In this odd 65-minute film from 1983, Michael David Simms stars John “Zack” Zachary.
Zack is a private investigator, though he’s not the hard-drinking, hard-smoking type that you typically expect to see in the movies or on television. Instead, he’s rather mild-mannered and polite. He goes to church every Sunday. Throughout the film, people from his church pop up and try to convince him to start coming on Saturday at well. Zack has to work though. He’s got an important case.
(The only thing that really makes Zack look like a typical television detective is that he has a really nice car. However, that car spends most of this movie “in the shop.” As a result, Zack has to drive a broken-down pink car.)
You would think that the case would have some sort of religious angle, given that this is a faith-based film. That’s certainly what I was expecting and I was kind of looking forward to it. I thought it would be entertaining to watch Zack uncover a cult of atheists and maybe discover that the fire was actually the first sign of the apocalypse. However, it just turns out to be an ordinary case. He’s been hired to investigate whether or not a recent fire in Malibu was an accident or a case of arson. Someone may have committed insurance fraud and Zack is going to help the insurance company by finding out if they did. (The fact that the hero works for an insurance company is a big clue that this movie was made a long time ago.)
Early on, Zack is approached by a young man named Jeremy Logan (Matthew Shaker), who says that he wants to be a private detective and that he he would appreciate the chance to work with Zack. Zack agrees, largely because Jeremy and he go to the same church. Jeremy helps out with the investigation and he also spends a lot of time talking about all of the various church projects that he’s involved with. About halfway through the film, they meet a woman (Stephani Hardy) who needs help and they take on her case without payment because it’s the right thing to do. Luckily, the woman has a clue that helps Jeremy and Zack solve the case of the fire. The solution to the case doesn’t make much sense but it feels kind of inevitable due to the fact that there aren’t that many characters in the film and, therefore, there weren’t that many possible suspects.
This is an example of an attempt to meld faith-based filmmaking with an established genre. It’s not just a religious film. It’s a TV-style mystery! The mystery really isn’t that interesting, though and the solution is a bit unsatisfying, That said, Michael David Simms gives a surprisingly good performance as Zack. I personally have a weakness for low budget films from the 70s and 80s because they were usually shot on location and, as a result, they provide a chance to see what the world used to look like. If nothing else, Zack works as a time capsule.
