An escaped mental patient kidnaps an illiterate teenage farm girl and takes her to his mountain hideaway, where they become friends--and, eventually, lovers.An escaped mental patient kidnaps an illiterate teenage farm girl and takes her to his mountain hideaway, where they become friends--and, eventually, lovers.An escaped mental patient kidnaps an illiterate teenage farm girl and takes her to his mountain hideaway, where they become friends--and, eventually, lovers.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
Lee de Broux
- Sheriff Emmet
- (as Lee DeBroux, Lee Debroux)
William Sterchi
- Hank Smathers
- (as Bill Sterchi)
Michael Eiland
- Tom Martinez
- (as Michael C. Eiland)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaLinda Blair accepted the role hoping the producers would cast then-boyfriend Rick Springfield to star alongside her; after Martin Sheen was cast, Blair admits to "falling madly in love with him", although no real-life affair ensued.
- GoofsWhen Leonard leaves the cabin to go into to town to do the shopping, he leaves the shopping list on the table. Later, in the store, he is seen reading from the list.
- Quotes
Sheriff Emmet: What's your name?
Leonard Hatch: Me?
Sheriff Emmet: Uh huh.
Leonard Hatch: Roger B. McDivett, sir.
Sheriff Emmet: What's the B stand for?
Leonard Hatch: Bananas.
- ConnectionsReferences Star Trek (1966)
- SoundtracksStrangers on a Carousel
Music by George Barrie ASCAP
Lyrics by Bob Larimer ASCAP
Sung by Stephen Schwartz (as Steven Michael Schwartz)
Featured review
we need more grammar Nazis
The 1970s brought a number of things: disco, disaster movies, and the rise of televangelists. But the Me Decade also brought about a revolution in prime time. Not only did series like "All in the Family" and "Sanford and Son" debut, but movies started getting made for TV. One of these was "Sweet Hostage", based on Nathaniel Benchley's "Welcome to Xanadu". Martin Sheen plays an escaped mental patient who kidnaps a farm girl (Linda Blair), and the two of them develop a relationship. Their roles are reversed from what you might expect: he's a worldly guy while she can barely read and has no prospects in life. To be certain, he often corrects her grammar.
It was interesting seeing Linda Blair in a role very different from the one with which she's most associated. At a Wizard World convention last year I got her autograph. She's a really nice person. Martin Sheen had just played a delinquent in Terrence Malick's "Badlands", so this wasn't a totally new role for him. Both do a great job with the characters. I really liked the scene where Sheen's character and the Indian do the Vulcan salute; that scene now feels like a tribute to Leonard Nimoy.
Nathaniel Benchley was the father of "Jaws" author Peter Benchley, and it turns out that Nathaniel Benchley's father was also a noted author. The director, Lee Philips, had directed a completely different kind of TV movie the previous year: "The Stranger Within", starring Barbara Eden as a woman who inexplicably becomes pregnant and then starts behaving very strangely (it had to be the only movie in which Barbara Eden looks terrifying).
All in all, I thought that this was a good movie. I wish that more movies got filmed in New Mexico. I really liked it when I spent spring break there in 2002. And above all, please remember to use correct grammar ("if I had done X yesterday", NOT "if I did X yesterday" or "if I would have done X yesterday").
It was interesting seeing Linda Blair in a role very different from the one with which she's most associated. At a Wizard World convention last year I got her autograph. She's a really nice person. Martin Sheen had just played a delinquent in Terrence Malick's "Badlands", so this wasn't a totally new role for him. Both do a great job with the characters. I really liked the scene where Sheen's character and the Indian do the Vulcan salute; that scene now feels like a tribute to Leonard Nimoy.
Nathaniel Benchley was the father of "Jaws" author Peter Benchley, and it turns out that Nathaniel Benchley's father was also a noted author. The director, Lee Philips, had directed a completely different kind of TV movie the previous year: "The Stranger Within", starring Barbara Eden as a woman who inexplicably becomes pregnant and then starts behaving very strangely (it had to be the only movie in which Barbara Eden looks terrifying).
All in all, I thought that this was a good movie. I wish that more movies got filmed in New Mexico. I really liked it when I spent spring break there in 2002. And above all, please remember to use correct grammar ("if I had done X yesterday", NOT "if I did X yesterday" or "if I would have done X yesterday").
helpful•30
- lee_eisenberg
- Mar 23, 2015
Details
- Runtime1 hour 33 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content