Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Don't Believe the Hype

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Who knew Syphilis could be so melodramatic?This is a made-for-TV movie worth watching just for the entertaining camp value and the inclusion of the glorious and underused Cloris Leachman.This movie is a quasi fascinating time capsule. Chock full of 70's speak.Bad 70's clothes. Bad 70's home decor. Fluffy male hairdo's and mustaches. Huge ugly 70's cars. This movie has it all, baby!The cashier who Cloris's husband sleeps with looks all of 15 which adds a whole level of creepiness to the proceedings. Cloris sings the title song.

Cloris Leachman, wire-drawn and over-anxious (but with glossy, flowing blonde hair), plays a somewhat-unhappily married woman in her 30s who learns she's four months pregnant...but the fetus may in danger after Leachman's husband discloses he had a fling with a 20-year-old cashier and contracted syphilis. Non-exploitative TV movie doesn't delve at all in the treatment involved; it does, however, include the usual statistics which come with the territory (here, the VD numbers arrive courtesy of a polite County Health Department worker, who keeps popping up like a detective-saint). As Cloris's husband, James Olson is so angst-ridden that one begins focusing on the throbbing veins in his temples rather than on his performance, but Kenneth Mars (Leachman's co-star the year prior in "Young Frankenstein") is solid in a surprising dramatic role that adds a much-needed twist to the story.

Captures the betrayal that only a wife can feel quite vividly. The focus on VD and what it meant in 1975 made me think back to how I felt that same year. Cloris Leachman is truly one of America's underrated actresses, and to prove her range, she also SINGS the title song herself!