The Visitors (1972)

Bill, Martha and their little child Hal are spending a quiet winter Sunday in their cosy house when they get an unexpected visit from Mike Nickerson and Tony Rodriguez. Mike and Tony are ... See full summary »

Director:

Elia Kazan

Writer:

Chris Kazan (from an original screenplay by)

Stars:

Patrick McVey, Patricia Joyce, James Woods

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Patrick McVey	...	Harry Wayne
Patricia Joyce	...	Martha Wayne
James Woods	...	Bill Schmidt
Steve Railsback	...	Sgt. Mike Nickerson
Chico Martínez	...	Tony Rodriguez

Storyline

Bill, Martha and their little child Hal are spending a quiet winter Sunday in their cosy house when they get an unexpected visit from Mike Nickerson and Tony Rodriguez. Mike and Tony are old acquaintances of Bill; a few years back, in Vietnam, they were in the same platoon. They also became opposed parties in a court martial - for a reason that Bill never explained to Martha. What happened in Vietnam, and what is the reason for the presence of Mike and Tony ?

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Plot Keywords:

past coming back to haunt | girlfriend raped | rape scene | brutal rape | vietnam war veteran | 

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Taglines:

Every one wants to turn his back on violence until it knocks at his front door.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 May 1972 (France)

Also Known As:

Los visitantes

Filming Locations:

Newton, Connecticut, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$135,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Home Free

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

With the exception of Patrick McVey, all the other four members of the cast were making their film debuts in this movie.

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Connections

Referenced in The Sinister Saga of Making 'The Stunt Man' (2000)

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Soundtracks

Lute Suite #1
by Johann Sebastian Bach (as J.S. Bach)
Performed by William Matthews, guitar

User Reviews

THE VISITORS (Elia Kazan, 1972) **

Untypical material for Kazan: this curiously amateurish amalgam of ACT OF VIOLENCE (1948) and THE DESPERATE HOURS (1955), updated for the Vietnam era, is unworthy of the director's unquestionable talent (despite being written by his own son!) and emerges as a pointless talking marathon - in which the dialogue is muffled most of the time anyway, because of poor sound recording!

Patricia Joyce comes off best from the hand-picked cast, which includes James Woods' debut role as the wimpish hero(!) and Steve Railsback as one of his two revenge-seeking war buddies; these actors must have thought that they had it made when they were chosen by Award-winning director Kazan (who had, after all, virtually discovered Marlon Brando, James Dean and Warren Beatty) to feature in his next movie but, unfortunately for them, THE VISITORS sank without trace despite being an official entry in that year's Cannes Film Festival!

While the film could easily have turned into a nasty shocker in the vein of THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972) - which might even have been preferable in the long run - the story just meanders on towards a lame and inconclusive ending. At least, the film's snowy setting provides a nice pictorial backdrop...