The Hostage

Director Russell S. Doughten Jr. Was a Christian filmmaker who branched out into commercial features with the 1958 classic "The Blob," done in partnership with Jack H. Harris and Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. (shooting on location in Valley Forge, PA), who then returned to his native Iowa to form his own company Heartland Productions, with "The Hostage" serving as its debut feature length title, filming primarily in Des Moines during a frosty October of 1965. Amazingly, his crew included cinematographer Ted V. Mikels ("The Astro-Zombies") and future "Star Wars" producer Gary Kurtz, already experienced in working with Jack Nicholson on "Ride in the Whirlwind" and "The Shooting," as well as on Roger Corman's "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet," "Queen of Blood," and "Blood Bath." Author Henry Farrell, best remembered for "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?," brought his 1959 novel "The Hostage" to the director's attention, and even assigned script chores to his friend Robert Laning, the cast mostly television veterans with relatively few movie credits. The arresting opening finds Don O'Kelly as psychotic Bull Phillips beating a man to death out of sheer rage, to the abject horror of business partner Eddie (Harry Dean Stanton), who hasn't the strength to hold him back. Mere hours later, the duo are already on their next job as professional movers, parking in a residential area to load up the furniture for Steve Cleaves (Ron Hagerthy) and pretty wife Carol (Jenifer Lea), while a wandering derelict named Otis P. Lovelace (Carradine) sits across the street on a park bench. One person unhappy moving to a rural location is the couple's 6 year old son Davey (Danny Martins), spotted by busybody neighbor Miss Mabry (Ann Doran) making small talk with Lovelace before sneaking inside the moving van to explore, only to get locked in by the drivers with no way of escape. Before they reach their assigned destination, the pair stop off at the murder scene to collect the corpse in a large cabinet, attempting to bury it deep in the woods until they notice the pint sized eyewitness and immediately give chase. Davey finds temporary refuge at a turkey farm, whose occupants duly hand him over to his 'father,' a clever ploy by Bull to finally catch the kid, but it's not long before the lad's photo in the newspaper puts authorities on their trail. The story plays out in fairly predictable fashion, but the little known cast enjoy the chance to flesh out their characters in compact vignettes, in particular Nora Marlowe as the farmer's wife, still mourning the loss of her own child to the machinations of his mean spirited father. The final result was picked up for national distribution by Mark Tenser's Crown International Pictures, and later included in Gold Key's 1975 Scream Theater television package for a yet greater audience. Carradine had previously worked opposite Harry Dean Stanton in both "The Proud Rebel" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," while the year before served as narrator of the short "Genesis," also photographed by Ted V. Mikels.

When Davey gets in the way of his parents when they're trying to pack up their belongings to move to another house, he enters the removal truck and unknowingly gets locked it. The removalists Bull and Eddie happen to be criminals, and they use the truck to transport a dead body and Davey witnesses the two burying the body. Bull spots him, and they imprison him. Meanwhile his parents have grown worried over his disappearance, and their interfering neighbour claim to see him with a vagrant, which leads everyone chasing the wrong lead.

Like the other user-commenter mentioned, this one does have a striking resemblance to Macauley Culkin's "Home Alone (1990)", but without comic humour. What eventuates from "The Hostage" is dry suspense leisurely springing from a reasonably old-fashion and simplified plot (taken off Henery Farrell's novel) of well-conceived episodic sub-plot developments to gradually lead up to its suspenseful closing. Really, this minimalist low-budget production is nothing out of the ordinary, but it was the name of character actor Harry Dean Stanton which drove my interest to watch it. His nervous performance was solid, as the scrawny, slow-witted criminal Eddie, but it was Don Kelly's ominously hammy turn as the "Oh, I can get so angry after a few drinks. So you better not cross me" browbeater villain Bull. A cranky looking John Carradine pops up as the bumming vagrant Otis P. Lovelace, who has plenty of caustic things to say about his situation. Danny Martins is rather decent in the child role, even though at times he got on my nerves, he was a true nuisance and portrayed a frighten face well enough. The rest of the performances are fine. Director Russell S. Doughten did a sturdily realized job, where his framework is taut and nicely demonstrates few moody and sinister images. Helping out on the smoky atmosphere, was Ted Mikels' stark photography of the locations of Des Moines, Iowa and a washed-out (I don't think it was on purpose) colour scheme. An overwrought and sappy soundtrack is a bit off-putting, and the music score sounds too generic to sustain or create any sort of feeling and tension. Certain moments in the black and white script can lead to some sequences stalling the pace, especially when it's not focusing on the two thugs and the kid.

"The Hostage" can feel forced and weepy, but it does have its effective spells and the acting is above-average to make you kinda glad you stole away for the ride.

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 ?

A young boy accidentally stows away in a van driven by a couple of killers moonlighting as removal men. When the criminals stop off at a remote location to dispose of the body of a man they murdered, they discover the kid who flees. This results in the killers, the boy and his pursuing parents all in a race against each other.

This one is notable particularly for an early screen appearance from acting legend Harry Dean Stanton. He plays Eddie, the more sympathetic and sensitive of the criminal duo. He's joined on screen by veteran actor John Carradine, who appears as a vagrant; by this stage in his career, Carradine was appearing in basically anything that offered a pay check meaning that he is one of the best known faces from bad movies. I wouldn't necessarily say this one is terrible mind you but it is definitely very mediocre and doesn't make the most of its potential. The plot-line is pretty basic and events don't really generate very much suspense. Interestingly, it was photographed by Ted V. Mikels, who would go on to forge a career directing schlock movies, including the very enjoyable The Doll Squad (1973). The Hostage could certainly have done with an injection of the sort of psychotronic entertainment value found in that one.

Davey Cleaves (Danny Martins) is a little scamp who climbs aboard a moving van, which then takes off with him in the back. The van is driven by two men (Don O'Kelly, Harry Dean Stanton) who killed another man the night before. When they stop the van to bury the body, Davey gets out and starts wandering around like a little weirdo instead of running. Finally, after the bad guys discover him, Davey runs and leads them on a chase. During all this his parents are freaking out thinking a homeless man nabbed Davey.

Don O'Kelly, a familiar face on '60s television, chews scenery like candy but it's fun to watch. Sadly O'Kelly died of stomach cancer before this movie was released. Harry Dean Stanton is good in an early role, still perfecting his screen persona. Child actor Danny Martins is terrible but there's a lot of fun to be had with his complete lack of talent. His line delivery is awesome ("I kicked him...really hard...on purpose"). John Carradine plays a homeless man who is friendly with the kid and gets blamed for his disappearance. The cinematography was handled by garbageman Ted V. Mikels, who made a lot of Z-grade trash that bizarrely has a cult following. He does a competent job here, helped by the location shooting. Oh and the film is scored by Jaime Mendoza-Nava, who did a number of great '70s low-budget horror flicks, including one of my all-time favorites, The Legend of Boggy Creek. Not a bad little low budget thriller. Some unintentional humor but decent direction and an interesting story make it watchable. The subplots like the couple who own the turkey farm are a nice touch. A better actor for the kid and this might have been a great one. As it is, it's worth taking a look.