...And Then She Was Gone (1991 TV Movie) User Reviews

Robert Urich excels in Hitchcock-like thriller

[sol1218 · 7/10 · 13 August 2005]

***SPOILERS*** After having a spat with his girlfriend Kate, Isabella Hofmann, over a trip that they planned to go on to Antigua computer whiz and software specialist Jack Bauer's, Robert Urich,bad luck continues to follow him when he can't get to his car, because it's locked up in a local garage,and takes the subway home. Watching a woman and her daughter on the train Jack, after they both exit the subway car, spots a poster for a missing four year-old child right in back of him and it's the little girl that he just saw.

Like in an Alfred Hitchcock thriller Jack Bauer becomes an innocent bystander who get's caught up with something that he at first doesn't understand and later almost costs him his life. Trying to report the missing girl to the Child Recovery Foundation, that issued the poster, Jack at first finds out that the girl Carla McKillin, Erica Dill,is no longer missing and when he goes to her mom's Laura, Megen Gallagher, apartment to return Cala's doll, that she dropped on the subway, he's attacked by the mother and her neighbors thinking that he kidnapped little Carla and was trying to get a ransom in return for her.

Jack at the police station, with Laura, gets in touch with the Child Recovery Foundation and is told that Carla is indeed still missing and that her name was somehow removed from their computer. At first hesitant but then working together with Laura Jack tracks down the woman who he saw with Carla on the subway Amanda Johnson, Christine Danford, at a local bar outside the sixth street station that she got off at with Carla. On dope and terrified of what she knew about not only Carla but scores of other young children, who disappeared over the years, the same way that little Carla did Amanda is later found dead in her hotel room from an overdose that her drug supplier forced on her. As Jack starts to check out, by computer, the movements of Amanda during the time that she had Carla with her he finds out that she was being treated for drug addiction at the local St. James Hosiptal. Amanda scrawled the name St. James on a mirror with lipstick as she was dying. Putting all the evidence together Jack soon realizes that Carla was the victim of a major child and baby selling racket that was using as a front the very agency that was supposed to track down and find missing children; non other then the Child Recovery Foundation.

Though guy Robert Urich really gets a worker-over in "And Then She Was Gone" as he gets belted and beaten, what a shiner he got early in the film, at least three different times in three different scenes as he's chased and then chases the kidnapper of Carla through the subway system and the airport on a plane headed for the UK. Tense stand off on the plane as Jack and Laura force themselves on trying to rescue little Carla from her kidnapper before the aircraft goes airborne. A bit overdone ending didn't take away any of the suspense and excitement from the rest of the film and the final scene was truly uplifting with Jack and Kate reunited and back together again after she came back home from her vacation, minus Jack, in Antigua. After all the dangers thrills and excitement that Jack went through in the movie there's nothing on the trip and vacation with Kate that he passed up, and almost destroyed their relationship,that could equal what he went through back at home.

EXCELLENT EFFORTS ON DISPLAY HERE.

[rsoonsa · 6/10 · 31 October 2004]

In a film made for television, Robert Urich portrays Jack Bauer, a comfortable corporate executive in the field of computer software manufacturing who unwillingly finds himself amidst an attempt to locate a missing girl whose photograph upon a poster he viewed in a subway, along with the child herself and her apparent kidnapper, after Jack is excluded from access to his automobile that is locked inside of a parking garage following a late work meeting, requiring him to use a public mode of transport. When he returns a doll dropped by the little girl, Carla, to her distressed mother Laura (Megan Gallagher), the latter pleads for his assistance with such fervour that, alien as such altruistic activity is to him, he reluctantly joins with her in a persistent attempt to find Carla, whereupon the pair discover that a rash of similar kidnappings is occurring throughout their city and soon Jack and Laura are privy to knowledge of a conspiracy involving selling of children. Despite reliance in the screenplay upon melodrama, continuity issues are few and a great deal of the dialogue is quite realistic and made even more so by skillful performances from cast members, notably the talented Gallagher, as well as from Urich, Isabella Hofmann, and Christine Dunford who contributes a topflight turn as a lady of the evening coerced into a child vending operation. Production values are pleasingly strong for the piece that is ably directed by David Greene to create an atmosphere of suspense with a dash of humour and a delightfully ambiguous ending, and the work also profits from an appropriate score from Peter Manning Robinson, burnished cinematography of Stevan Larner, and adroit set design by Steve Legner, all to the end of creating a film wherein attention to details generally counters well any clichés.

