The Deliberate Stranger (1986) - ClydeVisionFilms.com

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Review

The Deliberate Stranger (1986)

Director

Marvin J. Chomsky

Writer

Hesper Anderson (teleplay) – Based on the novel by Richard W. Larsen

Cast

Mark Harmon, Frederic Forrest, George Grizzard, Glynnis O’Connor, Ben Masters, M. Emmet Walsh, John Ashton, Bonnie Bartlett, Billy Green Bush, Frederick Coffin and Rita Zohar

“Where do you think a person’s most likely to be executed these days?” – Ted Bundy

Theodore Robert Bundy (Harmon), called Ted by his friends, leads a charmed life it seems. He´s handsome and charismatic and has been accepted as a law student in Utah. His girlfriend Cas (O’Connor) adores him and he’s liked by many who see this young Republican as someone who’s going to go very far in life. One of his friends and admirers is Richard “Dick” Larson (Grizzard), a seasoned reporter for The Seattle Times, who sees in Ted a younger version of himself.

But Ted is killing young women and has the Seattle police stumped as the number of disappearing girls keeps rising. On the case are Detectives Keppel (Forrest) and Dunn (Ashton) who can’t find any evidence or bodies and know only from an eyewitness account that a man who calls himself Ted and has a tan VW bug could be the culprit. A wide search is launched with this information but soon Ted goes to law school in Utah and carries on his activities there. Some time passes before the authorities catch up to one another and, as soon as a dumping ground of Ted’s victims is discovered, eventually they start working together.

One of the most notorious serial killers in history was the subject of this two part miniseries (totalling about 185 minutes) that aired in May 1986. Despite the strict guidelines imposed on TV products at the time the macabre story of Ted Bundy gets across convincingly despite no graphic killings being shown and the total absence of foul language. A big part of the movie’s success is thanks to Mark Harmon’s alarmingly good performance as Bundy. He completely embodies the character and excels in showing off his charisma and, more importantly, the ticking timebomb inside him that’s excellently displayed with gestures and facial expressions that are quite menacing to watch. The relaxed runtime also helps in showing just how much ground Bundy covered with his killings and how the authorities, despite having a first name and a car type to work with, were faced with endless avenues to pursue.

Bundy obviously went off the grid in Seattle and started up in Utah and, this being in 1974, the theory of the killer having quit or maybe died was considered likely. As the police authorities in Utah and Seattle started connecting the dots the OK was given to put the money in a computer that would enable information cross country to be assembled. Once Bundy was apprehended for a petty crime and from then considered a likely suspect the search was over but it took a long while to nail him down.

Here’s where the truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. Once he’s nabbed Bundy seems to relish the fact that he’s in the spotlight and his arrogance is displayed when he openly engages with the policeman following him and cleans his car from top to bottom while winking at the cops watching him. Also of interest here are scenes between Bundy and Larson where Bundy once effortlessly cites the meaning of a sociopath (how an individual has no remorse, can mimic normal behaviour) and it’s unnerving to see the gleam in Harmon’s eyes when he clearly thinks this is just one of many things his clever mind has mastered. And there’s the fact that Bundy escaped not once, but twice!, from custody and a truly little thing like his bad driving skills led to him being caught again.

Bundy’s eventual apprehension in Florida is preceded by a quite striking and ruthless depiction of his rampage in a sorority where he viciously attacked numerous girls in their rooms. It’s fairly brutal and Harmon is truly terrifying here. Some have considered that Bundy wanted to get executed and therefore knowingly chose a state that had the death penalty before his explosive attack. It’s very much hinted at here and at the time of release Bundy was still on death row (and reportedly did not want to watch the movie).

While Harmon is the true star here the supporting actors are no slouches. Forrest and Ashton excel as the detectives who first got on the case, O’Connor is rather good as Cas and Grizzard is fine as the seasoned reporter who went on the write the source material upon which this TV film is based on. But I’m always most affected by Rita Zohar’s performance as the mother of one of Bundy’s victims. Her portrayal of a worried and, eventually, grieving mother strikes a chord with the viewer and her quiet scenes portray well the harm and misery that the monster Ted Bundy inflicted on so many people.

“The Deliberate Stranger” holds up pretty well. Obviously it’s very tame by today’s standards and portraits of serial killers on streaming sites and in the multiplexes but it fleshes out a truly terrifying individual well and relays effectively the horror he unleashed.

Physical Copy

My copy of “The Deliberate Stranger” is a Manufactured on Demand DVD from Warner Archive. It’s completely featureless (not even subtitles) but very serviceable in terms of A/V quality. It’s a two disc release divided into two parts. I’d like to have the title on Blu-ray but the standard definition image looks just fine.

Why physical copy?

I always encourage the acquisition of physical copies as I dread the day when films will only exist as files on computers and through streaming services. The companies that put the effort into making the discs, create new artwork or reproduce the originals, issue booklets and much more deserve all the financial support they can. Therefore I will always mention the Blu-rays or DVD’s (and yes; also if I review something streamed through Netflix or the like) even though I gain nothing from it personally.

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