The Bait (1973 film)

The Bait
Genre	Crime thriller
Based on	The Bait by Dorothy Uhnak
Teleplay by	Don M. Mankiewicz Gordon Cotler
Directed by	Leonard Horn
Starring	Donna Mills Michael Constantine Bill Devane Arlene Golonka June Lockhart
Music by	Jack Elliott Allyn Ferguson
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Aaron Spelling Leonard Goldberg
Producer	Peter Nelson
Cinematography	Gert Andersen
Editors	Leon Carrere Neil Travis
Running time	78 minutes
Production companies	ABC Circle Films Spelling-Goldberg Productions
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	March 13, 1973 (1973-03-13)

The Bait is a 1973 American crime thriller television film about LAPD Detective Tracy Fleming, who is out to catch a serial killer and rapist preying on women in Los Angeles. Filmed in 1971 and released in 1973, it stars Donna Mills. ^[1] The film was based on former police officer Dorothy Uhnak's first novel, also titled The Bait, which won the MWA's Edgar for Best First Novel. She was reportedly embarrassed over the liberties taken with her work by this film. The film itself was the pilot for an unlaunched weekly TV series. ^[2]

The Ledger, a later book by Ms. Uhnak featuring the same character, NYPD Detective Christie Opara, was adapted into the TV-film Get Christie Love! It also took liberties with the source material, but was, nonetheless, successfully turned into a TV series the following season.

See also

• List of American films of 1973

References

1. Terrace, Vincent (2019). Encyclopedia of Television Pilots: 2,470 Films Broadcast 1937-2019, 2d ed. McFarland p. 136. ISBN   978-1-4766-7874-0.
2. Carlson, Michael (July 26, 2006). "Dorothy Uhnak". The Guardian . Retrieved December 11, 2019.

External links

• The Bait at IMDb