14 October 2024
Run Stranger Run (1973)
90 min.
Directed by Darren McGavin.
With Patricia Neal, Cloris Leachman, Bobby Darin, Ron Howard, Tessa Dahl, Kathie Brown, Joe Mascolo, Simon Oakland.
Excellent slow-paced '70s psycho pic directed with style and flair by Darren McGavin (Kolchak of TV's The Night Stalker series).

After an absence of years, a young drifter (Ron Howard) returns to a sleepy coastal town in search of his biological parents.

It's not long before he finds his mother (Cloris Leachman). But the answers to his father's whereabouts remain a mystery.

Just as baffling are a string of brutal murders which are terrorizing the local community.

Offbeat performances highlight this thoughtful thriller (Patricia Neal is very good as Howard's eccentric aunt, as is Tessa Dahl - Neal's real-life lookalike daughter).

Best scene: the effective 'abandoned summer house' sequence, a superb mix of subtlety and shock. If you have the patience, this one is worth a look.

Also known as Happy Mother's Day, Love George.

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