurs in a hotel room with the binary nerve gas stored in compressed air cylinders and the cylinders are ingeniously painted with *explosive paint* so that when the device explodes, the two harmless gases are mixed and will be blown out of the nearby window. I clearly remember the race by the agents to get to the device in the booby-trapped room (two police officers were laying dead outside the door already from unknowingly setting off the door-tamper mechanism) A truly most-excellent thriller--especially for TV at that time! As was said in other comments, I'm really surprised that no one has remade this into a modern movie with all of the new special effects available now as opposed to the early 70's. If you can rent this or if it comes on again, I highly recommend viewing--just don't be eating popcorn at the end--you might choke while holding your breath!--happy watching!