Against All Odds

[lavatch · 7/10 · 5 February 2019]

"In a Stranger's Hand" (aka, "And Then She Was Gone") features Robert Urich as a beleaguered computer software salesman, who is a kind-hearted soul, who lends a helping hand for a mother seeking to recover her kidnapped daughter.

The film is not so much a thriller as a by-the-numbers action picture with a major twist about the leaders of a sick kidnapping ring. An underlying rule in this type of film is that the police are incompetent, and it will be up to the hero to follow the paper trail to the villains.

Throughout the film, poor Jack is constantly being punched, kicked, knocked to the ground, and roughed up in the pursuit of the missing child and the cause of justice. He interrupts a big business deal to help out the mother who is desperate. He cancels a trip to Antigua. He seemingly has no personal life.

The film cleverly makes use of Jack's software company and a computer expert to do some state-of-the-art hacking c. 1991, to help find the villain. The action was well-paced, and Urich commanded the screen as the former college quarterback known as "The Scrambler." He lived up to his nickname in this story with his tenacious pursuit of little Carla's abductors and against all odds.

Good tension and suspense for a Tv film

[greatwar · 21 April 2002]

I saw this recently on Lifetime cable. I looked at it to start simply because Robert Urich was in it, and had just passed away. I figured I wouldn't stay with it for more than a few minutes but ended up seeing the whole thing. I was surprised at how much tension and suspense this Tv movie had packed into it, even with the distraction of commercial interuptions! It also features an ending that is somewhat open to interpretation which is a nice change from the usual TV movie storybook ending. There were some logic holes ie like why didn't a character call the police ( but that would have watered down the climax) however this is a good film.

A sinister thriller

[NuttyBaby · 6/10 · 30 June 2022]

There is a clandestine circle in kidnapping children. One girl disappears and her mother puts up "Missing" posters. A businessman on his way home from work notices the girl in the poster looks exactly like a child that he saw in a train. His search goes through many places to help the mother find her daughter. A very stylish and interesting movie.

Decent TV movie

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 29 April 2021]

Jack Bauer (Robert Urich) is a workaholic who gets involved in a case of child kidnapping when he returns a doll found in the subway. This ends up finding him get repeatedly abused, verbally and physically, and making you wonder why he even tried.

Director David Greene also was behind Madame Sin; the movie adaption of Godspell; Rich Man, Poor Man; Hard Country and the TV movie remakes of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? And Night of the Hunter.

Bauer soon joins with the girl's mother, played by Megan Gallagher, and they do what they can to find her daughter. This, again, involves Urich charging in like an alpha male and continually getting beaten unmercifully.

This looks way better than a TV movie and could have played theaters.

Responsibility transfer

[manuel-pestalozzi · 5/10 · 3 December 2008]

I did not think this was a good movie. The overly loud musical score is poured over it like cheap gravy and I suspect that the dramatization of this true event was anything but subtle – probably they thought they had to spice it up.

And yet, there is something deeply irritating about the whole affair that made it worth the watching time invested. The main character is oddly believable as a living doormat. I have to agree with other commentators that Robert Urich delivers a stunning performance. The man plays a big, intelligent fellow, a former football pro and a successful businessman, but people don't hesitate a second to walk right over him. The man seems to be outright plagued by an unhealthy kindness and, above all, an over developed sense of responsibility.

