The Deliberate Stranger (TV 1986)

Based on a true story, this film depicts the life of Theodore Robert Bundy, the serial killer. In 1974, after having murdered several young women, he leaves Seattle for Utah, where he is a ... See full summary »

Director:

Marvin J. Chomsky

Writers:

Richard W. Larsen (book), Hesper Anderson (teleplay)

Stars:

Mark Harmon, Frederic Forrest, George Grizzard

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mark Harmon	...	Ted Bundy
Frederic Forrest	...	Det. Bob Keppel
George Grizzard	...	Richard Larsen
Ben Masters	...	Det. Mike Fisher
Glynnis O'Connor	...	Cas Richter
M. Emmet Walsh	...	Det. Sam Davies
John Ashton	...	Det. Roger Dunn
Bonnie Bartlett	...	Louise Bundy
Billy Green Bush	...	Officer Bradley (Provo detective)
Frederick Coffin	...	Jerry Thompson
Deborah Goodrich	...	Martha Chambers
Lawrence Pressman	...	Ken Wolverton
Macon McCalman	...	Larsen's editor
Jeannetta Arnette	...	Mrs. Richter
William Boyett	...	Aspen detective

Storyline

Based on a true story, this film depicts the life of Theodore Robert Bundy, the serial killer. In 1974, after having murdered several young women, he leaves Seattle for Utah, where he is a law student and where other girls disappear. It takes the cooperation of a number of police forces to work efficiently on this case. Soon, but not soon enough, the police eliminate endless possibilities and close in on him. Bundy is tried in the media and his good-boy attitude brings him sympathy but also the hatred of many.

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Plot Keywords:

police | killer | serial killer | evil man | sadistic rapist | 

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Taglines:

He was easy to like. Deadly to know. Tough to catch.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 May 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alptraum des Grauens

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lorimar Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

185 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The real Ted Bundy continued to claim he was innocent until shortly before his execution in Florida's electric chair in 1989. Bundy provided details of the murders even as he was walked to the chair.

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Goofs

The Utah mall incident occurred in 1974 yet the Stevie Nicks album "Rock a Little", which is displayed on the store window behind Bundy and his intended victim, was not released till 1985.

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Connections

Referenced in Turbulence (1997)

User Reviews

The smiler with a knife

Considerably above average for a TV made-for. There may be factual changes in the story as shown here but, to someone not familiar with the details of Bundy's career, they can't be too damaging. And the film sort of stands by itself as a craftsmanlike piece of work on the part of just about everyone concerned with it. Marvin Chomsky directed with economy and efficiency, except perhaps for a bit too much complaining and self-pity on the part of police officers. He was faced with a problem, namely that viewers already knew how the story "came out," and has at least made an attempt at heightening the suspense by showing only Bundy's shoes plodding along the dark streets before each murder, until his last awful blood feast, when we see his face twisted with passion. Mark Harmon, who elsewhere gives performances that an especially handsome mannequin could turn in, is surprisingly good. He has that phony self-revealing charm, that fleeting smile, that serves as a mask of sanity. He also gives a bang-on definition of "sociopath" to Dick Larson on the other side of the prison bars. There is some disagreement among knowledgeable visitors to the courtroom when in the course of defending himself Bundy begins to choke up with emotion. "What a performance," mutters one of the cops. "Or maybe," says Larson, "he really is feeling the suffering himself." Well, Dick -- sorry, but the cop was right. It isn't that sociopaths (or anti-social personality disorder, unsocialized type, as they're now called) don't feel their own suffering; it's just that it's fleeting. (There is a pattern that appears in responses to the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory that is known to clinicians as "the caught psychopath" pattern.) There's a lot of depression, yes, but it disappears quickly because sociopaths are so adaptable, so good at exploiting their environments. Bundy is shown constantly cadging butts from friendly visitors. A good sociopath would care much more about the cigarettes than the affection they're getting. Serial killers (the term didn't really exist until about the time Bundy appeared on the scene) are intrinsically fascinating because there is no part of most of us that can begin to understand their motives. Most homicides take place between friends and relatives. We murder them because they are in a position to hurt us. We value their opinions of us. But the ghastly murder of one stranger after another leaves us stunned. We can't identify ourselves with the killer and we are in awe of someone who has so abused the ritual codes of the communities we draw our shared identities from. It's like mother-son incest. The pop stuff about Bundy going to Florida because he wanted to be caught and punished is a lot of bunkum. And I always wonder, when I read books or see movies about guys like this, how they get around the way they do? Let's see. Bundy squeezes out of his cell somewhere in the mountains of Colorado. There is a glimpse of him striding through O'Hare in Chicago. Then he turns up in Talahassee, Florida. He escaped with nothing more than the clothes on his back. How did he get from Colorado to Florida in the total absence of material resources? How could he buy a new wardrobe? How could he plunk down a month's rent on a room, plus one month's deposit? A footnote: When Lisa Birnbach was doing interviews for her College Book in the early 1980s, virtually none of the students at FSU, including members of the sorority that the victims had belonged to, knew who Ted Bundy was. Sic transit gloria Bundi.