Originally posted on 5/14/21
Currently watching: DEADLY STRANGERS (1975), an escaped-killer-on-the-loose thriller with Hayley Mills, Simon Ward, and Sterling Hayden.
Hayley plays a girl running away from a bad situation and Ward is a homicidal psycho who picks her up on the road in his stolen car, whose owner he ran down when he got out to use a pay phone.
Sterling Hayden briefly appears later on as eccentric old rogue who takes a playfully romantic interest in Hayley but then assumes the role of protector when he discovers the identity of her young companion.
It's a good example of your basic murder-suspense thriller-slash-road picture with a fine cast and very modest production values (according to IMDb, it was originally intended to be part of a TV anthology series), taking place mostly on those bleak old roads way back in the English countryside.
The screenplay is by Philip Levene, who wrote many of the best episodes of the classic TV series "The Avengers" with Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg, and directed by Sidney Hayers, who worked on that series as well.
Ward's character struggles to maintain a "normal" facade in front of his nervous passenger while eluding the police, having some violent run-ins with local toughs, and even managing to get in an impulsive rape-murder at a gas station without Hayley finding out. There are a few car-chase setpieces that are nicely done.
Hayley tries poking some holes in her goody-goody image here by smoking like a chimney and doing a couple of nude scenes. I've been a big fan of hers since I was a kid, and I'm still not sure how I feel about this. Frankly, seeing her with her clothes off just feels wrong to me, especially when it's depicted "Peeping Tom"-style like Norman Bates in PSYCHO.
But seeing Hayley Mills making the most of an adult role, as she also does in such thrillers as TWISTED NERVE and ENDLESS NIGHT, is a treat. And just when you think you've got this movie figured out, and settle back to let it run its course, DEADLY STRANGERS pulls a twist ending on us that sends it off on a delightfully satisfying note.
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