When a business partner sets an important meeting at a date when he is supposed to go on a long promised trip with his girlfriend he cancels the trip. When he wants to pass a found doll to a traffic cop who does not accept it, he takes it with him. When he tells his secretary she should send the doll to its owner by mail, the secretary refuses flat out and virtually orders him (her boss) to deliver it personally – and he does it. The result: he gets nearly lynched as a supposed kidnapper and then beaten up time and time again. This becomes all the more grotesque as the guy's wardrobe seems to consist only of two ill fitting business suits which become more and more tattered and dirty as the story moves along. He never even removes his tie! It is very odd and slightly surreal.

The man is coerced into helping to find a girl who disappeared by the girl's single mother, a waitress. She transfers part of her guilt and responsibility over to that stranger she had never met before and who has nothing to do at all with the kidnapping. And he accepts the transfer. This is beautifully shown in the scene where he stays in the woman's apartment because she can't sleep. She leans against him and falls asleep at last. In the morning they both awake, the woman refreshed the man (unshaven, in creased business suit and limp tie) with a numb side against which the woman had leaned. But the masochistic climax is definitely the moment when the woman storms into a restaurant where the afore mentioned important business meeting takes place and tells the guy to go with him. He tells her he will, when the meeting is over. But for her it cannot be in a few minutes, it has to be RIGHT NOW. The urgency is clearly irrational but he dithers and dithers and then obeys. Oh, it was hard to bear.

The bottom line: This movie shows that different genders have different agendas and priorities and how not to deal with that issue. The rather downbeat ending is very telling in that aspect.

Robert Urich's best work

[hnt_dnl · 8/10 · 27 March 2008]

I've commented on a lot of big-screen films, but this is the first TV movie I've commented on and there's a reason. It's one of the few that I still take time to watch when it comes on today. They usually show it on Lifetime nowadays b/c I guess it is seen as some sort of 'female' movie. I saw it when it first came out in the late 80s and have always liked it. It contains IMHO the best performance of the late Robert Urich's career. And I liked him in just about everything he did.

Urich plays Jack Bauer (that's right!) a successful, normal, rather average computer executive who seemingly has the quintessential life: a great job, a woman he loves, money, and a group of co-workers and employees who adore him. But there's a kind of emptiness and loneliness about him. Bauer used to be a promising football player in college, but he blew his knee out and it killed his dream of playing pro. Bauer is big and burly-looking on the surface, but he's really a pussycat (he wears glasses, is very polite and professional, and rather nerdy). It's amazing that the man who played tough guys Dan Tanna on Vegas and Spenser (what the hell was his first name?) on Spenser for Hire can be so utterly convincing as a nerdy computer geek, but he pulls it off.

The movie is about a poor, working-class waitress whose little girl has been kidnapped and she has been posting flyers of her daughter's photo around town. The woman is played by Megan Gallagher, an actress I remember quite well from the 80s who had always played more sexpot type characters. But here she is cast against type and is very effective as an ordinary (but still quite attractive) single mom.

Bauer sees the girl on subway (with another woman that he mistakes for her mother) and notices the flyer also after she disappears and when girl leaves her doll, he tries to get it to her. Social services makes him think the girl has been found, so when he tries to return it, the real mother has him arrested thinking he knows about the kidnapping. Everything is straightened out immediately, but b/c Bauer is the only one who has seen her daughter, she enlists his help to find her. After a series of confrontations, he reluctantly agrees.

This movie is just one that I like to watch whenever it comes on. It is primarily a mystery, but also it has elements of social class divisions (Bauer is successful, the waitress is not), the opposites-attract theory between Bauer and the waitress, and 2 characters that the viewer really likes, gets to know, and root for. Mainly, I liked the fact that they never forgot about the prime mission of these 2 people: to find the little girl before it was too late. But I still wanted them to get together in the end. Yet I think the ending was well done and appropriate. I know that Robert Urich was not some big shot Hollywood A-lister or even the biggest TV actor, but I always remember liking him in virtually everything he did. And this is the best thing he ever did for me.

