Scar Tissue (1975)
"La baby sitter" (original title)

A naive young girl is forcefully kidnapped while babysitting the son of a wealthy food mogul. Her and the boy are held hostage by an ex-stuntman and a vengeful movie star.

Director:

René Clément

Writers:

Nicola Badalucco (screenplay), Nicola Badalucco (story),

Stars:

Maria Schneider, Sydne Rome, Vic Morrow

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Maria Schneider	...	Michelle
Sydne Rome	...	Ann
Vic Morrow	...	Vic, the kidnapper
Robert Vaughn	...	Stuart Chase
John Whittington	...	'Boots' Peter Franklin
Nadja Tiller	...	Lotte
Carl Möhner	...	Cyrus Franklin (as Karl Mohner)
Clelia Matania	...	Old neighbour
Marco Tulli	...	Commissaire Trieste
Armando Brancia	...	Inspector Carrara
Georg Marischka	...	Henderson
Renato Pozzetto	...	Gianni, Michélle's friend

Storyline

A naive young girl is forcefully kidnapped while babysitting the son of a wealthy food mogul. Her and the boy are held hostage by an ex-stuntman and a vengeful movie star.

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Plot Keywords:

sculptress | wealth | kidnapping | rome italy | ransom | 

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Genres:

Crime | Thriller

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Details

Country:

France Italy West Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 October 1975 (France)

Also Known As:

L.A. Babysitter

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cité Films, Compagnia Cinematografica Champion, TIT Filmproduktion GmbH

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Did You Know?

Trivia

The photograph of uncredited muscle champion Arnold Schwarzenegger clearly appears on the front page of the newspaper hold by Renato Pozzetto.

User Reviews

This downbeat thriller is much better than it's reputation suggests

From reading other reviews here it doesn't seem like this film has too good of a reputation. This surprises me. I found Wanted: Babysitter to be a very good crime-thriller. Having said that, I am not familiar at all with its director René Clément's other work. It appears from what I read that he was a renowned film-maker whose career was latterly panned by the critics. This film was his last offering and it seems to have suffered especially badly in this way.

I just cannot get behind the dislike though as overall I found the film to be very compelling. I thought Maria Schneider was fine in the lead role and was ably supported by the likes of Robert Vaughn, Vic Morrow and Sydne Rome. The storyline is compelling enough and there is a fair amount of tension generated. The overall tone is gloomy and downbeat which is certainly in keeping with the film's French origins, seeing as 70's thrillers from that country seem to often be like this. Furthermore, the version of the film I watched was a public domain copy that was for some reason in black and white. I have no idea why this should be seeing as the film is clearly a colour production. It sounds like it may have been released this way for some obscure TV market perhaps. But whatever the reason, the funny thing is that the black and white presentation actually adds to the overall feel of the film. It only adds to the downbeat ambiance and very probably makes it a better film.

All I can say finally is that Wanted: Babysitter is nowhere near as bad as its reputation suggests. I would even go as far as to say that it is a good 70's thriller and is well worth checking out.