The Hostage (1967)

Pesky little boy Davey Cleaves stows away on a moving truck that's driven by volatile psychopath Bull and his meek partner Eddie. Naturally, Davey finds himself in considerable danger after he's discovered by the two no-count criminals.

Director:

Russell S. Doughten Jr.

Writers:

Henry Farrell (novel), Robert Laning (screenplay)

Stars:

Don Kelly, Harry Dean Stanton, John Carradine

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Don Kelly	...	Bull (as Don O'Kelly)
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Eddie (as Dean Stanton)
John Carradine	...	Otis Lovelace
Danny Martins	...	Davey Cleaves
Ron Hagerthy	...	Steve Cleaves
Jennifer Lea	...	Carol Cleaves (as Jenifer Lea)
Ann Doran	...	Miss Mabry
Raymond Guth	...	Sam Morton
Nora Marlowe	...	Selma Morton
Shirley O'Hara	...	Mrs. Primus
Mike McCloskey	...	Bartender
Dick Spry	...	Mr. Thomas
Leland Brown	...	Glenn
Pearl Faessler	...	Olive
James Almanzar	...	Officer-in-charge

Storyline

Pesky little boy Davey Cleaves stows away on a moving truck that's driven by volatile psychopath Bull and his meek partner Eddie. Naturally, Davey finds himself in considerable danger after he's discovered by the two no-count criminals.

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Plot Keywords:

exploitation | independent film | based on novel

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Taglines:

He shocked you with "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?". He terrified you with "Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte." Now, Henry Farrell gives you his GREATEST SUSPENSE CHILLER ... "The Hostage"

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Genres:

Thriller

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Details

Official Sites:

Crown International Pictures

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 October 1967 (USA)

Also Known As:

Die Geisel

Filming Locations:

Des Moines, Iowa, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Crown International Pictures, Heartland Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was the first feature length film to be shot in Iowa.

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Soundtracks

"The Hostage Theme"
Sung by Steve Smith
Written by Ronald Hanna

User Reviews

Camp B Movie With Misleading Title

A few minutes after seeing the very satisfying thriller BREAKDOWN I switched channels and sat down to watch THE HOSTAGE . I wasn't expecting it to be as intriguing or as thrilling as the Kurt Russell movie but long before we'd reached the halfway point I was very disappointed

This movie starts with a trio of thieves falling out in which one of them is killed . So right away we've got it spelled out that one of them is a raging psycho and just to help of the hard of thinking audience his colleague says things like " You killed him " to which he replies " yeah I killed him and I'll kill you too if you give me any problems " . Just in case there's any deaf people watching Mr Psycho scowls his dialogue with an OTT expression so people know he's not to be messed with

A few minutes later Stan and Ollie , oooppps I mean the two criminals come up with a scam that involves stealing someones furniture , and believe me if there's one thing worse than murder it's stealing someone's furniture . Being not very clever people ( I wonder if the criminals wrote this screenplay ? ) they accidentally drive off with a child in the back of their removal truck . So now they've got a hostage , but he's not really a hostage it's a kid they've accidentally brought along with them . But remember since only two minutes have elapsed since it was spelled out for a blind , deaf and dumb audience that these criminals aren't very nice , we're once again treated to yet more dialogue such as " I'll kill you if you cross me " etc . Long before the credit titles rolled I stopped being sorry for the kid who got abducted and started to feel very sorry for myself as I watched this movie

THE HOSTAGE is very inoffensive but there's nothing I could take seriously . Everything about the movie is camp or contrived and you can't help thinking this might have worked better as a comedy . I also believe it was remade in the late 1980s with Macauley Culkin and Joe Pesci or was that just coincidence ?