REST IN PEACE MR. URICH.

Oh Yeah. awful

[ManiacCop · 5/10 · 10 February 2006]

Classic. If you're into bad early 90's 'made for TV' movies. This one involves a child that vanishes. I had trouble paying attention (I have ADD) and combining attention defecit disorder with a bad early 90's TV movie makes for a rough situation.

It's awful. No two if ands it's or buts about it. But, if you laugh at horrible lines and a plot that any mildy intelligent person can pick apart within the first ten minutes, then this is for you. I have trouble giving a vote on this, because although being awful as it so obviously was, I was sickly drawn into watching it unfold. Like a book I've read 20 times, I knew every 'twist' and 'turn' involved. There weren't many to begin with, but a slow plot can sometimes be refreshing.

Too Stupid For Words

[writevjnow-IMDB · 3/10 · 11 December 2022]

How someone so successful in computer software could be so stupid is beyond me. While the first half of the film, maybe even 3/4 of it, worked quite well and was often amusing despite the subject matter, it went downhill like a ski champion towards the end. You know those moments when you are shouting at the screen things like 'leave their name in the message', tell security, they will put a halt to...' and so forth.

I liked the cast, and the acting, the storyline was good but seriously, when a screenwriter uses stupidity to build tension, the wrong kind of tension, more like infuriation...

... I just couldn't bear it. I hope my life never depends on such a clown.

Nobody behaves this way!

[dusitmark · 2/10 · 18 January 2022]

Contrived unbelievable nonsense about a busy chap caught up in the search for a missing child.

Busy man agrees to go on holiday with his girlfriend, but cancels because of work and he doesn't have a clue why she's angry with him.

He becomes obsessed by a doll and this provides a lot of cringe moments.

Robert Ulrich was a competent actor but he's awful in this nonsense.

Even Lifetime would have trouble greenlighting this baffling, illogical tripe!

A Must Have for Robert Urich Fans and One of My Favorites with Brett Cullen

[timlucero · 10/10 · 20 May 2018]

I watched In a Stranger's Hand before Shakma on Christmas eve and enjoyed it. I remember when I first watched this on Lifetime and Shakma on either Showtime, HBO, or Cinamax after I graduated from highschool. This was the first movie that I became familiar with Brett Cullen and then was Prehysteria, Complex of Fear, and Apollo 13. Plus, I like watching Megan Gallagher and others too. The music in this movie is suspenseful and so are certain scenes. Robert Urich plays a partner in a software expert business who becomes unexpectantly involved in a search for a missing girl. The deeper involved he becomes in the search, the more truth involving the girls disappearance is explained. Overall, this is a excellent movie for those who love suspense.

Welfare going wrong

[clanciai · 9/10 · 17 January 2023]

Although it's an excellent thriller mounting up to some awesome complications and thrilling finale, it is not without flaws. The charitable business kidnaps fatherless children to bring them out of the slum and possible prostitution, to send them on to better families like this one in England, for a better future, but while she is detained waiting for transport the little girl is entrusted with a prostitute for relieving her of her mother, a real injecting drug addict, which doesn't quite fit into the charity scheme. In the end the director makes a speech for his defence, which although reasonable is impossible to accept, which he realises himself and takes the consequences. Robert Urich makes a great performance as the regular business man who gets mixed up in this, pulling him deeper into trouble for every confrontation, but the greatness of his performance consists entirely of understatements. After the drama is over he goes back to business, leaving us wondering about what he will do next about his two relationships, both more complicated than any of his business. Megan Gallagher also makes a great performance, and every inch of her desperate actions is perfectly convincing and credible: any mother would act in the same way. It's a great film on a small scale, but the drama does in fact reach Hitchcockian proportions, considering especially how well it is built up, from a mere trifle of a baby doll getting our poor business man constantly knocked about, to the revelation of very advanced business in the field of human trafficking.