Deadly Strangers (1974)

While browsing through the dvds the other night looking for something to watch we hit on a stalemate not being able to choose something that we both wanted to watch. Then we discovered the dvd for ‘Deadly Strangers’ which I had to admit to not being able to remember a damn thing about it. I knew I hadn’t seen it but couldn’t remember what it was about, who was in it or even what precise genre it was. But given that I must have it for a reason we decided to give it a go and hope for the best. Now, I’m not too sure what benefits this can have when watching a film. Obviously we would have no preconceptions about the flick, no expectations etc so it would be difficult to be disappointed, but also, conversely, if it was good would we over-rate it because it came out of the blue.

Anyway, it was a psychological thriller. Hayley Mills misses her train and is forced to hitch a lift. After a narrow escape from a scumbag trucker she is picked up by Simon Ward. It soon becomes clear that one of them is the escaped psychopath that the police are out in force trying to track down and the rest of the film charts their relationship while we try and work out which of them is the nutter.

Full of red herrings, this cross breed of road movies and psycho thriller is nicely crafted and never once gives an apt opportunity to get the kettle on. Mills is adequate in the role (and evidently still doing her best to shed her Pollyanna image by shedding her clothes) but Ward steals the show and is admirably ambiguous. Special mention must go to Sterling Hayden, whose eccentric character is worthy of a film series of his own and completely overshadows the superfluous-ness of his presence. We did guess the identity of the loony but have to admit at getting sidestepped a couple of times, so respect for that.

Of course, as with many of these type of thrillers, a lot of the fun is accidental. The British locations, the old cars and the basic 70s ‘feel’ to the movie add a great deal to the overall ambience of the flick.

While not an undiscovered masterpiece this was a pleasant surprise and a genuinely enjoyable film thatI would heartily recommend it to anyone.