Deadly Strangers (1975)

I am writing this review as I finally managed to find this movie and watch it; and really, because I admit that, even though I knew at the time (late 1970s) that Mills was much older in real life than in the Disney movies I saw her in, I had the biggest boy crush on her. Embarrassing I know, but I doubt I was alone.This movie is quite good; it manages to make the green, lustrous English countryside seem genuinely menacing and eerie. It's one of those 'road movies' where a stranger is picked up, that may or may not be who or what they say they are. It reminds me a bit of movies like THE HITCHER and such like.And yes, a VERY adult Hayley Mills turns out to be not at all what one may think, and also gets naked in this movie, and I am deeply glad I didn't see it back when I was a young teen: I think it would have ruined my life!

I don't think any normal person would claim this film's opening scenes are pregnant with possibility. There are all the symptoms of a cheap horror flick -- the lurid colors, the tinny electronic score, the conceit of the killer's point of view, the murders -- three of them -- before the opening credits roll and one murder immediately after. The first killing has a pretty British nurse killed in a hospital after being injected with some kind of potion, gasping, legs kicking, underpants showing. Night time. Few lights, mostly red or a bleached, ghoulish green, and blinding white. Ominous. All portending a ride through the Haunted House at Disneyland.We never get to see the psychotic killer during his or her escape from the booby hatch. So who could it be? There are myriad red herrings. Simon Ward, "Young Winston," looks awfully suspicious when we first see him at a roadside stop, playing a slot machine and staring at himself in the mirror. Would any sane person look at himself in a mirror? I know I wouldn't. Then there's Hayley Mills -- oh, so innocent; maybe TOO innocent, with her plump lower lip and those shapely knees. The director, by the way, seems to have a thing for knees. Well, in Hayley Mills' case, he can't be blamed. And, after all, Luis Bunuel was into shoes and Walt Disney spent a lot of time around animals.Then there is Sterling Hayden who brings a bit of color to a familiar story of hitch hikers and maniacs. He's dressed like Captain Ahab and has a bushy gray beard of a retired Civil War general. He puts more energy into his brief role as an old blowhard than he has in any other performance, outside of "Dr. Strangelove," where the effort was masked by his real acting skills.Among the felicities, Mills' knees aside, there are those cute British phone booths. I don't know why America can't make its phone booths out of wood and paint them a bright crimson. They look sturdy, and comfortable enough to spend hours in. Among the weaknesses, well, an example. At a gas station, Ward happens upon a window through which he sees a young woman undressing and getting into what appears to be a uniform shirt. While the camera gapes at her figure, there are interpolated cuts, three or four of them, to the gigantic close up of Ward's single blue eye. The effect is almost surreal but that isn't what the director and editor intended. They just did it because one of them, seized by a brain storm, said something like, "Shouldn't we have a big close up of the actor's eye, so that we know he's still peeping?" Imagine Hitchcock cutting back and forth from Janet Leigh's undressing to a bulging close up of Anthony Perkins' eyeball.There are flashbacks heralded by slow camera movement into a close up, followed by a dissolve, harp music, the flashback with its edges blurred. Both actors suffer from them. Mill's are about her happy youth, riding a horse along the beach, until we reach the part where she was sexually abused as a child. (Zzzz.) Ward's are about impotence. The logic of the tale is flawed; Ward and Mills quarrel when they first meet, but before you know it, and without adumbration, Mills is actively protecting him -- because he might have accidentally killed an aggressive motorcyclist.The ending emerges from the shadows and the identity of the murdering lunatic is revealed. If it's a surprise, it's only because some earlier incidents have made this ending impossible.

Guenot - I took that scene to mean that Hayley went into the station and killed the female attendant. If you remember the scene before, she saw the girl flirting with Simon Ward while she pumped the gasoline. Hayley had a weird look on her face, some kind of jealousy. There was no indication of rape that I saw, just that the girl was murdered. The murder wasn't shown purposely so that you wouldn't know who did it, but would suspect Simon (red herring). Therefore, I think we can safely conclude that Hayley did it, then climbed back into the car before Simon returned.Simon Ward did a great job playing James Herriot in the All Creatures Great and Small movie. And good old Sterling Hayden still knew how to turn in a great performance near the end of his career. Of course, all of Hayley's male fans are very appreciative of her bare bottom bathtub scene. All in all, it was a very good film and I liked the Hitchcock feel that ran throughout it. Recommended to all suspense movie fans.

Deadly Strangers takes a rather familiar horror film situation as it's base; that being the idea of someone hitching a lift with a stranger. This is a classic horror film situation because of all the danger it presents and has lead to many classic films. With this film, director Sidney Hayers clearly did not have very much to work with; but he gets past this admirably by ensuring that the central situation and the characters are always interesting, and also puts a different spin on the situation - and in doing so proves that with talent, that is all that is needed to make a successful thriller. The plot begins in an asylum where a mental patient has escaped. We then fast forward to a young woman alone on the road after getting out of a car in which the driver requested too high a 'fare'. She ends up hitching a lift with a drunk, yet friendly, driver who agrees to give her a lift to the train station. However, it soon becomes obvious that the driver and the escaped mental patient may well be the same man! Deadly Strangers is a British production; and it's refreshing to see a film like this take place in the unfamiliar setting of the British countryside, which makes a more than worthy place for the action to take place in; despite not being a particularly picturesque location. Simon Ward is the male half of the leading duo and does really well with the role; he plays it so as to make it obvious that his character has a defect, but for the most part it could be passed off as him being merely a bit strange. Hayley Mills is the other half and delivers the real standout performance; she gets to go through a range of emotions in the film and delivers a really effective portrayal of her character. The film runs at a steady pace throughout and draws the audience into the characters very well indeed. The film always gives the impression that it's building into something; and it doesn't disappoint. The final twist is hinted at throughout but still manages to be a surprise once it is finally unveiled and provides a strong ending for the film and ensures that most things make sense. Overall, this is rather difficult to find but its well worth tracking down. Recommended.