| The Bait | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama |
| Written by | Gordon Cotler[1] Don Mankiewicz |
| Directed by | Leonard Horn |
| Starring | Noam Pitlik Donna Mills |
| Music by | Jack Elliott Allyn Ferguson |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Leonard Goldberg Aaron Spelling |
| Producer | Peter Nelson |
| Production locations | 20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California Downtown, Los Angeles, California Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles County Music Center - 135 N. Grand Avenue, Downtown, Los Angeles, California City National Plaza, 525 South Flower Street, Los Angeles, California 5th Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California 1326 Londonderry View Dr, Los Angeles, California 560 South Los Angeles Street, Los Angeles, California W. Pico Blvd. and Westwood Blvd, Los Angeles, California |
| 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 |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
The Bait is a television film about LAPD Detective Tracy Fleming, who is out to catch a serial killer preying on women in Los Angeles. Filmed in 1971 and released in 1973, it stars Donna Mills.[2] 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.[3]
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.