Quiet Killer (1992) (TV)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Sheldon Larry

Writers (WGA):

Gwyneth Cravens (book) and
John S. Marr (book) ...

Release Date:

24 March 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller

Tagline:

The people of New York City face certain death. Dr. Nora Hart has five days to save them.

Plot:

On her way home in a plane to New York, the teenage Sarah gets very ill. She realizes too late that...

Plot Keywords:

Epidemic | Medical | Based On Book

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Kate Jackson	...	Dr. Nora Hart
Al Waxman	...	Mayor Andy Carmichael
Jeffrey Nordling	...	Dr. Jake Prescott
Chip Zien	...	Dr. Lionel Katz
Barbara Williams	...	Charlene
David Hewlett	...	Nyles Chapman
Jerry Orbach	...	Dr. Vincent Califano
Howard Hesseman	...	Congressman Calvin Phillips
Alma Martínez	...	Dolores Rosales
Tom Mardirosian	...	Deputy Mayor Kaprow
Kathleen Robertson	...	Sara Dobbs
Luis Guzmán	...	Adelaido Ortiz
Kristina Nicoll	...	Dr. Lipsky
Michael Copeman	...	Limo Driver
Philip Akin	...	Dr. Henshaw

Also Known As:

Black Death (UK)
New York, alerte à la peste (France)
Panic in the City (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

Germany:90 min

Country:

Canada | France | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

CTV Television Network

Trivia:

Ths film was set to premiere in January 1992 but was postponed due to the State of the Union Address.

The epidemiologist as heroine

As an epidemiologist, I say any movie that features an epidemiologist as heroine can't be all bad!

Actually, the disease scenario -- pneumonic plague spread person-to-person in a crowded city after introduction by a traveler just back from California, where she came into contact with a plague-infected ground squirrel -- is not implausible. Indeed this is the kind of scenario that bioterrorism planning is designed to detect, respond to and control. The best scene in the movie is the one in which the mayor's assistant -- this is 1991, mind you -- confidently looks in the city's emergency plan for the section on how to deal with epidemics and finds -- nothing. I like the way the movie shows the public health workers as dedicated, taking personal risks (as so many health care workers did to care for people with SARS), and ethical. What is particularly unrealistic is the way the public health workers can just walk into a hospital and start managing patients.

Also, this is the most wooden performance ever by Jerry Orbach in a minor role.